Coffika Experience

Firstly who are Coffika? They are a independent speciality coffee house passionate about quality coffee. They are situated in the very popular Meadowhall shopping mall in Sheffield. They have managed to bring together locally produced Sheffield coffee and milk to create this local inspired coffee house.

For a very much high street and mainstream style shopping centre, we are very lucky to have a speciality coffee house in such a location.

So after discovering Coffika it became my go to coffee stop whenever in Meadowhall. On one occasion I got talking with one of the managers called Ed. He suggested I should come and spend a bit of time with their head barista Klodian which is exactly what I did, recently.

I met up with Klodian who is originally from Albania. He has 20 years experience working with coffee after working in Greece and London before coming to Coffika. So you would imagine he knows a thing or two about coffee. In fact, it was obvious in an instant that he knows a lot about coffee and is a real ambassador for the culture.

We spent some time walking through their La Marzocco espresso machines (of which they have 2, yes 2!). Then we started going through all the different types of espresso based drinks, lattes, flat whites etc. Within the space of half an hour I had learnt a lot, including the different measurements and process of each espresso. From weighing the coffee to the nearest gram, to timing the extraction to get the perfect time for each extraction. I could really see that they do love coffee and love to share their knowledge with other enthusiastic people like myself!

Yes, this above is my poor attempt....pun intended. 

The coffee they use is from a Sheffield based roasters called Forge and it is a mixed blend from Ethiopia and Peru. All coffee is used within a couple of weeks of being roasted, so very fresh! The milk is also from a local company called 'Our Cow Molly' and is also as fresh as you can get it. The milk is fantastic, extremely creamy once steamed and compliments the coffee blend perfectly.

The way Coffika have made this very much a local coffee house effort is great and it is a great advocate for the Sheffield coffee community.

Klodian showed me his single origin cold brew that he brews in house. After taking a sample of the cold brew we actually started making the next batch! It was awesome to be involved and included in this because I've had very little experience with cold brew coffee.

It goes without saying, once you have visited, that Coffika coffee house is a modern serene atmosphere away from the madness of Meadowhall shoppers. In the upstairs seating area you can people-watch til your hearts content, chilling out with a flat white and a slice of cake.
Meadowhall I think we have found a winner.

I would like to thank Ed and Klodian at Coffika for setting this up with me. Its been an awesome experience meeting great people from within coffee. As I keep saying, the coffee community are so enthusiastic about supporting the specialty coffee industry and broadening its exposure in the wider community.

Thanks for reading and keep drinking coffee!  

Coffee Review: Workshop Coffee

I hope from this post that you become inquisitive and curious to what the whole deal is with Specialty Coffee. I am sure you must be thinking what makes it 'that' much better as 'its only coffee...'

But as you will find out its more than just coffee. You don't just buy coffee, you buy the experience, the story and then enter another way to think about coffee. Like - where it has come from, how it was made and roasted and how best to drink it?

So here is my first coffee review about a very popular and well known coffee roasting company called Workshop Coffee. They started off as just a roasting company providing beans to coffee lovers all over the world and now they have multiple coffee shops open all over London. (which I am yet to visit!)

I first become aware of the Workshop Coffee from a friend of mine, James. He presented this box from what you receive from Workshop when you order beans. We had a chat about it and all the different types of beans they roast from all over the world. 
I looked on their website and was overwhelmed by the amount of choice there was!

After taking this box of fresh beans home and trying them I was hooked. The quality and pure freshness of the beans was amazing. The first selection I tried was called Ruben Guagala from Ecuador, sounds exotic right?

I opened up the box and was presented with a very neatly and carefully wrapped packet of coffee. It was wrapped in a white tissue paper with a Workshop sticker to seal the wrapping. First impressions, very good. 

Underneath is a small (but detailed) leaflet and a postcard. Within this leaflet Workshop have perfectly portrayed the story of the coffee before turning up on your door step. 
Workshop have put real effort to give gratitude to the farmers of each individual bean. Telling you exactly how much effort has been put into growing the cherries, what obstacles have been overcome and the different processes that the beans have been through. Workshop actually go out to see all there partnered farmers to work on different types of beans. Reading this leaflet really lets you appreciate the hard work and extensive effort that have been put into having this quality bean for your morning 'get up and go'.    

Now to the good bit.. Drinking!

Breaking the bags seal is certainly satisfying and after taking a first smell of the fresh beans inside I was looking forward to getting them ground and into my cup!

The process was detailed on the back of the packet along with the growing altitude which makes an enormous difference to the taste and notes the coffee gives off. 

The coffee was fantastic. Once my Sage espresso machine was set up to pull the perfect shot, I was hooked. The different notes in the coffee were subtle and not too overpowering. The blend was balanced and not too harsh of an aftertaste. It was a very pleasant espresso with a satisfying and strong caffeine hit.

Afterwards I made a flat white with a double shot. The milk was hugely complemented with the coffee, a definite winner for me!

   
It may sound rather silly for some calling coffee an experience. But when you really read about the story of how that cherry from the coffee tree is taken from a fruit state to how we know it in society it is quite remarkable. I believe it is also important to companies such as Workshop Coffee to keep spreading the word about all the hard work and effort that is put in to making the perfect coffee.

I would recommend anyone to try Workshop Coffee for its truly special efforts to bring us the best of specialty coffee. 
After chatting to my friend James about this coffee and how great it was he then brought me more, a lot more. Still now the coffee community is showing me example after example how awesome they are. He has given me over 10 boxes all different types of beans to try!

