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Fix 126

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A flat white in a glass from Fix 126, sporting particularly impressive latte art.The sister branch to Fix Coffee, a long-standing Shoreditch coffee shop which first opened its doors in 2009, Fix 126 arrived not long after on Curtain Road. Serving a bespoke espresso blend plus a single-origin V60 pour-over (both from Climpson and Sons), Fix 126, like its roaster, flies a little bit under the radar, quietly doing its own thing, while, over the years, more illustrious names have popped up on neighbouring streets.

A bright, airy space, with exposed-brick pillars between the numerous windows and a lovely, wooden floor, it has the “hipster coffee shop look” nailed, except Fix was doing it several years before it was trendy.  The layout is simple and uncluttered, with communal tables in the centre, window-bars around two of the four walls and a cosy little nook at the back.

That I made it to Fix 126 at all is down to fellow blogger, Jess, of EastingEast, who invited me to a pre-London Coffee Festival breakfast, a proposition I agreed to with unnecessary haste, before regretting as I dragged myself out of bed on Saturday morning an hour earlier than was strictly necessary. However, all was forgiven when I discovered what a gem Fix 126 is.

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The Cow & Co Cafe

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The Cow & Co Cafe logo taken from the front of the menu.The Cow & Co Cafe started life in Liverpool as a design store in 2009. Over time, an espresso machine found its way into the store and, before long, customers were coming in as much for the coffee as for the various gifts and products on the shelves. Slowly, the design shop morphed into what you see today, the Cow & Co Cafe, a speciality coffee shop, with Cornwall’s Origin Coffee Roasters on espresso and, for somewhere so small, an impressive food and cake selection.

It still retains its roots as a design store though, with a large set of retail shelves, while there’s also a rack of art, design and lifestyle magazines. Think of a smaller version of Manchester’s Fig + Sparrow crossed with London’s Kioskafé. The coffee offering and magazines are more on a par with Kioskafé, while the food and design elements are more in keeping with Fig + Sparrow.

Although it’s only small, Cow & Co packs a lot in, including a lovely mezzanine level, which more than doubles the seating capacity. There’s also a couple of tables outside on the pavement, the dead-end Cleveland Square being a pleasant-enough environment if you want to sit outside.

February 2019: Cow & Co is now called Thoughtfully Cafe, but as far as I can tell, nothing else has changed.

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Victrola Roastery & Café

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The Victrola Coffee Roasters logo, showing a black-and-white line drawing of the 1920s phonograph after which Victrola is named.Victrola Coffee Roasters is a local chain of three Seattle cafés, with this, its second location, doubling as both roastery (to the left) and café (centre and right). Occupying a gorgeous, spacious and bright 1920s building on the steeply-sloping East Pike Street, it’s a lovely spot, just a block away from the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room. I know where I’d rather be.

Victrola has been going since 2000 and roasting since 2003. In 2007, the roastery and café opened and since then all Victrola’s coffee has been roasted here. Just as the café is a bright, airy space, so is the roastery, separated from the café by tall windows which run all the way to the back.

Victrola offers a house-blend (Streamline) on espresso, plus decaf and a single-origin which changes every month or so. There are two single-origins on pour-over, which change every few months, available through the V60. There’s also a cafetiere option, but no batch brew. The full range of beans are for sale from the retail shelves at the back.

There’s also a selection of soft drinks and a limited range of beer. If you’re hungry, there’s a decent selection of sandwiches, salads and cake.

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Coffee & Fandisha

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A miniature Jebena, the traditional Ethiopian coffee pot, on a table at Liverpool's Coffee & FandishaI must confess, the tag line “where coffee meets popcorn” didn’t initially inspire me. Really? Coffee and popcorn? However, Coffee & Fandisha came highly recommended, and, since I’d made the journey to Liverpool’s Baltic triangle (admittedly only a 15-minute walk from the centre), I thought I’d better go in…

So, what is Coffee & Fandisha? The clue’s in the name, “Fandisha” being Ethiopian for popcorn. It transpires that popcorn’s a traditional element in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, consumed while waiting for the coffee to stop you getting hungry. Hence, Coffee & Fandisha, “where coffee meets popcorn”.

