Tag: cortado

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Crosstown Coffee

flat white coffee

Back in April I was in Oxford and following a meeting I decided to get some coffee before heading home.

Oxford is awash with places to drink coffee, and sometimes too much choice is a bad thing. When I worked in Oxford ten years ago now, there were places I liked, some are still there, some have closed down.

I was passing the Oxford branch of Crosstown and it looked nice. I headed in and ordered a coffee.

It was a warm welcoming place, somewhat smart in decor and furniture, not formal, but not informal either. There was a wide range of doughnuts and other pastries, but I wasn’t hungry, having just had lunch, so I went with a coffee, a cortado.

It was quite nice, I wasn’t that fond of the flavour, but it was well made.

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Nice Cortado

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I headed to Portishead for a walk around the marina.

I decided to go for coffee, my first choice was Mokoko Coffee & Bakery, however though the queue wasn’t too long, there appeared to be a lot of people waiting for their coffee. So I left and headed to Costa, which was a lot less busy.

I ordered a Cortado and didn’t have to wait long before it was ready.

It was a nice coffee.

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Pretentious Cortado

I went out for a walk and decided to try the new coffee place on Victoria Street, in Bristol. It is called Origin. I wanted to try it, partly as it was new, and partly as that as I was using their app, I could get a free coffee.

Inside the clean, bright minimalist space, there was the serving counter and some tables and chairs. Not so sure about the environment. I think it needs some more tables and chairs. 

The choice of pastries was limited but the barista did say that would expand at a later date.

I ordered a Cortado. I wasn’t hungry, so didn’t order anything to eat. I took a seat and they bought my coffee over.

It was a beautifully made Cortado, in a lovely ceramic cup. It was a little pretentious, but I kind of expected this kind of coffee when I walked in.

It was a nice coffee, not my favourite flavour of coffee, but I enjoyed it. I certainly would consider going again.

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Quick Cortado

cup of coffee

Sometimes I feel a flat white can be a bit rich for me, I do like having a Cortado. Reminds me of the flat white coffee I had in Auckland back when I visited there in 2009.

As it is a smaller coffee , this makes it a great choice when making a quick break on a journey. I had this Cortado at the Costa at Ferrybridge Services. It was actually quite good. I have in the past had some poor coffee experiences at motorway services, so it was nice to have a decent coffee, while I took a break.

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Coffee at the Rada Cafe

coffee

Close to the Adagio Aparthotel in Brentford, one of the regular places I stay in London is the Rada Cafe. Though I have been staying at the Adagio for a few years now, I have never been to the Rada Cafe. The main reason was that either I arrived late at the hotel or left early to catch a train. Usually though I would have coffee in the apartment, as they have an Nespresso coffee machine.

The other week I arrived at the Adagio early afternoon and my room wasn’t ready. So I popped over to the Rada Cafe across the road and ordered a cortado. I do like it when ordering coffee in a cafe, they let you sit down and bring it over. Not quite table service, but so much better than hanging around a counter waiting (and in some cases it feels like fighting) for your coffee.

This was a lovely coffee, well made, and delicious.

When I left the Adagio later that week, I had some time before my train home, so I went for another coffee, and another excellent experience. 

I think next time I stay at the Adagio I will make the time to pop to the Rada for another coffee.

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Making the Leap

I was up around the Gloucester Road and needing to kill some time, decided to go for coffee. There are plenty of places to get coffee on the Gloucester Road around the Zetland Road area. One place I had been meaning to try for a while was Future Leap. The Future Leap Hub was opened on Gloucester Road, Bristol, in 2019, using the site of the old Tandy shop, and was the first carbon neutral co-working space of its kind in the UK.

The place looks very different to when I remember it as Tandy, it has been completely refurbished. There is now a welcoming sustainable feel to the space, lots of wood and plants.

I was given a warm welcome and I ordered a cortado. I took a seat and the coffee was delivered to my table.

I had intended to take a photograph of it before I drank it, but my phone was playing up, so had to restart it.

half a cup of coffee

I really liked the smooth coffee taste and enjoyed it. 

The food menu looked interesting and tempting, I nearly had some soup. Certainly a place I would go again.

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Cortado at the Services

cortado

I will say I am not a fan of coffee at motorway services, but sometimes needs must. So, it was with a little trepidation that I stopped at the Reading services on the M4 for a coffee.

I had a cortado from costa and to be honest it wasn’t too bad, quite nice all in.

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Another Artisan Cortado

Another Artisan Cortado

Having enjoyed my cortado at Artisan Ealing, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when I was back in Ealing, having some time to, and needing a place to check some work stuff, and I wanted a coffee, that I found myself back at Artisan Ealing.

Another friendly welcome, the service was quick and efficient. Once more I was tempted by the cakes, but I resisted temptation. So I went with a cortado.

Took a seat and enjoyed my coffee.

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Artisan Coffee

Artisan Coffee

I was in Ealing and decided to have a coffee. There are quite a few places to get a coffee, both the big chains and independents. I had originally gone to Caffe Nero, but there was a big queue and only one barista making coffee. I then remembered across the road was an independent coffee place, Artisan Ealing.

It was quite busy, but there wasn’t much of a queue, so I didn’t have long to wait. I was quite tempted by the cakes, but in the end I went with a cortado.

After getting my coffee I took a seat. I liked the environment with the wooden floors and furniture. The paintings added to the ambience, and I liked the paper bag lights.

The coffee was excellent.

This was a really nice place for coffee. Good service, great coffee, relaxing environment, and a nice selection of cakes.

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Nice coffee at the Marina

Portishead Marina

It was a nice sunny day, so we headed to Portishead to have a walk around the marina (and probably stop for a coffee).

We ended up at Cafe Mokoko which has a few branches across the West.

I had a cortado and an almond croissant.

They were served in weird cups; I think they were bamboo. Despite that the coffee was excellent.

I really liked the almond croissant. Usually when I have an almond croissant it consists of a croissant stuffed with almond paste and almonds on top. Though this croissant had almonds on top, the croissant itself had a delicious almond taste as though the paste was incorporated into the dough before baking.

Really delicious.

Certainly a place I would try again.