Whenever I visit Hill Old Town, a battle with the ticket machines.
Zebedee’s Yard car park machine was no exception. No change, and no way was I going to install an app.
Using their website, payment failed. I called the company . A. Intermittent problem across the country.
Luckily a man paid.
Zebedee’s Yard car park is a convenient car park for Hull Old Town. And cheap.
We are not doing hospitality to people, we are doing hospitality for people. — Danny Meyer
Fascinating and thoughtful Keys to the Shop discussion with James Hoffmann on all things coffee.
It’s always a pleasure, with a skilled barista, not only to enjoy a well crafted coffee, but when not busy, talk coffee.
Speciality coffee shop, customer to barista, why does your coffee taste so much better than the coffee chain down the road? Oh what a rabbit hole we’ve fallen into. And there is no going back.
People want to know more, once they’ve tasted good coffee.
Several years ago, I took my friend Georgia to a coffee shop, I brought along the beans, asked the owner to brew a cappuccino for Georgia.
Whilst we were waiting I explained to Georgia why her experience of coffee was not good: poor quality coffee beans, no investment in the equipment, served scalding hot.
Yes, she said, always too hot to drink.
The coffee arrived. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t like it. A tentative sip, as though poison. She then drank the whole lot.
I thought you don’t like coffee? I don’t. But you drank that. Yes, it was good. Did you notice, you did not add sugar. Oh no, I did not add sugar.
Maybe a year later, Georgia posted a video of her using an espresso machine. Thinking she was play acting, that it was a joke, I gave her a call. She told me she had bought an espresso machine. I asked how she grinded the beans. I don’t, the coffee shop grinds for me. I explained that it was a bad idea , the beans would oxidise. I held up a hand grinder, explained that was what she needed. Thank you Keith, that’s a nice present you are bringing me.
Several months later, we met at a coffee shop in Athens. I asked that she be served their micro lot Kenyan. OMG Keith, this is good, can I buy the beans? The barista kindly explained to her micro lot.
We are all on a learning curve. The more we learn the more we appreciate the coffee we are drinking, and go out of our way to seek out excellent coffee.
The Underdog in Athens, popular, busy, and yet the baristas find the time to innovate.
Early last year, I asked why Nottingham had upped its coffee game? I was told competition. Not to steal business, to be the best. Like Athens, the coffee shops cooperate and share ideas.
If we don’t innovate, we stagnate, get left behind.
Sadly too often, it’s the coffee shop that needs to learn.
There is no excuse for drinking bad coffee. No excuse for serving bad coffee.
Specialty coffee is no longer a niche. Find one specialty coffee shop and ask. Talk to their customers and the barista. They will happily recommend other coffee shops worth paying a visit.
Once tried excellent coffee, there is no going back.
Coffee shops are spoilt for choice with roasteries from where they can source their beans.
Drinking coffee in a coffee shop is embedded in an experience. They are a holistic whole, working together, not separate component parts.
Home brewing and specialty coffee shops are not in coffee
The Wandering Goblin, would have made a greasy spoon cafe look upmarket and yet served exceptional coffee, and thus well worth a visit. A quirky coffee shop, chalked on the board several guest roasteries, most I’d never heard of. And it’s the coffee that counts.
Sadly, The Wandering Goblin CLOSED a couple of weeks after I visited.
Update: The Wandering Goblin has reopened.
We see in the UK the expansion of Gail’s and Black Sheep. Is this good news? No. It’s the spread of bad coffee, poor service.
If a speciality coffee shop starts serving bad coffee, they will lose their customers. On the other hand, as the price of good coffee goes up, their customers will not be able to afford to drink their coffee.
I see this from my own personal experience. As the Cost of Living Crisis hits, I don’t drink bad coffee, I still drink good coffee, often excellent coffee, but maybe less often.
Thank you Keys to the Shop and James Hoffmann for a thoughtful and enlightening discussion.
James Hoffmann, coffee guru, world champion barista, co-founder Square Mile Coffee Roasters, author of The World Atlas of Coffee (recently published 3rd ed).
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