2014 Awards – Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot

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The downstairs at Cafe Mila, bathed in sunlight.We kick off the second day with the shortlist for the 2014 Coffee Spot Award for “Best Neighbourhood Coffee Spot”. In 2013 this went to Café Mila and it celebrates those Coffee Spots which are firmly rooted in, and which serve, their local communities. Unsurprisingly, the shortlist contains some of my favourite Coffee Spots of the year

This Award has quite a wide geographical spread, with Coffee Spots from Philadelphia, New York City and from across the UK from Exeter to Cardiff, Birmingham, Tring, Leeds and York.

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2014 Awards – Coffee Spot Most Resembling…

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Kahawa Cafe, occupying its corner spot with pride in the centre of Coventry.The last of today’s 2014 Coffee Spot Awards shortlists is the “Coffee Spot Most Resembling a Coffee Shop” Award. This was won in 2013 by Kahawa Cafe and celebrates those archetypal Coffee Spots that look just how they should look…

Of course, coffee shops come in all shapes and sizes, and there’s more than one archetype, so this award reflects the wide range of coffee shops and all the different styles they represent, with entries from all over the world (well, the UK, USA and France!).

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2014 Awards – Best Basement

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An espresso, made by my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, in a classic white cup and saucer from Acme & Co., New Zealand, distributed in the UK by Caravan Roastery.Our third shortlist in the 2014 Coffee Spot Awards is the first new award this year, the “Coffee Spot with the Best Basement” Award. As regular readers will know, I have a soft spot for Coffee Spots with good basements and it’s about time I got around to recognising this with an award.

To some, a basement is a dark, sometimes dingy, cramped space. However, when they are at their best, basements are cosy, welcoming spaces that provide the perfect spot to curl up with your coffee. This award celebrates those Coffee Spots with outstanding basements, the sort of places you want to go and spend all day in!

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2014 Awards – Best Takeaway Coffee

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A latte, complete with latte art by Rory, in a Bean About Town takeaway cup from the Kentish Town cart.Our second shortlist in the 2014 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Best Takeaway Coffee” Award, which was won last year by  Bean About Town, Kentish Town. It recognises those places which, braving the elements, still produce an excellent cup of coffee. This includes coffee carts, coffee stalls and those Coffee Spots which are so small that they only serve takeaway coffee. It doesn’t (normally) include those Coffee Spots which offer takeaway coffee along with the regular sit-in option.

In fairness, I don’t feature a lot of takeaway places on the Coffee Spot, partly because, for me, a lot of what makes a good Coffee Spot is the atmosphere. This can be hard to achieve at a stall when you’re serving your coffee in a paper cup (another bugbear of mine; if I know I’m going to be visiting a takeaway place, I try to take my own cup with me!). However, there are plenty of great takeaway places out there, serving excellent coffee, so don’t be afraid to give them a try.

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2014 Awards – Most Unlikely Place…

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The entrance to Attendant, in an old men's public lavatory on London's Foley Street.The first shortlist for the 2014 Coffee Spot Awards is the “Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot” Award, won in 2013 by Attendant. Finding Coffee Spots in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Bristol is to be expected. However, good Coffee Spots are everywhere, some of them are in very unexpected places, both geographically and in terms of setting.

This Award is very much defined by the nominees on the shortlist. Some of these are geographical, a reward for bringing great coffee to unexpected places. Others are a recognition of a great or unusual setting for a Coffee Spot.

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Coffee Spot Awards 2014

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An espresso, made by my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, in a classic white cup and saucer from Acme & Co., New Zealand, distributed in the UK by Caravan Roastery.Merry Christmas to all my followers old and new! I hope you had a good day yesterday and didn’t have too much to eat/drink. As 2014 comes to an end, I can’t believe how time has flown by. It really doesn’t seem like a year ago that I was doing the 2013 awards. Despite that, it’s been a packed year, with even more Coffee Spots than ever visited and written about.

With that in mind, it’s time to look back on 2014 with the third Annual Brian’s Coffee Spot Awards. Once again there are 20 Awards, although I’ve changed a few things since last year. The shortlists for each of the 20 Awards were published between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, with the winners announced on New Year’s Day.

Thank you to everyone who has visited the Coffee Spot this year, followed me on Twitter, liked my Facebook page or +1ed me on Google+. While I do this for the love of great coffee, it means a lot to me that so many of you take the time to read and comment on my writing. Without you reading what I write, it really would be pointless.

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Tamp Culture

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An espresso being poured via a single-spout basket at Tamp Culture in ReadingFor a long time, speciality coffee in Reading has meant the (excellent) Workhouse Coffee with its two branches on Oxford Road and King Street. However, that is slowly changing with the arrival of several new players, including the intriguing Tamp Culture, which has been at the entrance to the Oracle centre since April of this year.

