coffee Archives - Page 17 of 22

March 4, 2012

Americano please…

Last week, having managed to catch an earlier train and arriving in Birmingham a little earlier than I needed to, I decided to venture to Caffé Nero for a coffee. (and they have free wifi so that’s useful too).

I ordered my usual for Caffé Nero, an americano with cold skimmed milk on the side.

As I have written before, I have found that the coffee at Caffé Nero is pretty consistent, and this one was no exception. A really nice strong, well flavoured coffee.

If can’t find a decent independent, then out of all the chains if I can find one, then I will go to Caffé Nero.

February 16, 2012

Flat White

Ever since visiting New Zealand I have had a fondness for the Flat White. It can be challenging to find a decent Flat White in the UK, despite the widespread adoption by coffee chains of the Flat White; unless the barista knows what they are doing, you may think you are getting a flat white, but you get a disappointing cappuccino instead.

I was pleased the other day to order a Flat White in my local Costa and I got a really good Flat White, perfect.

The coffee was good, the milk was steamed to the right creamy consistency and even the pattern on the top was sharp and remained as I drank the coffee.

Hopefully the next time I get a Flat White just as good.

December 17, 2011

Caffè Paradiso

On a recent visit to London, I was on Store Street in Camden when I decided I wanted to get a coffee and do some work. The Caffè Paradiso was one of many coffee shops close by, but I chose it, partly as it had free wifi, but mainly as it looked like it served decent coffee.

Well the wifi was free and reasonably fast. The coffee was also really good. I also had a plain croissant and it took a while to get some butter. Though the croissant was fresh, it tasted a little too much of almond as though it had been stored too close to the almond croissants.

What I like about these independent coffee shops is they have character and soul. They have a personality which is missing from the high street chains. Of course the reason why high street chains are successful is that they appear to offer consistency and reliability. Though generally I have had excellent coffee from most independent places I have been to, I have on the odd occasion been disappointed. I think this is the reason why people sometimes are a little bit wary of independence and go with a chain. Of course in some places you have no choice and you can only go to a chain. Regular readers of this blog will know from my posts on coffee that chains, which should be consistent can sometimes disappoint. So the next time I am in the area I will hopefully have a repeat visit to Caffè Paradiso for some excellent coffee.

December 13, 2011

Bloomsbury Cafe

So there I was slightly early for a meeting in Gordon Square in the heart of London, I had time for a coffee, however the only place close by and I could find was the Bloomsbury Cafe on Gordon Street. It’s part of UCL and from what I could see it served coffee in cardboard cups. Without any choice I decided that I did want a coffee and went in.

I had a large Americano which cost a very reasonable £1.30 and really enjoyed it, it was a great coffee. Felt old sitting amongst the students, but I think that’s just life!

December 2, 2011September 16, 2022

Flying for a coffee

I’ve decided I’ve really gone off Starbucks coffee, I find that it is over roasted and I’ve not really enjoyed that coffee drinking experience. So there I was at Bristol Airport at 6am thinking I want a coffee, I could choose between Starbucks and Soho Coffee Co.

I don’t want rehash my previous visit to Soho, but as I didn’t feel like drinking Starbucks I went with Soho. The experience was as it should be, the service was polite, fast and efficient and as for the coffee, it was really nice and I enjoyed it. When you have a nice experience it does make you want to go back.

November 28, 2011

A flat Flat White

I was less than impressed with a Flat White I recently had at Starbucks, it was flat and insipid. I wonder though how much of that was because it was in a paper cup? I’m not a great fan of coffee in paper cups and where possible I will “drink in” so I can have a proper china cup.

I still find it a little incredulous how much we pay for coffee in paper cups these days, we think it’s somewhat normal!

October 27, 2011

Good Flat White

I had a really good skinny Flat White today at Costa.

Good flavoured coffee and the milk wasn’t too foamy. This was a different branch of Costa to the one where I have been before.

Still don’t understand why it is more expensive than similar sized coffees. At Starbucks they even use a “short” cup and charge more!

October 22, 2011

Time for a 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.

October 1, 2011

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.

September 26, 2011

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.