Category Archives: United Kingdom

Coffee Spots in the United Kingdom

The Steamie

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Detail from the A-board outside The Steamie on Glasgow's Argyle Street on a sunny day in May. Reads: "The Steamie Coffee Co. Estd. 2014"The Steamie’s been on my list for a little while. On the eastern edge of Glasgow’s West End in Finniestan, it’s just along from The Cran’ (and pre-dates it by several years). So it made sense to call in for lunch on my one-day, post Glasgow Coffee Festival tour. That and I’d run into the owner, Stephen, at the festival the day before, where he’d extracted a promise that I’d pop by…

Stephen, by the way, has been nagging, I mean, politely requesting, that I visit The Steamie for a couple of years now. It turns out that my failure to do so was not down to slackness on my part. No, I was waiting for The Steamie to start roasting its own coffee, which it did at the end of January. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

As well as coffee and a range of loose-leaf teas, The Steamie has an excellent range of cake, plus an all-day breakfast/lunch menu, serving the likes of muesli and porridge, along with toast, three options for poached eggs (meat, fish, veggie) and another three for baked eggs skillet (two veggie, one meat). There’s also soup, plus sandwiches (eat in/takeaway).

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Glasgow Coffee Festival 2017 Part I

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The Glasgow Coffee Festival LogoWelcome to the first of my detailed write-ups from the third Glasgow Coffee Festival, which took place earlier this month. The festival was last held in October 2015 and skipped 2016 while it was moved from the cold, autumn months to the warmth of a Glasgow spring. The first two Glasgow Coffee Festivals were one-day events, both of which sold out, so this year the festival expanded to two days, taking place over the weekend of 6th/7th May.

I had originally intended to attend both days, but a series of unfortunate events meant that I could only make it for the Sunday in the end. This meant that I was unable to see absolutely everything/everyone at the festival, missing out on the competitions and all of the presentations, masterclasses and cuppings (except the one I did!).

This year I’ve split my report into three parts. This, Part I, is all about people who travelled a long way to be at the festival, Part II covers my Japanese Coffee Cupping, while Part III rounds-up the local coffee scene, new equipment launches and everything else!

So, without further ado, sit back and enjoy Part I of my Glasgow Coffee Festival write up.

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The Cran’

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A beautiful flat white from The Cran in Glasgow, served in an equally beautiful china cup.I was in Glasgow at the weekend for the 2017 Glasgow Coffee Festival, but before I travelled back down south, I spent Monday visiting some of the coffee shops that had sprung up since my last visit, back in 2015 for the previous Glasgow Coffee Festival. Chief amongst these is The Cran’, a delightful little spot in Finnieston, at the eastern edge of Glasgow’s west end, which opened at the start of this year.

Occupying a long, thin space running along Argyle Street, The Cran’ (which is named after the local landmark, a large crane on the banks of the Clyde) offers an interesting range of vegan food, cakes, loose-leaf tea and some excellent coffee on espresso and bulk-brew from a rotating cast of roasters, all served in a quirky space which reflects something of the history of the building it occupies.

The coffee-side of the operation is run by Gillian, who I first met in Avenue Coffee’s Great Western Road branch when she was a barista there. She was originally brought in by the owner, Aziz, to provide training, but when he saw how good she was, he immediately invited Gillian to run the coffee part of the business.

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London Coffee Festival 2017: Sustainability

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It's milk all round at the London Coffee Festival in 2017. Top row, The Estate Dairy. Bottom row, Allan Reeder Ltd's Brades Farm barista milk.Welcome to the first of my detailed write-ups of this year’s London Coffee Festival. If you want to know what I made of the festival as a whole, take a look at my round-up. Here I’ll be covering individual aspects of the festival, such as kit & cups, my coffee experiences and the coffee itself. However, I’m going to kick things off with a look at something that I’ve not covered explicitly before: sustainability.

Of course, one small facet of sustainability is re-usable cups, which I have covered in previous years, and will look at again this year. I have even produced a page on the Coffee Spot, dedicated to re-usable cups. Today I want to look at two more small facets of sustainability. One is a company which is dedicated to a zero-waste approach to coffee and the other is milk.

You might not immediately think of milk under the category of “sustainability”, but I would argue that just as speciality coffee goes to great lengths to ensure coffee farming is a sustainable business, so it is with the UK dairy industry. While coffee can’t single-handedly save the dairy industry, it has a role to play.

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Japanese Coffee Cupping

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The seven coffees which I brought back from Japan for a cupping at the Glasgow Coffee Festival.So there I was, minding my own business at the London Coffee Festival, when I ran into Lisa of Dear Green Coffee, organiser of the Glasgow Coffee Festival. Rather foolishly, I mentioned that I was flying to Japan that week, returning just in time for the festival. Well, said Lisa, in that case, why not bring back some Japanese coffee and we can have a cupping? Why not indeed…

Fast-forward two weeks and there I am in Tokyo, thinking that I really should get do something about my rather spur-of-the-moment agreement to Lisa’s proposal. Fortunately, I’d just embarked on a week’s travelling around Japan, so was able to pick up a rather eclectic mix of Japanese-roasted coffee.

Like my trip, there was no great planning involved in my purchasing, which might explain why I brought back with three Kenyans, two Ethiopians and a pair from Costa Rica. Typically I either bought something I’d tried (such as the Ethiopian I picked up from Kaido Books And Coffee) or I asked for recommendations. With hindsight, I rather wished I’d got some of the aged Kenyan coffee I had at Café de L’Ambre, but alas that thought only came to me five minutes ago…

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Tincan Coffee Co, Clare Street

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Detail from the sign outside of the Tincan Coffee Co branch on Clare Street, Bristol.This is the second of the bricks-and-mortar Tincan Coffees, the Bristol-based company which started life serving coffee from vintage Citroen vans. It follows hot on the heels of the first Tincan Coffee on North Street (ironically on the south side of Bristol). Clare Street opened at the end of last year, joining the cluster of speciality coffee places in the heart of Bristol, including the (now venerable) Small St Espresso and Full Court Press, along with relative newcomer Playground Coffee.

