Time for a Caramel Waffle

Caramel Waffle

When is a waffle not a waffle? When it’s a caramel waffle.

Most coffee places seems to sell these caramel wafers and now and again I have been known to order one alongside my coffee.

They are crunchy, chewy and rather sweet, however they complement the coffee quite nicely if you fancy something sweet.

However they are not in my opinion real waffles, they have a waffle texture to look at, but are more wafer than waffle.

Consistent Coffee

Despite the fact that it shouldn’t be the case I am still surprised by how varied coffee can be from different branches of the same chain. In some ways that could be argued to be a good thing, as coffee is an art and maybe shouldn’t be the same everywhere. However though I do expect a level of difference between the coffees made by different baristas, the differences between the coffees should be marginal. However as I said often I find a flat white in one branch is totally different to one from another. Even the simple Americano can be made badly.

What I would say though is my experience of Caffé Nero has been unusually consistent across the different branches I have been to in various cities. It’s also great coffee as well as consistent.

Soft and Sweet

Recently at Bristol Temple Meads I was changing trains, down in the subway is a (relatively) new Starbucks. I didn’t enjoy the coffee I had at the AMT stand so even though it isn’t my favourite coffee, I always think they over roast their beans, I went to Starbucks.

In the end I went with my usual standby, a tall Americano and in their usual marketing ways, I was asked if I wanted a cake or a pastry. I was feeling a little peckish, so looking over I decided to go with the chocolate caramel slice.

Once on the train I settled down to my coffee and cake. The coffee wasn’t that bad and I was quite pleased. I think it’s interesting how different coffee can be even across a chain as standardised as Starbucks. The worst place for Starbucks I find are the motorway services where I generally get poor service and not so good coffee. However this time I was pleased with what I got.

As for the chocolate caramel slice, I remembered that i much prefer them if they are chilled, this was a little too near room temperature. Having said that the shortbread was crumbly and flaky, I did feel it crumbled a little too much and needed a lot more bite. The caramel (as was to be expected) was soft and sweet, but not too sweet. The chocolate though was a little on the thin side, I think had it been chilled, so it was hard and brittle, it would work well with the soft caramel, as it was it too was a little soft. So the end result was soft shortbread, soft caramel and soft chocolate, not quite what I wanted or was expecting.

What is it with these Caramalised Biscuits?

As you know I do like my coffee, and often I will just have coffee, but now and again served with the coffee (as a freebie) is a little something. I have had little squares of dark chocolate before, but the usual is a biscuit. And the usual biscuit is one of those individually wrapped caramalised biscuits!

And aren’t they awful? I really don’t like them, the taste, the texture, nope not very nice at all.

Okay should I be grumbling about the fact that I got a free biscuit? Well it isn’t free, I paid for the coffee so I am in fact paying for the whole coffee drinking experience and if that as part of that experience I am paying for, the coffee shop deems it necessary that I have a complementary biscuit, than I think I can say I am paying for it.

It’s not the fact it’s a free biscuit, it’s just that I never have a choice about my biscuit and it would appear that every coffee shop that gives out free biscuits gives out these caramalised biscuits. Where is the imagination? Where are the fresh ideas?

It’s as though they said, oh look out competitor is giving away free caramalised biscuits, we better give away free caramalised biscuits. Where was the imaginative business idea about maybe choosing something slightly different? Something fresh and interesting? No we all have to have that same caramalised biscuit?

Where are the little squares of caramel shortcake? I like those. Where are the little strawberry pavalova? What about a piece of fruit?

At the end of the day this is much more about the coffee and I am guessing that people think the caramlised biscuit complements the coffee. Personally I like my coffee and if you want to give me a biscuit, give me a choice.

By the way if you do in fact like them, you can buy them in bulk from Amazon…. order them now and then you can have one every time you make coffee at home!

High Teas

For me this is a new place for coffee in Weston-super-Mare, I don’t think they’ve been open that long, but glad that they have. It’s a really nice independent tea shop for tea and coffee, with cakes and other things. With a smart decor, excellent tea, great coffee and delicious cakes, it’s the sort of place that you hope to find, but rarely do.

High TeasWith tables and chairs, alongside sofas and comfy chairs, they have various options for sitting down depending on the amount of time you have and the company you are in.

If you like tea (and yes it has been known for me to drink tea now and again) then they have a large range from Taylor’s and it is loose tea, not teabags!

So what of the coffee? Well it’s from Italy, Capo Di Monte, a brand I have not heard of. However it is very nice coffee, full of flavour, but without the burnt overtones that you can get with over roasted beans in some chains. I enjoyed my Americano and I was also able to get skimmed milk with mine, something that I have found isn’t always available in the smaller independent coffee shops. Good value at £1.70 too.

AmericanoThey have a range of cakes and they look homemade, we went for a posh slice and an apple cake. The posh slice was their version of millionaire’s shortbread, you know the one with shortbread, caramel and topped with chocolate. This was really nice, sometimes they can be too rich, but this was just right and delicious. The apple cake tasted fresh and of apple. I could have it warmed with cream, but we had it as was. It was really nice, and I suspect it would have been scrumptious warmed. Both were £1.80 each and I thought very good value. What I also liked was that they were served on china plates with half a strawberry as a garnish.

