Dunne Frankowski at Sharps

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The A-board, proudly announcing the Dunne Frankowski Coffee Bar's collaboration with F.A.T: "Sandwiches, Pickles & Ice Cream"Sitting on Windmill Street and occupying the front half of a barbers shop, Dunne Frankowski at Sharps represents the latest venture for London coffee legends Rob Dunne and Victor Frankowski, perhaps best known for their London coffee shop, Protein. From the street, the shop’s branding is that of upmarket barbers, Sharps, although the A-board proclaiming “Dunne Frankowski Coffee Bar” is a bit of a giveaway. That, and the extremely good-looking Spirit Triplette from Dutch espresso-machine wizards Kees van der Westen which is plainly visible through the window!

Stepping inside, the focus is very clearly on the coffee, with Dunne Frankowski offering various options, including espresso from the aforementioned Spirit and filter coffee through an Aeropress or a more conventional filter machine. As is the fashion in quite a few speciality coffee shops these days, the beans are regularly rotated, with no particular house blend to fall back on.

As well as coffee, Dunne Frankowski has a limited food and cake menu, again on a guest basis, although in this case the suppliers change less frequently. Since opening a few months ago, food has been from F•A•T, with cakes from Violet, although I’ve been told that these are changing fairly soon.

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M1lk

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The (red) neon sign on the back wall of M1lkCrystal Palace’s loss is Balham’s gain. I was supposed to be going Bambino Coffee in Crystal Palace, but when I got there, it was closed (permanently, as it turned out), so I turned around and went back to Balham where I had previously passed the highly-commended M1lk.

Located a few strides away from Balham Train and Tube Stations along Balham High Road, M1lk is a delightful place. Although the address is Bedford Hill, if coming from the station, you’re better off cutting down Hildreth Street on your right. You’ll find M1lk at the end, on your left. In the summer, tables spill out onto the pavement of the pedestrianised street, while in the winter, a large awning gives protection to a row of four tables and benches.

Inside, you are spoilt for choice with some excellent coffee, all-day brunches and lots of cake (unless you arrive at four o’clock, when most of it has been eaten!). The espresso is from London’s Workshop, while the filter coffee (made with an Aeropress) features beans from Koppi, making M1lk the Swedish roasters’ only permanent outlet in London.

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Brown & Green, Crystal Palace Station

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Brown & Green at Crystal Palace StationDespite the explosion of great places around the country, good Coffee Spots at railway stations are something of a rarity, so while on my way to visit (the now defunct) Bambino Coffee in Crystal Palace, I was delighted to chance upon Brown & Green. It’s a lovely little place, tucked into the corner of the equally lovely ticket hall, built back in the days when railway stations were architectural statements in themselves.

Brown & Green plays a couple of important roles. First of all, it’s a place to grab coffee on your way to catch the train. While the coffee won’t have third-wave purists purring with delight, it’s a distinct notch up from the average station fare. Secondly, it’s a (self-styled) coffee-and-brunch neighbourhood café which just happens to be located in a railway station. It’s in this capacity that I visited Brown & Green.

The brunch menu isn’t extensive, but it’s pretty decent and I was impressed. A word of warning though: just be aware that if you are coming for lunch/brunch, the kitchen closes at 14.30 (a perfectly respectable time if you ask me) after which there is only a limited food menu available.

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Nest

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The A-board at Nest on Kensington Gardens, promising Has Bean's Blake Blend, delicious cakes and fresh food.Nest is one of the more recent additions to the booming Brighton coffee scene that I wrote about in my latest Caffeine Magazine article. Located in the North Laines area, it’s easy to miss since it’s not on a main thoroughfare. However, it’s well worth tracking down.

Nest is the sort of place that put the lounge into coffee lounge: a relaxed, chilled-out space where you could easily end up spending all day without quite meaning to. It helps that the coffee is excellent, as are the cakes, and there’s more than enough food to keep you going through the day!

