Popped to Caffe Nero on Farringdon Road for a coffee. I had a skinny flat white. It was well made (even if there was no coffee art). It was a bustling cafe, but didn’t feel busy. A place I may visit again.
£1 Flat White
As my phone contract is with Three, they have an app, Three+, that provides rewards and money off. One of their weekly offers is get a drink from Caffè Nero for £1.
I try and use it most weeks, but sometimes either I am not in the mood for a coffee, sometimes I am nowhere near a Caffè Nero (like when I am at the motorway services) or as happened recently at Paddington, there was a really long queue and I don’t want to miss my train.
I have visited the Caffè Nero on Corn Street in Bristol a fair few times and have had some great coffee.
This was the flat white I got on my most recent visit there.
This wasn’t the best looking flat white I’ve had from Caffè Nero. However it was a really nice coffee.
Skinny Flat White
Taking advantage of a special offer, I had a very nice skinny flat white from the Caffe Nero at the top of Union Street in Bristol.
The service was excellent, and I really enjoyed the coffee.
At the airport, time for a terrible coffee
I had been on a visit to Scotland and was making my way home via Edinburgh Airport. Having flown through security (for once) and mooching around the shops I decided to go for a coffee. I chose Caffe Nero as I usually get a decent coffee there and across their different branches at least a level of consistency.
I ordered a double macchiato, which is different to my usual flat white. It was served in a paper cup, despite the fact I was sitting in. I prefer my coffee in a real cup, and actually will make the time for a coffee, rather than do take out. I was reminded how nice it was to get a proper coffee at Bristol Airport on my way out, not just coffee in a cup, but also table service.
So I sat down with my cardboard cup and took the lid off. Was I impressed, no I wasn’t!
Now as far as I am aware a macchiato is an espresso coffee with some milk foam on top. What I got was an espresso coffee with milk! Not what I wanted and certainly not what I ordered.
I know I should have taken it back, but there was a huge queue and I didn’t really have the time.
Sometimes I have had to explain what a macchiato is to the barista I am ordering from, makes me wonder why they have it on the menu if they don’t know how to make it.
Next time I will probably just order an espresso or a flat white and be done with it.
Well I enjoyed that coffee
Popped into Caffe Nero for a flat white. They had a special offer of a coffee and a brownie for £4.50, so I had a flat white and a chocolate brownie.
It was just what I needed after going through my inbox.
The brownie was chocolatey and gooey, but wasn’t over rich, light enough to be enjoyed.
The coffee was excellent, there is something about the consistency of experience I find with Caffe Nero, virtually every time I have a flat white at Caffe Nero is I get the same kind of experience, which is nice.
Nice flat white
Killing some time before my train I went to Caffè Nero at Central St Giles. Nice warm welcome from the staff and I ordered my usual favourite, a flat white. I didn’t order anything to eat (as I wasn’t very hungry). I found a place to sit and drink the coffee. It was a really nice coffee, and a nice place as well.
Nice flat white
I was walking past Exmouth Market one evening and decided I wanted a coffee. Most of the usual coffee places were closed, but Caffé Nero was still open. I went in and ordered a flat white.
Despite the fact it was late and I was the only person in the place, the coffee was excellent. Well made and great coffee.
I had been there before on the way to a meeting at City, University of London a few years ago (pre pandemic) and it was nice coffee back then. I had also visited when staying at a nearby hotel.
Exmouth Market is quite a place for restaurants and cafes and after finishing my coffee I walked down the road, getting tempted by the different establishments. I was a little saddened to see that Paesan had closed down. Well not so much closed down, but turned into a pizza and craft beer place. I had had some excellent pasta there two years ago.
I enjoyed my coffee and carried on with my walk.
Lots of choice
Back in 2010 I wrote a blog post about when I went out for coffee in Weston-super-Mare I went to Druckers, as it wasn’t just about the coffee, but about the whole coffee drinking experience.
Then there was very little choice in the town for drinking coffee, quite a few tearooms who did some nice tea, but no real coffee places.
