Brighton Coffee Festival was hosted in Brighton Open Market, along London Road, only a few minutes walk from Brighton Station, down a steep flight of steps, and along Fenchurch Walk. A part of Brighton I was not aware of let alone visited before.
I lacked a ticket. Nightmare trying to book on-line using a phone, little better on a laptop.
Book on-line charged £7 a further £1 booking fee. On the gate £10.
A mix of coffee roasters, many of which were local coffee shops or Sussex coffee roasters plus London coffee roasters, a couple of food stalls, interspersed with talks and a latte art competition.
It was basically wander around try the coffee. Most were serving V60, a few espresso or V60.
A few talks. The sound systems so bad impossible to hear the lady from Pharmacie. A Colombian guy Eduardo Florez from a The Colombian Coffee Company in Borough Market was comprehensible, maybe I was stood in the right spot.
Awful moronic music blasting out. It was overloading the system and clipping. It made it nigh impossible to hold conversation.
Colombian guy Eduardo Florez interesting. Why do we buy coffee? We do not buy wine.
Well actually we do, we buy red or white or fizzy, sweet or dry, the cheapest we can find, but basically we buy wine.
Similarly we buy coffee, or at least we drink coffee.
The discerning coffee drinker seeks out quality, wishes to know the origin, the provenance of the coffee, the variety, when it was roasted, by who was it roasted.
Coffee farmers who focus on quality, are able to command a higher price for their beans, everyone is happy, the grower gets more money, the coffee drinker better quality coffee.
Contrast with the fair trade scam which pays a tiny premium above commodity price, maintains farmers in poverty as no incentive to improve quality.
The rubbish coffee relies on marketing.
We as coffee drinkers by seeking out the best coffee, frequenting indie coffee shops, avoiding the corporate chains and coffee shops serving bad coffee are not only able to sit and enjoy an excellent cup of coffee served by a skilled barista are also helping the coffee farmers improve their livelihood.
It was a pity he did not have a stall to enable visitors to try and buy his coffee.
Interesting conversation with Jacqueline Turner coffee farmer Kinini Coffee in Rwanda. She told me a little of the estate, that processing takes place on the farm, a school has been built for the children.
Red Roaster roast her coffee beans.
On walking in, greeted by Small Batch, and unfortunately an unpleasant cacophony of noise.
I am not a fan of takeaway coffee, the only way to enjoy coffee is to sit and relax with a coffee served in glass or ceramic but one of those rare exceptions where I will stop time permitting and have a coffee is the Small Batch kiosk outside Brighton Station. The coffee served always consistently good.
Small Batch had receptacles for coffee cups, liquid and lids. The only stall, though others may have had hidden, as took cup if handed over.
Everyone was using compostable cups.
I then wandered around clockwise.
First coffee off Horsham Coffee Roasters.
A Kenyan V60, it was excellent. The first and best coffee of the day.
I later returned and tried a Rwandan. It too was good.
It will be interesting to see how compares in Krema.
By contrast, a coffee off Roasted was disappointing.
A table with The Independent Brighton & Hove Coffee Guide. Now in its second edition, a useful guide to have, but a case of feel the width never mind the quality. Too many coffee shops which if the idea is to highlight the best in Brighton I would not include.
How is it financed?
Redemption roast coffee at Aylesbury Prison, where also teach coffee skills to young offenders. They have four coffee shops in London.
Excellent cappuccino off Caravan with their espresso blend. Very interesting flavour profile.
Pelicano had an impressive stand. Their coffee shop in North Laine is one of my favourite coffee shops. Not only for coffee, always an impressive display of cakes. One of the few places places can obtain Drift and Standart, and if further incentive to buy, a free coffee.
Passing by the Pelicao coffee shop later they told me they had had a very good day at the coffee festival.
I have never been to the London Coffee Festival, and from what I hear, each year it gets worse.
The organisers of the Brighton Coffee Festival were helpful, responded very promptly to my queries.
The ticketing on-line a nightmare. I would suggest for future use Event Brite, as never had problems.
Please please ditch the music. It made conversation nigh impossible.
I was pleased chains and corporate coffee suppliers did not get a look in. The ficus was on specialty coffee and local.
I would have liked to have seen Square Mile, Alchemy, Kiss the Hippo, Coffee Gems, Columbia Coffee Roasters, DT Coffee Roasters.
How to fit them all in, if space cannot be extended? Omit the food stalls, food was available from the market traders thus no no need for food stalls, and that includes The Flour Pot, who are a cake shop.
Consider a fringe or alternative coffee festival, events spread over a week or longer, hosted in different coffee shops across Brighton.
Brighton Coffee Festival was hosted in Brighton Open Market, along London Road., only a few minutes walk from Brighton Station, down a steep flight of steeps, and along …. A part of Brighton i was not aware of let alone visited before.
The periphery of the market lined with shops. Unfortunate less than half were open, and most of those that were open closed before four. I would have liked to have looked in the zero waste shop.
I found a Turkish lady with a stall making food I have never come across before. She made it look simple, but she told me not as simple as she made it look.
A ball of dough which she dropped into a machine resembling a miniature version of an old fashioned mangle, she then rolled with a tiny rolling pin. Dropped in whatever you wished for, vegan vegetarian, meat. I chose lamb. Fold in half, then popped on a hot plate for five minutes. Delicious. I can only describe as almost like a thin pizza base, but then folded to resemble a Cornish pasty.
On leaving via the London Road entrance I spoke with a man packing up a bookstall. He said when events were on it was varied but today he did quite well.
Note: Brighton Coffee Festival 2020 will not take place due to covid-19 pandemic.
Tags: Brighton, Brighton Coffee Festival, Brighton Open Market, coffee, The Open Market
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