Seating-wise, you have the choice of downstairs at the back, or the slightly quieter upstairs. Both have fairly standard tables and chairs and, surprisingly for such a laid-back place, there is only one sofa, tucked away in a corner upstairs. On the other hand, more sofas might mean that no-one would actually ever leave! Large windows dominate the front of Nest, which, coupled with a window at the back and the clever use of mirrors, mean that the interior is very bright. This is also true upstairs, where windows front and back provide plenty of light.

April 2015: Nest is no more, having been taken over and renamed Jolliffes at the start of March. You can see what I made of the new place…

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South Coast Roast

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An amazing Has Bean espresso, the Candy Cane blend, in a classic black cup from South Coast Roast.South Coast Roast is the “coffee specialist” outlet of Boscombe’s finest, Café Boscanova, which is an interesting concept since the coffee at Café Boscanova is some of the best I’ve had! However, according to South Coast Roast’s Facebook page, it’s “an outlet for the baristas at Cafe Boscanova to focus more intently on speciality coffee”. The good news is that South Coast Roast lives up to that promise, serving some excellent coffee in lovely surroundings.

Situated right in the heart of Bournemouth on Richmond Hill, South Coast Roast occupies the site of the much-missed Poppy Mae. However, I can think of no better successor to Poppy Mae than South Coast Roast, so every cloud has a silver-lining. South Coast Roast serves Has Bean, regularly changing the coffee on offer and frequently serving its own special blends. While I was there, it was the Candy Cane blend on the espresso machine, along with single-origin decaf bean from Columbia.  If you don’t fancy that, South Coast Roast has bulk-brew filter (a Columbian blend) and there’s a Clever Dripper option (a Costa Rican single-origin).

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CoffeeWorks Project

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The Slayer at Coffee Works Project, complete with bottomless portafiller, in actionLiterally a stone’s throw away from Monday’s Coffee Spot, Islington’s Tinderbox, we find relative newcomer, the CoffeeWorks Project, which recently celebrated its first birthday. In fact, you could see Tinderbox from the CoffeeWorks Project’s front window and vice-versa, were it not for the brick-built arcade, now occupied by a Jack Wills, which separates Islington’s Upper Street (Tinderbox) from the High Street (CoffeeWorks Project).

The CoffeeWorks Project, as the name implies, is all about the coffee, although that shouldn’t detract from the excellent sandwiches and cakes, plus the quirky layout and lovely garden (sadly closed in the winter). However, pride of place goes to the Slayer espresso machine, the only one in London and one of (I believe) just four in the country. Using this beauty, owner Peter and his team get the best out of their Has Bean coffee, throwing some very impressive pour-overs into the mix.

While I was there, the CoffeeWorks Project had two espresso single-origins, plus a decaf single-origin, to go with another three single-origin pour-over options and a bulk-brew filter thrown in for good measure. I did my best to sample them all, but may well have to return for another go!

December 2016: The CoffeeWorks Project is now a mini-chain with three branches (this, Leadenhall Market and Blackfriars Road) and, since the summer, it has been roasting all its own coffee.

September 2018: Good news and bad news. The CoffeeWorks Project is now a mini-chain with five branches, but sadly the Leadenhall Market branch has had to close.

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Tinderbox, Islington

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Tinderbox's entrance on the lower level of the N1 Centre, Islington.Tucked away in the Upper Street entrance to the N1 Centre in Islington, you’ll find Tinderbox. From the street, it’s fairly unassuming: a couple of tables outside and what looks like a short corridor with a counter on the left and a bar at the back. Stand outside, though, and look up; you’ll see a balcony which promises more. Walk past the counter, up three flights of stairs at the back and you’ll find yourself in one of London’s most eclectic coffee spaces.

Second only to the Boston Tea Party on Bristol’s Park Street, Tinderbox has a long-standing place in my affections. I’ve been going there for almost 10 years and it’s still one of my favourite spots. It has an uncomplicated attitude, with a straightforward coffee and cake offering, along with a quirky attitude and layout that always makes it fun to visit. It’s also one of a growing number of places where you can get decent coffee after six o’clock in the evening.