Today the landscape is very different. There are the major chains of Costa, Coffee #1, Caffe Nero as well as a plethora of independent coffee places too. We have a much greater choice. There are now four branches of Costa in the town for example. We still don’t have a Starbucks, but as I don’t like the coffee there, I am okay with that.
Since I last wrote Druckers has shrunk considerably. The owners of the Sovereign Centre wanted to create a new eating experience, with multiple food outlets and a shared eating space. Alas the reality is that all there is, is Druckers. So what was an okay place for a coffee and cake, is now more like the inside of a fish and chip shop, but with stools and benches. Not a place for coffee.
My first choice is Coffee #1, though I prefer the coffee in Caffe Nero, the service always appears rushed and it’s popular, so not always a lot of space available.
From an independent perspective, I do like the new(ish) coffee place in the Waterstones in the Sovereign Centre.
Frenetic Coffee
I have written before on this blog about how much I enjoy drinking coffee at Caffe Nero. There are a few reasons for this, for example, the coffee is nice and consistent. I have found that when you buy an Americano in Birmingham it is a similar almost identical experience to an Americano in London.
However recently I realised that there was another reason why if given the choice I will choose Caffe Nero over any other major coffee chain.
I was pleased to find out that Caffe Nero had opened a branch in Weston-super-Mare, we had only just got a Costa on the High Street and it was nice to have a choice, especially after my favourite local independent coffee shop had closed and had been converted into a kebab shop!
Recently I was in Weston for a while, as one of my children attended a party on the pier and needed to kill some time. So I thought to myself, aha, grab a coffee at Caffe Nero, use their free wifi and get some stuff done.
I walked on over to Caffe Nero and joined the queue, well there was one person in front of me, so hardly a queue. As I waited, I looked over the cakes and biscuits, convincing myself that, yes they did look very nice, but no you didn’t need any of them. I was then served and the staff acted as though they had drunk eight espresso coffees. They were acting “busy”, jumping around each other, almost running, which when you consider the average size of a coffee counter takes some doing. They were shouting at each other about what to do and what my order was… a short Americano with cold skimmed milk on the side.
My first reaction was they were acting like this as there must be a huge queue behind me, one that must have crept up as I waited. I turned around and saw, that, there was no one. I was the only person at the counter, but here was three staff frenetically, frantically, hyperactively making me my coffee, shouting out as they did, as though they needed to do it really quickly as there was a huge number to make and to reduce the waiting time… checked again, no there was only me.
As I sat down at a table, got the laptop out and started to drink my coffee, I started to reflect. One of the reasons I realised why I really liked Caffe Nero was because of the calm ambience and atmosphere. As I drank my coffee the staff behind the counter continued to be hyperactive, shouting at each other orders, even though they were standing next to each other. It was noisy and distracting.
Yes I can see how such “behaviour” may be necessary in a fast moving establishment, such as at a railway station, where people want to grab a quick coffee and run to catch their train. However this was a high street coffee shop, a place where people want to catch their breath from the hustle and bustle of shopping, a moment of calmness and tranquillity as they drink their coffee and eat their sandwich or cake.
Well as I sat there in Caffe Nero in Weston-super-Mare that wasn’t what was happening. The frenetic, frantic and loud staff ruined the ambience and made the place feel like a fast food burger joint on a Friday night. Slight disclaimer, I don’t recall (if ever) I have been in a fast food burger joint on a Friday night so this comparison might be slightly unfair. As far as I know on a Friday night these burger joints might be calm tranquil places with violins playing. So just to rephrase, “and made the place feel like what I imagine a fast food burger joint on a Friday night feels like!”
As I tried to enjoy the coffee and relax, I found the frenetic activity and loud voices of the staff to be totally distracting and annoying. As a result I left early and certainly did not buy a second cup of coffee.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the coffee, but I don’t go to places like Caffe Nero just for the coffee, it’s also the ambience the atmosphere. This branch had great coffee, the decor and furniture was nice, what let the place down were the hyerpactive staff. Training needs to be so much more than just about how to make coffee.
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.