There were a few other things that caught my attention on the menu, as well as the ubiquitous toasted teacake, you could also have toasted crumpets. You seem to be always able to find teacakes, so it was a nice change to see that you could have crumpets.

The service was excellent, it’s a combination of counter and waiting service. You order your drinks at the counter and they bring them to your table. The staff were friendly and efficient.

Overall compared to the industrial nature you find in a lot of chains, it is nice when sitting in the coffee shop to have proper china, decent efficient service, tasty food and outstanding coffee. Recommended.

A Decent Cup of Coffee

I am going off filter coffee, you know the kind you get from drip coffee makers.

At home and now in the office I use a French style cafetiere. Using a coarser ground coffee, it’s as quick and easy as making instant coffee, but because the metal mesh allows the grounds to be in direct contact with the water, you capture more of the essential coffee oils and coffee flavour.

At home I use a medium sized cafetiere, but at work I have a single cup version.

It should be said it does take more effort to clean than drinking instant coffee or using a drip filter coffee machine, but for me that’s a price worth paying for a decent cup of coffee.

Traffic Jam Coffee

 

One of the “enjoyable” aspect of commuting using the M5 is that Friday afternoons during the summer months the motorway generally becomes one big car park. My one hour drive home from work can take twice as long and sometimes it has taken over four hours!

If I have a chance, I will stop for a coffee either at the services or sometimes Cribbs Causeway. This recent Friday was no exception so with the traffic basically stopped I came off went to Cribbs to go for a coffee. After very little thinking I went to Paterissie Valerie.

It’s certainly not the cheapest place for coffee, but the service is good, there is free wifi and the coffee, which is made from Illy is very nice.

I ordered an Americano with cold skimmed milk and after a short wait I had my coffee, which was excellent. I settled in with my coffee, my iPad and went through a bundle of e-mails that I hadn’t managed to do when I was at work.

The hard bit I think was not ordering any of the cakes which all looked very nice, and I have enjoyed one or two at previous visits. Not tried the savoury menu yet, but may do so one day.

So next time the M5 becomes gridlocked, I might just well go and get another coffee from Patisserie Valerie.

A very nice coffee

For the first time in ages today I went into Pret A Manger in London (on Great Peter Street) and ordered a Flat White. I don’t know why, but I never seem to go to Pret, I can’t recall the last time I was in one. Trying to recall if I have even had a coffee in one of their branches. It’s not as though there aren’t a fair few about.

Well I was in and ordered a Flat White, could they get this right?

First issue was that, they only had takeout paper cups. That’s probably why I don’t go there… I am not a great fan of spending a small fortune on coffee in a paper cup. I do do that, but not when I am drinking inside the coffee shop; I then want a proper china cup!

Well paper cup aside, it was actually a very nice coffee. Just the right strength and not too foamy. Pleasantly surprised.

So what of the service?

It was friendly, it appeared very chaotic, but it was quite speedy and I got my coffee very quickly. Unlike other places I have visited recently which had lots of staff and slow service, here there seemed to be lots of staff doing stuff, but they were in fact doing stuff.

Would I go again?


Well I did a couple of hours later and ordered another flat white! Wonder if this is consistent in their other branches, well I better try one somewhere else.

Coffee at the Nero

Coffee Reflections

My current favourite place for coffee these days is Caffé Nero, in the main as I really enjoy the coffee. The environment is nice too., tables and chairs or comfy sofas depending on what you want or need to do. Good service too, making sure you get what you want and provided efficiently and quickly. I have had consistently good service from the different branches of Caffé Nero I have been to across the country. The coffee is great, but is quite strong, much stronger than a similar coffee at Starbucks or Costa. However you can ask for a weaker coffee if that is your preference.

Alas there are not as many Nero branches as they are of the other two, but I have managed to find them in most major cities.

Told you Soho Coffee Co

Two years ago I wrote up about a visit to a branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Back then I asked

Let me ask you a question, is it really so difficult in this day and age, for a coffee shop to take coffee orders and then make the coffee?

I also said

Recently I went to the Soho Coffee Co and was frankly appalled by the level of incompetency shown by the six staff behind the counter in undertaking the coffee making and serving process.

I finished off by stating

Anyway as a result it will be sometime (if ever) I go back to the Soho Coffee Co.

Well, here we are two years later and I have never gone back to that branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Just shows the importance of decent customer service and efficient serving. I have visited many coffee places close to that branch, but have not been back.

So what of other Soho Coffee Co branches, well I did visit one once at a motorway services, but only the once. I do recall that service was okay, but not fantastic!

The thing is for me, I know the staff are poorly paid and overworked, but from what I can see the problem is not staff, but management and the management of systems. If some coffee places can get it right, why can’t all of them get the little things just right.