Technically a coffee cart, Tamp operates perhaps the most impressive set-up I’ve seen, with a counter that puts many a shop to shame and a range of coffee-kit and merchandising that surpasses many a speciality outlet. What’s even more impressive is that whole edifice is dismantled every evening and packed away in the Piaggio Ape that forms the backbone of the operation. There’s even outdoor seating and a nice big awning to keep the rain/sun off the counter.

Like Workhouse, Tamp roasts all its own coffee, with a range of around 20 single-origin beans. Two of these are always on offer, the choice rotating on a weekly basis, with plenty more beans available to buy. As well as the usual espresso-based options, Tamp also offers Aeropress and pour-over filter options (these aren’t on the menu, so you have to ask).

July 2020: Following enforced closure due to COVID-19, Tamp Culture has reopened, initially for takeaway and then, from the start of July, for sit-in service. You can see what I made of it when I visited at the end of the month.

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Ancoats

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The Ancoats Coffee Co logo, the "o" in Ancoats being replaced with a stylised green coffee bean.Typical: you wait ages for a Meet the Roaster Saturday Supplement, then two come along in the same month! Hot on the heels of North Star Micro Roasters comes, from the other side of the Pennines, Manchester’s Ancoats Coffee Company.

Back in August, as part of my Manchester tour for Caffeine Magazine, I popped in to see Jamie, the man behind Ancoats. Appropriately enough, you can find Jamie in the birth-place of Manchester’s industrial revolution, the Ancoats district, after which the company takes its name. Just to the east of the city centre, it’s a remarkably accessible part of town, although it does look like it’s come straight out of the famous Life on Mars TV series, which was set in Manchester in the 1970s.

Jamie set up Ancoats in October 2013 and began trading in January 2014, so he’s about to celebrate Ancoats first birthday. Roasting on a 6 kg Giesen, Ancoats produces a seasonal espresso blend (appropriately enough, called Warehouse City), an excellent decaf and a number of single-origin beans. You can learn about Ancoats’ coffee on the website, where you can also buy the beans. Alternatively pop in and say hello: Jamie would love to see you.

November 2015: Ancoats has moved to an amazing new café/roastery in Manchester’s Royal Mills development. I’ve also done an update on the roastery.

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Fernandez & Wells, Somerset House

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A stumpy (a sort of mini flat white), in a glass, sitting in the sun in the courtyard of Somerset House at Fernandez and WellsAlmost a year after featuring Fernandez & Wells for the first time, with the delightful Exhibition Road branch, I thought it about time that I got around to writing up the Somerset House branch, where I’ve been a semi-regular visitor through the year. Set within Somerset House itself, with stunning views of the courtyard and, in the summer, copious outside seating, it’s one of the most physically appealing Coffee Spots that I’ve been to. Inside, high ceilings and large windows give it an immense sense of light and space, while multiple rooms, on a par with Paris’ La Caféothèque, means that there’s something for everyone.

A cross between wine-bar, deli and coffee shop, F&W’s food and coffee are as outstanding as the setting. Somerset House has a similar offering to Exhibition Road, with perhaps a slightly more extensive menu, which never fails to amaze and delight me. The coffee’s from Has Bean, with a bespoke house-blend on espresso. Open late into the evenings, it’s the perfect spot for an after-hours coffee or a bite to eat and while I haven’t tried it, the wine selection looks excellent. In the summer, it’s one of the best outdoor cafés in London.

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Artigiano Espresso, St Paul’s

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The Artigiano Espresso Logo, a capital A in gold on a slate-grey circle, with the words "Eat & Drink * Work & Play * Coffee & Food * Wine & Beer" written around the edge.In typical Coffee Spot fashion, I have visited the branches of Artigiano Espresso in reverse order, starting with the most recently opened in Exeter, at the start of this year, before moving onto the (now sadly closed) branch on New Oxford Street a month later. It then took me the rest of the year to get around to visiting the original Artigiano Espresso, located directly north of St Paul’s Cathedral on Paternoster Square in the heart of the City of London. And just in time too, since there’s another Artigiano opening in Reading on Wednesday!

If you’ve been to either of the other Artigiano Espressos, the original will look very familiar. It’s the smallest of the three, even taking into account that it’s split over two floors, with a lovely, cosy basement. Very much a coffee bar during the day, catering to city workers, it turns into a wine bar in the evening, and a very successful one at that if the Friday night I went past was anything to go by (it was heaving!). I turned up the following Saturday morning for breakfast: again, timing was on my side, since Artigiano has only recently started opening at weekends.

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