   

Coffee Shops: Gatehouse Coffee

If you were to walk the historic York city walls you would find yourself intrigued by the aspect of the Gatehouse and feel compelled to stop for a coffee instead of strolling past. Slightly away from the centre is where you will find this 15th century medieval gate house with Gatehouse Coffee inside.

Now how to describe such a unique setting for a specialty coffee shop?

If you were to amalgamate a collection of my favorite adjectives: interesting, artisan, historic, character, quaint. Then sprinkle this concoction of a seasoning over this amazing building you would create this wonderful and quite individual coffee shop. Ok -  can you tell I'm a fan?

I arranged to meet the manager of this great example of a specialty coffee shop, Caelen. Armed with a flat white I wanted to discover what makes this coffee shop exactly what it is.

After chatting about the coffee, in this fantastic place, it was clear that we were in a coffee hub. Everything we talked about was filled with energy and passion for the coffee and for making that experience as good as possible. Whether you want to come here to do your Uni work or to socialise, this is the perfect place. There is a roof top terrace, sofas, armchairs, just about everyform of comfortable place to sit. 

Lets talk a bit more about the history of this 15th century Gatehouse and coffee shop. Firstly the Gatehouse is inside the Walmgate Bar which is also the only city gate in the UK to retain its original Barbican. (which is a medieval defensive structure that creates a narrow bottleneck for those of you who didn't know - don't worry neither did I).   

The coffee house is connected with the Calvary Chapel York across the road. Which is a Bible teaching, non-denominational christian church. If you ever visit the Gatehouse you will hear an American accent behind the bar. While talking with Caelen I learned that everyone who works at the Gatehouse is part of the church and is a volunteer. Yes! a volunteer - how awesome is that! 

The Gatehouse has teamed up with All Press for their Espresso beans. In my opinion, the perfect choice. Such a consistent and quality Espresso every single time. Every time I have visited this coffee house the quality has always been absolutely perfect.   

I came away feeling more like I was part of the specialty coffee scene and I felt reassured that the coffee culture is so very friendly, happy to spread the word, and is so eager and willing to talk about what is going on around us. 

I would like to thank Caelen and the team for having me and spending the time to talk to me about what they do. I hope you visit Gatehouse Coffee because it really is a unique coffee shop.  

London Coffee Festival

You get the opportunity to travel down to London completely free -  what do you do?

Well, that's obvious! You go to the UK's biggest coffee festival, right?

The previous year it attracted over 30,000 coffee connoisseurs and enthusiasts over 3 days. I'm going to take an educated guess and say they smashed that number this year. 

The venue is Central London down Brick Lane and with 3 halls to explore there was more than enough to look at and to try out. 

Featured  were over 250 artisan coffee and gourmet food stalls, tastings and demonstrations from world-class baristas, interactive workshops, street food, coffee-based cocktails, live music, DJs, etc. etc. You get the picture - there was a lot there.

My girlfriend Sophie accompanied me for today's adventure. I must add that before she met me she hated coffee but I may have changed her opinion over the years and as you may expect she likes it. A lot. 

Anyway we arrived at the venue and joined the end of the line. We must have arrived 20 minutes before it opened and there were already 100 people waiting patiently in line.

Whilst waiting, we were handed the London Coffee Festival newspaper and the latest edition of the Caffeine mag (brilliant!). Once we entered we were instantly handed our first of many coffees that day. After a good first walk around the 3 halls we looked at what was on around the show. 

Having picked out of the long list of the various events, we chose to see the Coffee Masters, the Cupping Session, Roasting and Latte Art Live where the British champion was giving a display. 

We must have been there no more than an hour and we had already had 4+ coffees. It was safe to say we were buzzing!

Firstly we watched the start of the semi-finals of the Coffee Masters. For those who are not sure what Coffee Masters is, it is a multi-discipline competition which is a pretty big deal in the coffee world. The top baristas go head to head in each discipline to get the highest overall score. The disciplines are cupping, brewing, latte art, the order challenge, signature drink, espresso blend and the origin.   

It’s a seriously cool competition go check out the website - http://www.coffeemasters.org

Anyway, back to the festival. By an hour and a half in, Sophie was all coffeed up but I was still going strong. Because, hey, its free quality specialty coffee, why not, right?

We also got to try the espresso blend Caravan supplied for the Coffee Masters. It was perfect.

 Another highlight of the day had to be the Latte Art live area where we got to watch and take part in producing fantastic coffee art with the British Coffee Art champion Dhan Tamang. Just watching this guy work was pretty special. How he makes it look so easy and relaxed. Trust me its not as easy and simple as they make it look! 

All Press - a London based coffee roaster also let me have a play with their La Marzocco Linea Mini espresso machine which in all seriousness puts my lovely home set up to shame. Such quality and brilliance in a compact form, although you would expect that from a £3.5k machine. Yes £3,500 pounds for you to make a coffee at home, people. I’ll pop it on my Christmas list...

All day there was music coming from everywhere in the venue and the live bands were great. The food was absolutely spot on. Basically the whole atmosphere and vibe was completely as you would expect. Super chilled but with a flurry of enthusiastic people having a great time. It’s great to step into a world such as coffee and see it as lively and popular as this. You need to check out the highlights video which has just gone live! See the link - www.londoncoffeefestival.com/Home

I'm  already looking forward to next year! 

Coffee anyone?

Also a quick congratulations to James Wise for winning the Coffee Masters competition!