Lots of choice

coffee

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.

The coffee drinking experience at Druckers

Cakes

Out of the many cafés in Weston-super-Mare, I have visited Druckers more often recently.

It’s not that the coffee is the best, I’ve certainly had better. I often like the idea behind the cakes I see in the display cabinets, but often find them to be slightly disappointing. However the ice cream is usually very good, even if they no longer sell the blue banana ice cream that they use to. The chocolate is very nice indeed as is the mint ice cream. I do quite like the biscuits and toasted teacakes too.

Most of the time the service is quite efficient, helpful and speedy.

I think though the main attraction is that the place isn’t cramped unlike the Costa branch in the nearby Waterstones. The same can be said for the coffee shop in Marks and Spencers. Both of them are full of tables and somewhat cramped. As a result they always feel very busy and rushed even when they are empty! Druckers has a lot more room and as a result feels more relaxed.

For me the environment in which you drink the coffee is just as important as the coffee itself. That’s why I go out to drink coffee, it’s the whole experience, and not just the coffee.

No more blue ice cream

There is something about blue food (well here in the UK anyhow) that means it doesn’t really appeal.

There never use to be blue smarties before someone noticed that the Germans had blue smarties!

Druckers, the coffee chain, use to sell a variety of Italian ice creams, one of which was a blue banana flavoured ice cream.

Why it was blue, I do not know, but blue it was.

Now I don’t like blue ice cream, but someone in my house does, he is three! He has been asking for it!

It appears after asking that Druckers won’t be getting anymore in. I did try Patisserie Valerie, both it and Druckers are owned by the same parent company, and after a web search I did find that at one time, Patisserie Valerie also sold blue ice cream. It now appears like Druckers that they don’t sell it anymore!

So no ice cream that is the colour blue. What am I to do?

Pistachio Ice Cream

I have always had a passion for pistachio ice cream. I use to have it as a kid in France and loved it.

It was always a challenge to find it back in the UK even over the last few years it’s not something you see. I have it now and again in (proper) Italian restaurants and even Druckers has a nice version.

So when I was in Sainsburys the other day looking for Carte d’Or Lavazza Latte Macchiato ice cream I saw they were stocking Antonio Federici’s Pistachio ice cream.

This looked very nice. Yes it was expensive and was quite a small tub in comparison to the other “luxury” ice creams in the freezer, but I like pistachio ice cream and this was pistachio ice cream.

I took it home and rather than try it straight away I put it in the freezer for a special occasion.

I followed the instructions to the letter on the day I decided to have some.

The result?

Was it heaven?

Ah….

No…

I so did not like it, I so did not like it so much that I not only threw the tub away, I also didn’t even finish the bowl I had scooped for myself.

So what was wrong, I hear you ask?

Well it certainly did taste of pistachio, it really did taste of pistachio, very nutty, very nutty indeed. It was quite a non-sweet taste, almost savoury-like. I think that was the issue for me, it was too much like pistachios and  not enough like pistachio ice cream.

Don’t get me wrong, I like pistachio nuts, but this ice cream didn’t do it for me.

Cherry Tart

So there I was in Druckers buying a coffee and decided to have something sweet to go with it. I did think about a chocolate eclair (or even a coffee eclair) but in the end decided to try the cherry tart.

It was a bit like a Bakewell Tart in the sense that the filling that the cherries had been placed (or stuck) was a frangipan, an almond filling.

It was okay, but nothing to shout home about, and certainly wouldn’t be on my list the next time I go to Druckers. Basically it lacked flavour, the cherries did not taste very much of cherries and the almond filling had a hint of almond, but was quite bland.

Next time, I’ll go for the chocolate eclair.