Goodge St Espresso

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Goodge Street Espresso's Famous Manual TypewriterI honestly thought that New York City’s I Am Coffee had the 2013 Coffee Spot Award for “Smallest Coffee Spot” sown up. Then I found Goodge St Espresso. Whereas I Am Coffee is wide and tall, but not very deep, Goodge St Espresso is long and thin and not very tall. There are a few Coffee Spots where I can touch both walls with arms outstretched: Goodge St Espresso is the first where I can do that while standing against one of the walls! Think of a corridor with good coffee at the end of it and cake along the way, and you won’t go too far wrong.

Setting your expectations is key with Goodge St Espresso. Don’t expect somewhere that you can linger: the only place to sit is outside on a couple of stools. Don’t expect fancy cups: the only sort you get at Goodge St Espresso are takeaway, although as takeaway cups go, they’re very fine indeed. Do expect a warm welcome, some fine coffee and plenty of homemade cakes. Surprisingly for such a small place, Goodge St Espresso offers a choice of an espresso blend and a single origin, both from Nude Espresso.

July 2016: not sure when it happened, but Goodge St Espresso is sadly no more. I walked by the other day and it had closed.

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Arch Sixteen Café

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The Arch Sixteen Logo in the window of Arch Sixteen Cafe: Fine Food & DrinkArch Sixteen Café is the latest addition to the Newcastle coffee scene. Okay, I’ll stop myself right there, because, of course, Arch Sixteen is in Gateshead, a few short steps away from the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge across the Tyne. If there’s one thing that Tyneside has in abundance, it’s great bridges. If you’re visiting Newcastle you could do a lot worse than head across one of them and give Arch Sixteen (which is also within easy striking distance of the Tyne Bridge and, via a steep hill, the Swing Bridge) a try. Of course, if you live in Gateshead, the good news is that you don’t have to go all the way to Newcastle to get great coffee.

Opened in May 2013 by the lovely Pam, Arch Sixteen serves its own house blend roasted by local coffee legends, Pumphrey’s. There are also some excellent-looking cakes and a short but interesting-looking food menu. However, where Arch Sixteen really comes up trumps is in its lovely, spacious interior, which, coupled with Pam’s genuine, warm welcome, makes it a wonderful place either to pop in for a quick espresso or to stay for the whole day.

June 2016: Arch Sixteen now uses local roasters, Colour Coffee Company, the roasting off-shoot of Pink Lane Coffee.

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Quay Ingredient

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Eggs Florentine and Toast at Quay IngredientTucked away under Newcastle‘s Tyne Bridge on a street that not even the local map seemed to think existed, Quay Ingredient took a little finding, but it was worth it (the trick is to walk until you are standing directly under the Tyne Bridge and, as if by magic, you’ll find yourself in front of Quay Ingredient).

The main draw for me is the range of excellent breakfasts: when I asked for recommendations, Quay Ingredient was top of everyone’s lists and it didn’t disappoint! Quay Ingredient’s not a huge place and you might have to wait for a table, such is its popularity. However, it’s definitely worth the wait with classics on the menu such as Eggs Florentine (my favourite), full English, grilled Caster kippers and cinnamon pancakes. Breakfast is served until 11.30 during the week and all day at weekends. If breakfast’s not your thing, there are sandwiches, salads and soup, plus cake, of course.

Quay Ingredient has a lovely, friendly atmosphere. You’re assured a warm welcome from Maggie, who works front of house, and her husband, Simon, who does all the cooking in the little kitchen at the back. Impressively, Maggie remembered me from my first visit six months before!

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The Settle Down Café

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The Settle Down Cafe on Newcastle's Thornton Street. One of the nicest places to sit outside.The Settle Down Café, just on the western edge of Newcastle city centre and within easy striking distance of the station, is a friendly, laid-back, community café. You can tell a lot by the staff that a café employs and the folks in the Settle Down were lovely. Even though I’d turned up near closing time on a Saturday, nothing was too much trouble for them. Where other staff might be eager to usher you out, shut up shop and head home, at the Settle Down, they were happy to serve me, making me feel right at home.

What makes the Settle Down is the atmosphere. Multiple spaces, including a lovely outdoor seating area, means that there’s plenty of space, but each area has a fairly intimate feel to it. The coffee, from local roasters Ouseburn Coffee Co, is pretty good, while there’s a wide range of food and cake, all locally made, with a lot of it coming from the nearby Sugar Down bakery.

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White Mulberries

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White Mulberries in St Katherine DockWhite Mulberries is one of those hidden gems of the London Coffee Scene that you really need to know about if you’re going to find it. Tucked away in the lovely St Katherine Docks, opposite the lock with the Thames, it’s not the sort of place you’d casually walk past. However, once you’ve found it, chances are you wouldn’t want to go anywhere else, even though the area is awash with cafes (I walked past five on my way to White Mulberries).

Run by husband and wife team Peyman and Rana, I was immediately struck by the friendly, welcoming atmosphere. It helps that the coffee, from London roasters, Allpress and Nude Espresso, is very good, while the cakes are excellent, but what makes White Mulberries stand out from the crowd is the warm welcome you get. It’s not a huge space and there’s not that much in the way of seating, but it’s the sort of place that makes you want to come back time after time.

