North Tea Power

The North Tea Power logo on the door of the shop in Manchester. Fortunately, it's not just about the tea!North Tea Power, in the centre of Manchester, is dead easy to find. Start at the Market Street tram stop. Turn your back on the Costa and Nero that face you as you step off the tram and gird your loins when you see the Starbucks on the other side of the road. Head down Tib Street, past the Starbucks, and, after a short walk, you’ll reach the crossroads with Church and Dale Streets. On the other side, on an elevated colonnade running along the right hand side of the street, you’ll find North Tea Power.

Since the summer of 2010, when it opened, many people have considered North Tea Power to be the place to have fine tea and coffee in Manchester and I can see why. It’s lovely and the owners, Wayne and Jane, have poured their passion and attention to detail into every aspect of the place. Come on, you have to admire that level of dedication: they even have rhyming names! This infectious love has rubbed off on everything, including the rest of the staff, making North Tea Power one of the nicest spots I’ve been to for a long while.

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Caffeine & Co

The store front of Caffeine & Co, on Manchester's St James's Square, where the most is made of what little frontage there is with a huge logo!Manchester‘s Caffeine & Co is not the sort of place you stumble upon by accident. In fact, it’s the sort of place you can easily walk past without noticing. Except the clever people of Caffeine & Co have put up signs all over the place so you can’t, which is just as well. Located on the inappropriately-named St James’s Square (it’s a street, not a square), just around the corner from the Town Hall, Caffeine & Co is a miracle of making the most of what you have.

Located in a space that would make a shoe box feel roomy, Caffeine & Co has created a stir since opening in June last year, serving fine coffee, excellent soup, hand-crafted sandwiches and lovely cakes (all baked on the premises) to the good folk of Manchester. Its reputation is aided by the wonderful Dan, who mans the espresso machine and who might be the friendliest and chattiest Barista I’ve ever met, and the equally wonderful Matt, who makes all the sandwiches and cakes. Between them, and the owners, Ann and Phil, they’ve created something which they can be extremely proud of.

November 2015: Dan, the barista who has run Caffeine & Co, took over the shop in his own right in May 2015. You can see what I found when I returned to the renamed Pavé Coffee earlier this month.

November 2017: Caffeine & Co/Pavé Coffee has undergone another name-change and is now Forté Espresso Bar, where I once again caught up with the lovely Dan.

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