It takes more than decour to create a coffee shop. The most important, the coffee, neglected. Cheap crap catering supply coffee from Lincoln Tea and Coffee, does not a coffee shop make.
A classic example of spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar.
Interior pleasant ambience, chairs, the tables, walls, lighting, but then ruined by serving cheap crap catering supply coffee from Lincoln Tea and Coffee, a company that sells bagged coffee, black over-roasted oily beans. Cheap low quality catering supply coffee that goes to greasy spoon cafes where they don’t care what they buy or serve, so long as it is cheap. It is not what a coffee shop worthy of the name that cares about its reputation would serve, or what any self-respecting barista passionate about coffee would touch with a bargepole.
Watch in any speciality coffee shop, coffee is ground fresh for each cup, weighed on accurate digital scales. At the end of the day the beans emptied from the hopper, stored in an airtight container, the burrs in the grinders cleaned.
There is a reason for this. Precision matters. Coffee beans are fragile, easily damaged by light, easy to oxidise, leaving stale beans. Once a bag of coffee beans opened, will go stale within a week. Once ground, will oxidise within minutes.
It says everything need to know about the coffee supplier, that they supply ground coffee, even worse claim it will last a year.
I ordered a cappuccino. Not good, cup size too large, chocolate added.
First impressions, not good.
Chocolate is never added to a cappuccino, there is only one size for a cappuccino, the correct size.
I took it back. Asked for no chocolate and the correct size cup.
What came back was so so. That it was drinkable, due credit to the barista. To be able to to produce a barely drinkable coffee from the poor quality beans is a credit to the barista. I left untouched after a few sips.
Seating outside, illegally obstructing a public highway. The risk, parents with a buggy forced into the road or worse, a disability scooter topples the rider into the road under a lorry. Why would anyone wish to sit outside breathing in traffic fumes?
The location is poor. On a busy main road, polluted, ten minute walk along the Brayford from the city centre. [see below directions from the city centre, the scenic route]
The coffee shop has potential, Ideally needs better equipment, better grinder, better espresso machine.
Throw out the ugly cups. And use correct cup size.
As a matter of top priority and urgency, ditch the rubbish coffee beans. There is absolutely no excuse for using cheap crap beans, especially not when we are spoilt for choice with roasteries that care about coffee, know what they are doing, take a pride in what they are doing.
Locally
– Seven Districts
– Two Chimps
– Cartwheel Coffee
– Outpost Coffee
Then we are spoilt for choice for guest coffee
– Coffee Gems
– Mad Heads
Mad Heads are in Kyiv, still operational, and can ship coffee to the UK. Exceptional coffee, and would be helping Ukraine. There are no import duties (Ukraine is not in the EU).
Ten minutes walk from the city centre. Twenty minutes out of a day. Maybe for exceptional coffee, only they are not serving expetional coffee. If wish for exceptional coffee have Coffee Aroma and Madame Waffle in the city centre. If wish for bad coffee have greasy spoon cafes and corporate chains.
Only one thing worse than serving bad coffee. An attitude that we know we are serving bad coffee but we can get away with it.
My visit it was busy, but not when I looked in following weeks. I learnt later there was an opening offer when I paid a visit.
Students have coffee shops on campus. Only there six months of the year.
Difficult to see will survive.
Directions: From the High Street walk down the side of Stokes on High Bridge, along the River Witham, alongside Brayford Pool, along Fossdyke, under a bridge, turn right to the end of the street, the Coffee Depot opposite. About a ten minutes walk.
Keithpp's Blog 