The cakes are pretty impressive, with cheesecakes and traditional Italian offerings such as cannoli, plus Portuguese favourites pastel de nata and bolo de arroz. Tinderbox also has savouries such as sandwiches and stuffed flat breads.

January 2015: Sadly Tinderbox closed at the end of last year.

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Rave Coffee Roasters

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Three bags of Rave Coffee, packed and ready to go!Today’s Saturday Supplement is the first in an occasional series called “Meet the Roaster”. I did cover a roaster, Leighton Buzzard’s House of Coffee last year, back when the Coffee Spot was young and the Saturday Supplement wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye. However, since the Coffee Spot’s focus is on places to drink coffee, rather than on how it’s produced, I’ve tended not to cover roasters.

That said, there are many wonderful small roasters out there and every now and then I find myself visiting one. So, I present the first “Meet the Roaster”, none other than Rave Coffee, who we met last month, when the Coffee Spot featured the café attached to Rave’s roastery in Cirencester.

That I went to Rave at all is down to Sharon, head box-packer and promoter-in-chief on twitter. Sharon arranged everything, handing me over to the owner, Rob, on arrival. I had a tour of the roastery, although “tour” might be overstating things: Rave fits nicely into a single industrial unit, going from green beans to bagged, roasted coffee via a series of stations around the room. It’s a little confusing to the untutored eye, but is actually a very smooth operation.

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Coffee@33

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An espresso shot extracting on the Mavam modular espresso system at Brighton's Coffee @33.I was originally put onto Coffee@33 by Horsham Coffee Roaster in 2013, which is when I first visited, Back then, Coffee@33 used legendary London roasters, Monmouth, along with the more local Horsham Coffee Roaster. Since 2015, however, Coffee@33 has roasted its own beans, first using a small hot-air roaster in the shop, then a more conventional gas-fired roaster in a dedicated facility. At the end of 2018, Coffee@33 returned to its original partnership with Horsham Coffee, roasting on Horsham’s new Loring roaster. Not only has this meant renewing ties with Horsham, but it signifies a return to air-roasting on a high-capacity, efficient machine.

Coffee@33 serves a Brazilian/Nicaraguan espresso blend, accompanied by several single-origins. One is available on espresso, providing a contrast to the blend, while the others are available as pour-over using the Kinto dripper. As well as the unusual choice of filter method, Coffee@33 is a trend-setter when it comes to espresso, being one a handful of UK shops to use the Mavam modular espresso system. If you’re hungry, there’s a selection of sandwiches, which can be toasted, and a wide selection of cakes and pastries to choose from, all baked on-site.

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Taylor Street Baristas, Brighton

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The Taylor Street Baristas since, with its emblem of a latte-art leafA short walk down Queen Street in the direction of the sea from Brighton Station sees you arrive at Taylor Street Baristas, set back from the street on a slightly elevated pavement. From the outset, it’s a very tempting place, the sort of coffee shop that makes you want to immediately step inside. I’d have gone in even if it (a) wasn’t on my list and (b) hadn’t been recommended by other Brighton coffee shops.

Inside, Taylor Street Baristas is just as welcoming as it appears from the street. However, for me the main draw is the lovely little garden at the back. Good coffee shops with decent gardens are in short supply, so it’s always a pleasure to find another one (the lucky folks of Brighton also have The Marwood: it’s not fair!).

It also helps that the coffee is excellent. Taylor Street Baristas offers the usual espresso-based menu, along with batch-brew filter and V60/Aeropress options. The house blend (Rogue Espresso) is from Union Hand-roasted and there are regularly-rotating guest espressos and guest filters. While I was there, the guest espresso was Has Bean’s Kicker blend, with a Has Bean Costa Rica on the batch-brew.

November 2015: Taylor Street Baristas has closed its iconic Brighton branch to concentrate on the stores in London, plus the chain’s expansion plans. I know that there were plans to sell it as a going concern, so watch this space, but for now it’s closed.

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