Coffee & Fandisha’s an interesting mix of Ethiopian tradition, modern third-wave coffee and old-fashioned Liverpudlian hospitality. Occupying a single-storey, open-plan brick building, Coffee & Fandisha’s a cosy, welcoming place. There’s a bespoke blend of Ethiopian coffee on espresso, roasted by London’s Ethiopian Coffee Company and served, naturally enough, with complimentary popcorn.

If you don’t fancy espresso, there’s a single-origin filter (V60/Chemex), the roaster rotating between Neighbourhood Coffee, Casa Espresso or Nude Espresso. There’s also loose-leaf tea, Kokoa Collection hot chocolate, wines and spirits, while if you’re hungry, you can choose from the breakfast, brunch and lunch menus, or feast on the decent cake selection.

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Meet the Roaster: Neighbourhood Coffee

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Detail from the label to Neighbourhood Coffee's Brazil Sitio Jacutinga: "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Latte)", witth tasting notes of black cherry, milk chocolate and praline. The coffee is naturally-processed (patio-dried) and consists of red and yellow catuai varietals grown at 1,200m altitude.Liverpool’s Neighbourhood Coffee has come a long way since I first met the founders, Ed and Chris, at Cup North in 2015, the year Neighbourhood was founded. Although the company was new, Ed and Chris were old hands in the coffee business, having previously worked for green-bean importers and African coffee specialists, Schluter (now part of Olam). Back then, Neighbourhood was Liverpool’s first speciality coffee roastery, operating from a very modern set-up in a railway arch just north of the city centre, which I visited at the end of the year.

These days, the company is still going strong, consistent growth leading to the roastery shifting further north in 2020, moving into a large unit on the Sandon Industrial Estate by Liverpool’s docks. When I visited, in June 2022, the faithful 15kg Giesen, which has been with Neighbourhood since the beginning, was about to be joined by a 60 kg Giesen, evidence of Neighbourhood’s continued growth. Typical output now consists of three blends, a decaf and around 15 single-origins, plus a new line in coffee pods. These are available from coffee shops around the UK, online via the revamped website and in-person at the retail counter at the roastery.

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Slate Coffee Roasters, Ballard

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The sign from the window of Slate Coffee Roasters in Seattle: the words 'SLATE COFFEE ROASTERS', one word per lineI wrote about Slate Coffee Roasters last summer: I’d been so impressed with the amazing coffee tasting flight that I wanted to write about it there and then. So I did. Today it’s finally the turn of Slate itself, which occupies a rather unprepossessing building in Ballard, in suburban Seattle. Although from the outside it might not seem like much, it’s worth the trek, since Slate’s possibly the best coffee shop I’ve ever visited (since my visit, two more branches, Pioneer Square and University District, have opened).

It’s also a remarkably small spot. There’s a pair of tables outside, one for either window, and another table at the pavement’s edge, along with a couple of benches. Inside, there’s a pair of window-bars or you can do what I did and perch at either end of the counter on a bar stool.

The real draw is, of course, the coffee, which is all roasted in-house, and served from a pared back menu which puts the focus firmly on the coffee. There’s also a small selection of cakes and savoury snacks. Slate is all about speciality and, in everything it does, it tries to be special, from the coffee to the service.

June 2019: My visit to Slate was one of my personal Coffee Spot highlights. I’m therefore deeply saddened to learn of reports of mistreatment of the staff.

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Playground Coffee

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The front of Playground Coffee, with the door to the right, window to the left and with a table and two chairs in front of the windowThere are a few games cafés dotted around the country, but Bristol’s Playground Coffee is the only one I know of that serves speciality coffee. Similarly, while Bristol has some excellent speciality coffee shops, this is the only one doubling as a games café. And it has swings. You really can’t go wrong when there are swings involved.

With a house espresso blend from local Roasted Rituals and  a regularly-rotating guest, Playground has the speciality side of things nailed. There’s also filter through V60, Aeropress, Chemex and Syphon, with beans from various guest roasters (the clothes line strung above the counter provides a who’s who of roasters which have graced Playground’s grinders). There’s also tea, hot chocolate and a small selection of cake.

