Category: coffee

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Pretty Coffee

I was in Amsterdam for a conference and was staying at the Hotel Casa which is close to Amstelstation.

I hadn’t been able to book breakfast with my hotel booking and I wasn’t willing to pay €17.50 for a buffet breakfast, which if my other Dutch experiences were anything to go by it wasn’t going to be that good value for money. So, after getting washed and dressed I headed out to the nearby Jumbo supermarket. I got four croissant for €1, some orange juice, and I got some more Illy espresso capsules for the hotel room coffee machine, all for €7.31. Bargain!

On one of the following days, my plan was to head to the supermarket to get some croissant and an orange juice. However, it was pouring with rain. So, I went to the hotel café for a flat white and croissant.

They did make a very pretty coffee.

flat white coffee

Either I left it too long as I ate my croissant, or they didn’t pre-heat the cup, as the coffee wasn’t very hot when I came to drink it. Difficult to really judge how good or bad the coffee was, as it wasn’t at the right temperature. They did give me a biscuit though, which I didn’t really want as it was first thing in the morning. So, not really sure about my overall verdict, okay it was pretty.

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Seriously?

I was at the NEC and needing not just a coffee, but a place to sit, I went against all my better judgement and ordered a flat white from the Starbucks there.

This is what I was served!

I know it was not a flat white, as the method they used to make it was the same method it appeared they were using to make latte and cappuccino as well. They frothed up some milk and then added it to espresso coffee!

Then they had the cheek to charge me £4.25 for it as well. Coffee seems so much more expensive these days.

I really should know better and not bothered.

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Flat White at Hanbury Hall

Hanbury Hall

I stopped off at Hanbury Hall, a National Trust property for a break during travelling. The house was lovely, but afterwards I headed to the stable for a coffee.  I went with a flat white.

It was nice and I enjoyed it.

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Screaming Beans Flat White

Amsterdam

I was visiting the Netherlands attending a conference in Delft, I had some time before my flight home to explore part of Amsterdam. After walking around a bit, I decided to stop for a coffee.

I quite liked the look of Screaming Beans, even if the name was a little unnerving. I ordered a flat white and took a seat.

Flat white coffee on a table in a cafe

This was hand crafted coffee which looked great and was delicious. Though small and cosy, it was a welcoming environment and a pleasant place to spend some time drinking coffee.

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Coffee at Kaldi (again)

Amsterdam Canal

I was visiting the Netherlands attending a conference in Delft, I had some time before my flight home to explore part of Amsterdam.  After walking around a bit I remembered that the last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2023 where I was in Amsterdam for a conference. Back then I had some time to explore the city as well and had a delightful coffee at Kaldi.

I decided I would try and find Kaldi again, though the obvious solution would be to be to use Google Maps, what I actually did was use Apple Photos find the picture of the coffee I had taken which had the geo-location data. I did then need to check Google Maps to see where I was and in my head work out a route.

I actually found it more easily than I thought I would.

Kaldi

I went in and ordered a flat white, and took a seat. It certainly is a popular place, more for coffee to go, than sit in. It wasn’t long before my coffee was ready, it looked great.

coffee on a table with a window in the background

The coffee was delicious and I really enjoyed sitting in Kaldi, drinking coffee, and watching the world go by through the window.

So, I guess, the next time I am in Amsterdam, I think I will try and find Kaldi again.

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Wet Sponge Cake

One of the things I quite like about Lidl and Aldi are their themed weeks, where they have limited stocks of different kinds of products based around a theme, usually a country such as France or Italy.

Recently, Aldi did an Italian themed week, I picked up some pasta, but also what was a Tiramisu dessert which was described (or translated) as Coffee-Wet Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Cream.

This did amuse me, but also got me thinking about who does this kind of translation, in this instance at the Balconi factory in Italy. Do they not check with a native (or at least a fluent) English speaker about the translation?

You sometimes get weird translations with Chinese, Korean or even Japanese products, but usually with European products, the translation is more accurate. 

So anyone for a slice of wet sponge cake?

Actually I quite liked it.

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Flat White at the Darts Farm

flat white coffee on a table

I had driven over to the Darts Farm Shop in Topsham, which has a bank of Tesla chargers available. After working out the best way to position my Funky Cat to charge I headed into the Farm Shop.

This was a lovely farm shop with lots of local produce. I was very tempted. I did though head over to the cafe to get a coffee and pass the time as the car charged up.

Unlike many other farm shop cafes this cafe had table service, which was nice. They had a lovely sounding menu, however, firstly I wasn’t hungry, and even if I was, they had just finished food service when I arrived.

I ordered a flat white, and it wasn’t long before it arrived.

It was a well made coffee and I really enjoyed it.