St Ives

[DarthVader]

Just spent last week in St Ives and out of desperation went to a Costas inside the only Tesco. The young kid (can't call him barrista) banged out the old puck loaded it with coffee from a dispenser leveled with a plastic thingy and pushed the auto two cup button.

Yuk! an pale cinnamon crema to boot. Just in case it was a bad day I tried again next day. Yuk! again.

So I remembered Cofro in Mevagissey. Yup we took the family on an 82 mile round trip! Here was a tall guy and his small wife and tiny baby in a half gallery half coffee shop. Cup heated with flowing hot water portafilter wiped out, freshly ground coffee that was correctly polished and tamped and whoops press the auto button. I was counting out the seconds but the two teenies that were with me pestered for their cokes.............

SWMBO had a cap and again milk correctly swirled and banged on counter.

The coffee was served with a chilled glass of water and was very good and on par with the Red Roaster in Brighton. Two things stopped me awarding an excellent rating a) a blond streak across the deep red-brown crema and a few grains of grounds at the bottom of the cup.

I wanted to have a chat but the two teenies were getting bored and starting to play up and the car park ticket was running out of time so didn't want to be recognised as a co-TMCer. I just said thank you that was very nice.........whilst trying hard not to kick the teenies out the door.

Cheers,

DV

[CakeBoy]

True hard core: Popping out for a coffee ..... 82 miles! At least it sounds as though it was worth it DV. It's nice that someone has made it there

[micmacmoc]

Thats my shop!
Thanks for the review, thanks for bothering to come to us, its really nice to be appreciated. Will sort out the grounds,
THANKS!!!
Its probably also worth trying 'Relish' in Wadebridge, Hugo Hercod from there will be the UK representative in the Barista championships this year.

[CakeBoy]

Hey, good to see you again micmacmoc How are things?

[Tristan]

'Hub' in St Ives is ok for a coffee, I was there on Monday.

Relish is good, as is Fifteen (at least for the next week!)

[Steve]

nice and objective Tristan (jk)

[Hugo]

I hear Tristans kitchen will be a good place for an espresso in a few weeks time... but rumour has it the Gin & Tonic will be epic!

[DarthVader]

Many thanks for the input guys and I'll sure give these other places a visit next time I'm down that way. We usually visit three times a year but unfortunately we won't be back down in Cornwall until Easter 2009!

We have a holiday pad that we let out commercially in a beautiful spot in Carbis Bay part of St Ives but off the beaten track. Take a look http://www.carbisbayholidays.co.uk/html/carbis_bay.html you could but for the tides (and the rain) be in the Med except Carbis Bay is a more beautiful beach location. There is a wonderful (safe) cliff walk from Carbis Bay over to Portminster Beach and it leaves the so called 'famous' Pine Walk in Porto Pollensa Majorca right out in the cold..............

Cheers,

DV

PS Our pad is Longships and we have had fantastic reviews.
PPS If you are in the area Mevagissey should be on your tourist map - Cofros is the icing on the cake although the village can be rather touristy at times. There is an interesting shop can't remember the name but it sells a lot of witches and similar stuff. EEEERRRRIE