Category: coffee

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The Vyne

The Vyne

I made a quick visit to the National Trust’s The Vyne in Hampshire. Partly to have a coffee, but also to see the house.

A former Tudor powerhouse turned 17th century family home, set in gardens, woodlands, and wetlands.

The house was an interesting mix of medieval cellars, Tudor palace, and a 17th century family home.

After visiting the house and walking around the grounds I headed to the café for a coffee and something to eat. I went to the café, with the intention of having lunch, but the choice wasn’t inspiring. I didn’t fancy the cream of celeriac soup either. As celeriac, tastes like celery, and I really don’t like celery I knew I probably wouldn’t enjoy the soup.

So, I had a flat white and a cheese scone. The coffee was expertly made, and it was really nice. I enjoyed it. I was pleased it came in a proper china cup. The scone was okay, a little small I thought, but it was certainly cheesy.

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Can’t Dance Coffee

I can’t dance, and I like coffee, so it wasn’t too surprising that I would end up in a place called Can’t Dance Coffee in Weston-super-Mare.

The Sovereign Centre is a shopping centre in Weston-super-Mare, which opened in 1992. There was a cafe when the place opened. At some point it became a Druckers cafe. Druckers was there for much of that time, serving cakes and coffee.

£500,000 was spent by in 2016 to create the six-unit food hall, with the hope of ‘transforming’ the shopping centre and luring national firms. Well, that didn’t work, as no one except Druckers took an outlet. Even then Druckers left two years later.

Back in 2000 on the Twitter I wrote this in response to this question:

What’s the worst shopping centre in the UK?

I said it has a food court with NO food outlets to buy food from! 

The health centre idea never happened, instead some of the empty shopping outlets became a business hub, with offices and desks.

The food court area, once more underwent a refurbishment and it does now have a food outlet. It is now the Can’t Dance Coffee cafe.

I rarely spend time shopping in Weston, as there isn’t too much choice of shops, so usually I am in and out, having been to specific outlet. However, this time I was picking up my daughter, I had some time, so went for a coffee, and decided to give Can’t Dance Coffee a try. So, I ordered a flat white.

Service was a little slow, but I got my coffee in the end and sat down. It looked like they knew what they were doing.

The environment is rather industrial and stark. There were some sofas, but the main seating was hard chairs or chipboard benches. As a result I think the place lacks any kind of warmth or character. It feels spartan and cold, it was also quite dark. It certainly wasn’t inviting.

The coffee was nice, and I enjoyed it. However when going out to drink coffee, there is so much more to the experience than just drinking coffee. There is ambiance, the physicalness of the space, the seating, chairs, tables, sofas, and the lighting.

Would I go again, probably not.

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Time for a flat white

We were visiting the National Trust’s Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands.

Victorian half-timbered Manor House which was home of the Mander family, with a world-class art collection and Morris and Co. interiors.

After visiting the house and walking around the grounds we headed to the cafe for a coffee.

I ordered a flat white, but wasn’t tempted by the cakes.

The coffee was expertly made, and it was really nice. I enjoyed it. I was pleased it came in a proper china cup.

 

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Never had one of these before!

I had a coffee I have never had before. I was up in Clifton and went to the Illy Cafe.

After a nice warm welcome I ordered the Capo Triestino. I took a seat and they brought the coffee over to me.

Capo Triestino

So what is a Capo Triestino?

An illy espresso with abundant cold emulsified milk served in a small Freddo glass.

I do like Illy coffee and really enjoyed this. I don’t get to Clifton very often these days, so think it will be a while before I can make a return visit. Hopefully not too long.

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Pretty Coffee

We were up in the Mall doing some shopping and decided to stop for some coffee. In the basement was the John Lewis espresso bar, which I have visited a fair few times before. More recently it has been revamped and is now a branch of Ori Caffé.

Ori Caffé is a partnership between John Lewis and Massarella, a family run business with Italian origins. Massarella dates all the way back to 1864, when the family came over from Italy with a view to move to America.

