Weirdest experience ever in a coffee shop.
New coffee shop in Alton which I had passed some weeks ago with a sign promising artisan coffee.
Fancying a decent coffee I decided to pay a visit, even though out of my way on a cold wet November afternoon.
Coffee sourced from Union.
What was the coffee like?
I do not know.
Chatting with who I took to be the owner, she refused to serve me a cappuccino on the grounds I appeared to know a lot about coffee and she would not wish to disappoint me.
I then asked for a V60.
Again refused as on a high shelf and too much trouble to get down.
To say the least, her behaviour was bizarre.
Equally bizarre, her claim that the owner of Krema had helped her to establish the coffee shop, as he had not and it was news to him that he had.
The cafe, I would not call a coffee shop, screams fake. Fake plastic marble counter and table tops, wallpaper fake exposed brick wall. I was sat adjacent to a fake log fire giving out no heat.
Why bother? Why not use wood? But do not fake something that is not as will look cheap,
The day before, in Coviar white marble from Tinas, also green marble, maybe a darker marble too. In the restroom, a long marble wash basin.
No surprise the coffee shop empty.
It is not located in the centre of Alton, just outside, where footfall is not great, not that a lot better in the centre, Alton has all but died
It could be serves great coffee, but I was not permitted to discover.
The reviews on TripAdvisor all singing from the same hymn sheet, written by people who by their own admission frequent Caffe Nero or Costa.
What I did notice was the coffee was served in cups too large and the row of syrups on the shelf. Both are a sign of bad coffee, or at least do not care about the coffee being served. It is what to expect in a cafe serving bad coffee, not in what is claimed to be an artisan coffee shop. Though sadly artisan has no meaning, as neither does gourmet, when applied to coffee
80% of new businesses fail within the first 18 months. With a coffee shop, have a couple of weeks, maybe a month, to get it right, if not will fail. People will try. If good will return bring their friends, If not good, will not return will tell their friends not good,
I have spent several weeks with the elite of the coffee world, everyone knows everyone. What I find is openness, a desire to innovate, open minds, willingness to share. No one will say I do not wish you to try my coffee. Quite the opposite, try this, what do you think?
A speciality coffee shop is a welcome addition in any town, especially a dying town like Alton where there is no decent coffee, and once one arrives, others follow. The only way Alton will recover is by way of quality indie businesses, from the bottom up.