Tincan has a range of hot food from a brunch menu (served from 10am to 4pm), backed up with sandwiches and cakes served throughout the day. It’s a much larger space than its near-neighbours, probably offering more seating than all three combined!

The coffee is from Clifton Coffee Roasters, with a bespoke seasonal house-blend and single-origin on espresso, plus another single-origin on bulk-brew. Unusually, the single-origins on offer are different in the two Tincan branches (in my experience, for economies of scale, its usual have the same coffee at each branch). These are changed when the current batch runs out, usually every two weeks or so. For non-coffee drinkers, there’s tea from Brew Tea Co and Kokoa Collection hot chocolate.

December 2017: It appears that the Clare Street branch has closed, but the original North Street branch is still going strong. Thanks to Mike Stanbridge for the heads up.

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Glasgow Coffee Festival 2017 Preview

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The Glasgow Coffee Festival LogoIt’s that time of year again. No sooner has one festival finished, than another looms on the horizon. And, in my case, as soon as I get back from Japan, I’ll be heading up to Glasgow for the third Glasgow Coffee Festival. Unfortunately, I had to miss the first festival, which was back in 2014, but I made it to the second festival, which took place in 2015. Sadly, it then skipped a year in 2016 in order to move from the distinctly chilly months of October/November to warmer (we hope) times in May (the weekend of 6th/7th).

Although called the Glasgow Coffee Festival (it’s held in Glasgow, after all), it’s more a celebration of Scotland’s growing specialty coffee scene, with lots of contributors from further afield as well. After the first two years, when it was sold out, the festival has expanded from a single day to occupy the entire weekend, from Saturday morning to Sunday evening, putting it on a par with the likes of the Manchester Coffee Festival, a festival which it closely resembles in scale and atmosphere (compared to, say, the London Coffee Festival).

So, without further ado, sit back and enjoy my Glasgow Coffee Festival preview, or just see how I got on at the festival itself in the first of my three festival reports.

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London Coffee Festival 2017: Round-up

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The 2017 London Coffee Festival LogoSo there we have it, another year and yet another London Coffee Festival come and gone, my fifth in all. After attending all four days of last year’s festival, I scaled things back this year and only went on Friday (the industry day), and on the two consumer days (Saturday and Sunday).

Once again, I’ll be following my tried-and-trusted method of writing a series of themed Saturday Supplements, each covering a different aspect of the festival. Today’s Saturday Supplement is a general round-up, including what I made of the festival, the highs and lows, and what differed from last year. The remainder in the series, to be published over the coming weeks, will cover sustainability, kit & cups, my coffee experiences and the coffee itself.

I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now, but it’s worth repeating: the London Coffee Festival organisers do seem to learn from experience and listen to feedback. Each year, several issues from previous festivals have been addressed and, while the festival is still not perfect, it keeps on going from strength-to-strength, while still continuing to grow. Next year the festival returns to the Old Truman Brewery, this time from 12th to 15th April.

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25A Old Market

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Detail from the window of 25A Old Market in Bristol25A Old Market is the younger sibling of No 12 Easton, and, like No 12, it has the virtue of using its address as its name. In this case, it’s on Bristol’s Old Market Street, east of the city centre and north of Temple Meads station, but within easy walking distance of both. As well as being a coffee shop of some note, the other thing it shares with No 12 is that it’s a deli and general provisions store.

Occupying a bright, uncluttered spot on the north side of Old Market Street, a relatively small street front belies the sizable interior. There’s limited seating upstairs with a communal table and two small bars, while downstairs, in a basement half open to the front window, is more seating in the shape of a couple of tables and a very comfortable-looking sofa.

The local Extract Coffee Roasters provide the house-espresso and a seasonal filter blend (available through the Clever Dripper) while regular guests make appearances on both espresso and filter. There’s also a wide range of (Extract) beans to buy. While it doesn’t have No 12’s extensive food menu, there are also decent breakfast, lunch and cake options if you’re hungry.

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Baltzersen’s

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A shot of the guest espresso at Baltzersens in Harrogate, served in a handleless cup.Baltzersen’s has been around since 2012, when it joined Harrogate pioneers, Bean & Bud, which is just five minutes’ walk away from Baltzersen’s town centre location on Oxford Street. A curious blend of Yorkshire and Scandinavia, Baltzersen’s is a café with an excellent all-day food offering and some great coffee. From the outside, it doesn’t look that big, but Baltzersen’s goes a long way back, before ending in a large room which opens off to the right. There’s also a generous amount of outdoor seating on the pedestrianised street.

When it opened, Baltzersen’s was known more for its food than for its coffee, but these days it stands comparison with the best of them. The food, which is Scandinavian-inspired, is still excellent, with breakfast served until noon, when lunch takes over. This is joined by a small all-day brunch selection and plenty of excellent-looking cakes. The coffee, meanwhile, is from North Star in Leeds, which supplies the seasonal house-blend, plus rotating guests on the second grinder, which change on a monthly basis. There is also a monthly filter option from another Leeds roaster, Maude Coffee.

May 2018: Good news! Baltzersen’s has gone disposable free! If you come in for a takeway coffee and don’t have your own cup, you can buy a Pokito Cup for just £10 or pay £15 and get the cup plus £10 in coffee credit!

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