The cafe area has been re-decorated, and their is a Mediterranean inspired menu sandwiches, and more traditional British cakes, as well as Italian cannoli.

As we entered it was a little awkward, in that we had to wait to be seated, but it wasn’t table service, you went up to the counter to order your food and drinks. I ordered a tea, a flat white, a vegetarian sausage roll, and a cheese and ham rarebit.

We took a seat and waited for our food and drinks to arrive.

My flat white looked very pretty.

It was an excellent coffee, which I enjoyed. The tea was very nice too.

The rarebit, was not a rarebit. It was a cheese and ham sourdough toastie. 

It needed a lot more cheese, and to be a rarebit, needed a cheese sauce. The ham was good quality though. Overall I did enjoy the toastie.

The vegetarian sausage roll was rather good, or so I was told.

Overall it was a nice place for coffee and the food was tasty.

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Cardboard Cortado Coffee

I was out waiting to pick up my daughter, and I had some time to kill. I decided to get a coffee from Costa on Marchfields Way.

I was intending to have coffee and cake. They were very short on cakes, so I just had a cortado. I had a free coffee on the app, so it didn’t cost me anything.

My main issue was that, I was drinking in, but they still served me my coffee in a takeaway cardboard cup. I prefer my coffee in a real cup, and actually will make the time for a coffee, rather than do take out. However the choice was coffee in a takeaway cardboard cup, or no coffee. As I wanted a coffee, I took the takeaway cardboard cup.

The coffee was quite nice though.

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Hanbury Hall Espresso

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 double espresso. It was nice and I enjoyed it.

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Society Cafe

Going for a walk in Bristol today I noticed that at the bottom of Baldwin Street was a new, well new for me, coffee place, called Society.

I didn’t have time to stop for coffee, but did pop inside to see what it was like inside.

It felt very modern inside, so wasn’t sure if it was my kind of place, I quite like the wooden environment in Coffee #1 for example. However the real question is, what is the coffee like?

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Ditto Coffee

When I am in a new city or town, though familiarity normally means visiting a place like Caffe Nero for a coffee, if I do get the chance, I do like to try somewhere new, such as Kiss the Hippo in London.

Up in Manchester, back in May 2022, close to our office, I liked the look of Ditto Coffee so popped in for a coffee. It was a delicious cup of coffee and I really enjoyed it.

So it wasn’t too surprising when I was back in Manchester and wanting a coffee I headed back to Ditto for a coffee.

This time though I ordered a Cortado and a cake, as part of a special deal.

The coffee was excellent (again) and I really enjoyed it (again). The caramel slice was rather good too. I was tempted to stay for another, but needed to get back to work. I will visit again.

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Cheese Games

Met up with some friends at The Stable Game Room for a coffee and a bite to eat (oh and to play a game).

The Stable Game Room has many board games you can play, as well as serving food, alcoholic drinks and coffee.

I had an espresso, which was a little harsh to be honest, so much so I had to add sugar and I generally never do that to coffee. However when I was in Italy in the 1990s I would see quite a few Italians do that, so still felt I was being honest with myself.

I wasn’t that hungry, so I had the Cheese Deli Board, expecting to share it with the table.

The board was quite plentiful with cheddar, red Leicester, stilton and brie. Alongside was apples, grapes, pickle, pickled onions and cornichons. With this came bread and crackers. 

I had to ask for butter though. It was a big board and there was lots of cheese. I have to say though, the cheese was nothing to write home about, the sort of cheese you could find in any supermarket. The cheddar was quite bland in comparison to the mature cheddar I usually have. Nice to have some stilton with the dish.

For a little more money you can have a cheese and ham board. Not sure if this means the same amount of cheese and then ham, or less cheese and some ham!

Our table also had a couple of pizzas. They have a pizza oven and used fresh dough, so the pizza looked excellent and according to those that ate them, they were delicious.

Certainly would do a return visit.