I can’t comment on the games, save to say that there seemed to be a good selection on offer to borrow/play. Overall, Playground’s a small, cosy spot with a friendly, quirky atmosphere. This was aided by the lovely Francesca, who’d previously worked for Playground and the likes of Brighton’s Café Coho. She was minding the store for a week while the owners were on holiday in Berlin and it’s clear that they left things in good hands…

December 2016: I popped back to say hello and discovered that Playground now has a drinks licence and stays open until late each evening, serving wine, spirits and its very own coffee-infused gin! It’s also moved over to be a full multi-roaster, with two single-origins on espresso, usually chosen to offer contrasting tastes, from a rotating cast of roasters.

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Iris & June

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A black circle with the words "Iris&June" written in white inside itI’ve been meaning to get to Iris & June for a long time. It had already been on my list for ages when I ran into the owner, Jodie, at the True Artisan Café at last year’s London Coffee Festival. I was so embarrassed, I rashly promised to pay Iris & June a visit. With this year’s London Coffee Festival rapidly approaching, I thought I’d better pull my finger out! The problem is, the area around Victoria Station, where Iris & June calls home, just isn’t somewhere I go very often. So, when some friends suggested meeting up in Pimlico on Monday evening, I seized my chance with both hands!

Iris & June is one of those coffee shops where the focus is just as much on the food as it is on the coffee. However, whereas a lot of coffee shops would be happy with a decent espresso and maybe some batch-brew filter, Iris & June puts as much effort into its coffee as many a dedicated speciality coffee shop. Ozone’s Empire Blend is on espresso, but it’s the pour-over where Iris & June really shines, with three single-origins from Ozone & guests, available as V60, Aeropress or bulk-brew.

July 2020: Iris & June has reopened with pretty much its full service offering. You can see what I made of it when I visited in August.

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Elm Coffee Roasters

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The Elm Coffee Roasters sign, hanging outside on a sunny Seattle day.Elm Coffee Roasters is a relatively new addition to Seattle’s excellent speciality coffee scene, having only opened in December 2014 and celebrating its six month anniversary not long before my visit in the summer of last year. On 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle, it’s very close to King Street Station, which makes it the ideal spot to start your coffee tour of Seattle if arriving by train or bus. Which I did, Seattle being the last stop of my coast-to-coast journey that had started in Portland, Maine. And I didn’t go, because I forgot to check my phone and didn’t realise how close Elm was when I got off the train! And I’m still kicking myself even now, nine months later.

It’s not just that Elm is a beautiful, large, uncluttered sun-drenched space and an amazing location for a coffee shop. It’s also a roaster, with all the coffee being roasted in the Probat at the back of the store, in plain view for all to see. In that respect, it’s like Stoked Roasters + Coffeehouse in Hood River, or, for UK readers, Birmingham’s Quarter Horse Coffee. Best of all is a coffee menu that lets you try absolutely everything!

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Wyndham Tea

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The Waterloo Tea sign, hanging outside Wyndham Tea, Waterloo Tea's branch in Cardiff's Wyndham Arcade.Wyndham Tea is the third of Cardiff’s well-respected Waterloo Tea chain. Most unexpectedly for the Coffee Spot, I’ve actually visited them all in the order that they opened, starting with the original out in Pen Y Lan and continuing with Washington Tea in Penarth. Wyndham Tea is Waterloo Tea’s first foray into the city centre and, pleasing enough, is on the Wyndham Arcade, one arcade down from Uncommon Ground and two down from The Plan.

What you get with Wyndham Tea is everything you’ve come to expect from Waterloo Tea: a fantastic range of over 60 excellent loose-leaf teas, superb coffee (espresso and pour-over) from an ever-changing cast of roasters, fabulous food, all prepared on-site and a range of delicious cakes (now all baked on-site in the kitchen upstairs). All of this is in Waterloo Tea’s classiest setting yet, spread over two floors and spilling out into the arcade itself, where the pink and gold sofas make it hard to miss.

Best of all is that Waterloo Tea has now moved to full table service, reinforcing its notion of a “slow setting”, somewhere where you’re encourage to sit and linger; comfort, with a touch of class.

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