April 2014: White Mulberries won “London’s Best Coffee Shop” in the inaugural London Coffee Stops Awards!

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The 2014 Coffee Spot Calendar

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An espresso on one of the tables in the garden at the back of the Boston Tea Party, Park Street, BristolSo, I’ve decided to take the plunge and go into the brave world of Coffee Spot merchandising with a Coffee Spot calendar for 2014. The idea is to produce a professionally-printed calendar, A4 in size. Each month there will be landscape, A4 picture from one of the Coffee Spots I covered in that month.

Each calendar will cost £12.00, with a flat fee of £1.20 postage and packing (UK only), regardless of how many you order. For non-UK orders, I will provide you with a specific quote for the postage.

Update: it looks as if the calendar will be going ahead! However, I’d still like some more pre-orders please…

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Kaffeine

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Kaffeine on Great Titchfield Street on a rainy October day.Kaffeine is a legend in the London Coffee scene, one of the original Australian/Kiwi-owned coffee shops that some credit with kicking off the London coffee revolution of the last few years. Just around the corner from BBC Broadcasting House on Great Titchfield Street, Kaffeine is very much known by its reputation as somewhere where you get great coffee.

That’s just as well since Kaffeine’s offering is limited by its size. There’s no Wifi or power for the laptop/internet junkies and seating is at a premium, so Kaffeine is somewhere you come for the coffee, from Square Mile, and the atmosphere created by the friendly and knowledgeable staff.

However, don’t expect fancy pour-over options or Aeropresses with a choice of multiple guest beans. While Kaffeine is definitely third wave in its outlook (no buckets of milk with a dash of coffee here), the menu is espresso-based only. When it opened four years ago, there wasn’t much competition, but now with excellent coffee shops opening left, right and centre, including Attendant a few doors up on Foley Street, Kaffeine needs to be on top of its game to stay at the forefront of the London coffee scene.

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Talkhouse Coffee

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Talkhouse Coffee, as seen from the opposite side of Portobello RoadMy visit to Talkhouse Coffee has been a long time coming. I got nagged about it at the London Coffee Festival, but it still took me another six months to make it over to the top end of Portobello Road… (This, by the way, isn’t strictly true. The day I ended up at Bean About Town and The Fields Beneath in Kentish Town, I did actually go to Talkhouse first, but it was a Monday, so it was closed… Planning fail!).

However, it was worth the wait/aborted attempt. Talkhouse is a fantastic place, with multiple spaces, each with its own character. The staff are very welcoming and friendly, the coffee excellent and the cakes superb. The sandwich I had (red pepper and hummus on brown bread; very spicy) was pretty decent too! It’s also full of nice little touches, such as table service and a bottle of water turning up on your table without you having to ask.

The focus, however, is very much on the coffee, and what a choice there is! Four options on the Aeropress (two from Square Mile, two from Workshop), bulk filter and Workshop’s Cult of Dome on the espresso machine. You can’t go wrong.

July 2015: Sad news, but it looks like Talkhouse has had to close

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Vagabond N7

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The interior of Vagabond N7, looking from just inside the door to the counter.How did it take me this long to visit the delightful Vagabond N7? For those not in the know, Vagabond N7 is the bigger offshoot of Vagabond N4, sitting on the Holloway Road at the north end of Islington. One of the gems of the London coffee scene, that I even visited it at all is down to The Café Cat who invited me along to talk coffee, café culture and Wales. I can’t even claim ignorance since my fellow coffee-bloggers have been raving about it for a while now…

What I’ve been missing is a lovely place with that just-moved-in-and-haven’t-decorated-yet unfinished look that is all the rage in trendy coffee shops. It’s the sort of look that, if you get it wrong, you just look naff, a wannabe trend-setter who missed the boat. Of course, if you get it right, like Vagabond, it looks the most natural thing in the world.

It helps that the coffee, from Has Bean, is excellent and the barista, Gabriel, is knowledgeable, passionate and committed. Rather disturbingly, it was the third Has Bean I’d had in a week that I liked and the first that I’d positively raved about. I think I’ve gone mad…

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Brewsters N7

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A fine piccolo with excellent latte art, made by head Barista, Sonny, at Brewsters N7.There’s not a great deal to Brewsters N7. It’s the sort of place you could accidentally walk past without noticing, save for the large, unsubtle A-board on the pavement outside, promising coffee. However, step inside and you will be richly rewarded by one of London’s newest coffee shops.

On the northern edge of Islington, halfway between Highbury & Islington and Holloway Road tube stations, Brewsters is one of the smaller Coffee Spots I’ve been too. Not quite as small New York’s I Am Coffee, it’s like a longer, thinner version of Manchester’s Caffeine & Co. Or, for another reference point, it’s about half the size of Bristol’s Small St Espresso.

It’s not so small that there’s nowhere to sit, but the lack of space creates an interesting dynamic since you really can’t avoid interacting with the barista. It’s just as well that Sonny, who was on duty while I was there, is a cheerful, engaging soul. For somewhere that’s so small, Brewsters packs a lot in, including a decent espresso menu, based around Allpress’ Redchurch blend. There’s also food, a decent selection of reading material and some interesting music.

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