Decent Coffee

Last week I attended an event, this was a real in-person event in central London. I have not done one of those for a while. I think my last in-person event was back at the beginning of March 2020. One thing I hadn’t missed was the conference coffee which was dire. I wonder sometimes why I even bother drinking it, as it was terrible.

However the venue, The Business Design Centre, did have a cafe on site and they served Illy coffee. So during the afternoon break rather than have a conference coffee, I headed to the cafe and ordered a flat white.

This was a well made coffee and it was delicious.

Slow Coffee

I was driving down the M4 one evening, when I decided I needed a break and I stopped off at Starbucks at Membury Services. Rather than go into the main services, I headed off to the Starbucks, which though a drive through, also has a large seating area. I prefer these to the coffee places in the main services building.

I was the only person at the counter, but it took a while for me to be served and then it took a while for my coffee to arrive. I guess they were busy with drive though orders, but even so, I wonder why one member of staff focuses on drive through orders and the other member of staff on the wall ups.

I had a flat white in a cardboard cup. It was, like a lot of Starbucks coffee rather bitter. However I had a nice break and then it was back in the car and time to continue the journey.

Nice flat white

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.

Posh Coffee

We were away in London for the weekend back in August, and one thing that we wanted to do was to see how the other half lived and visit Harrods. Unlikely to do to much shopping there, but it was nice to visit.

Having explored (and got lost in the rest of the store) we found the food halls. As we explored we decided to stop for a coffee at the coffee bar. This is not the most relaxing of places to sit and have a coffee, you basically sit at a bar on barstools, we wanted to have a Harrods coffee drinking experience.

As you might expect I had a flat white, and to be honest it was rather good and I really enjoyed it.

flat white from Harrods

If we wanted to be really “posh” I think we should have visited the tea room on another floor, but I doubt we would have been able to find it!

We did some shopping in the food halls, but I mainly just looked and gasped at the prices of some of the stuff on sale.

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.

Packed House

Today I was reminded why despite working in the area for many years it was only recently that I had visited the WatchHouse. It was mid-afternoon and I felt like a coffee break and a flat white. So I headed out of the office to the WatchHouse and as I approached there was quite a lot of noise, alas the place was packed out and full. 

Well never mind I thought to myself, I headed back to the office and on the way went to Coco do Mama and got myself a flat white, which was excellent (also liked the little chocolate square you get with the coffee).

Flat white

Great Coffee

So nice to see Coco di Mama (near out London office) reopen for business. I obviously went in and had a great flat white.

flat white

Yes there was the little square of dark chocolate as well.

I also treated myself to a cross between a brownie and and a panettone. Rather rich and tasty pastry concoction.

brownie panettone

Nice to sit in and relax with some great coffee.

Watch out, nice coffee again

Having enjoyed my coffee from the WatchHouse the other day, I decided to visit the place again and have another flat white, but this time I made the decision to drink in.

I had always meant to visit the place on previous visits to London. Prior to the pandemic it was always rather busy, so I would go somewhere else. It wasn’t busy when I went in and I ordered my flat white. I did think about a cake, but I wasn’t that hungry, so just the coffee.

My order was taken and I took a seat. The coffee was brought to my table, complete with tasting notes.

This was beautifully made, smooth, velvety and a great coffee taste.

Great service, excellent coffee and a nice environment.

Watch out, nice coffee

WatchHouse

When working in our offices, I do like to take a break and pop out for a (real) coffee, rather than face the instant stuff we have in our kitchens. We moved our London offices back in July 2018 and there are plenty of places around the area for coffee and food. I have only recently returned visiting the office following lockdown. Today I went to WatchHouse, a modern sophisticated coffee place to pick up a flat white.

I had always meant to visit the place on previous visits to London. Prior to the pandemic it was always rather busy, so I would go somewhere else. So this morning it was not busy, so I ventured in, before hitting the office. I ordered a flat white, which I took back to the office.

This was beautifully made, smooth, velvety and a great coffee taste.

I will go back.

Time for tea and a scone

So there we were visiting the Cadbury Garden Centre, in Congresbury in North Somerset. We have been going there for years for garden stuff, other stuff and usually we stop for coffee and cake, or tea and a scone.

Of course with the restrictions in place, they have been forced to close their eating places. So it was nice this weekend with the easing of restrictions that we could go for tea and a scone in their cafe.

They had taken the time during lockdown to refurbish their cafe areas They have gone for a retro Victorian tearoom look to their eating area, Costa has gone and they now resemble posh tearooms. They are very white and bright.

It might be a Blue Diamond thing, as on a recent visit to Sanders Garden Centre they were also refurbishing their eating areas, in a similar but not quite the same style.

They had also lost their Costa franchise as well.

So back to Cadbury, with some restrictions still in place they have moved to table service. So you choose your own table and when you are ready to order you show a green card!

We got promptly served, we chose a tea and coffee, well a flat white, and shared a cream scone. We paid there and then which was convenient.

The service was quite fast, but they did in fact forget our scone as they hadn’t read their ticket properly. The fact that it was the manager who had forgotten was quite amusing, as she told us, she is always telling the staff to read their tickets properly!

The flat white was really good, nice and strong. The tea was served in a lovely china pot and a matching cup and saucer.

The scone was nice and fresh, fluffy and light and came with jam and cream, but no butter. It was rather nice and tasty. We weren’t rushed and after we had finished we went to do some plant shopping.