Got the whole day off yesterday, yea but a busy schedule ahead ; MOT the car, come back home and descale Zaffiro and roast some HB Sidamo. Overslept, no time for breakfast and coffee and just about made my appointment with the local garage. Had an hour to kill, it's too far to walk home, so did a bit of shopping. The local homebrew shop had run out of my fav Belgian yeast "it's on order etc", an inauspicious start to the day.
Wandered down Market Street, I could smell coffee and hear tummy rumbling, so popped into the Fat Frog Cafe, haven't tried them before, so decided to play safe and not order a straight espresso. Seating arrangements in 2 rooms for about 24, ordered 'Happy Frog Breakfast' and a double shot cap, with request "not too much milk please". The breakfast was ok, when I looked under the sauceage, hash browns, bacon, eggs and mushrooms, saw no evidence of mirthfull frogs. Frying it in olive oil and garlic would have been a nice touch, but this probably wouldn't be to the locals' taste.
The cappa on the other hand, was really a pleasant delight. Hints of dark choc, suggest that there maybe Dattera in the blend. Whilst eating, I noticed there were no orders for tea, this is a good sign and indicates that the clientel (across-the-board age groups) were happy with their capps latte etc.
Going thru to pay my bill, the waitress passed with a tray of 4 lattes. The 2 regular ones had some pretty good latte art ferns and the other 2 had floating islands of choc cream and mini marshmallow logs atop
Next to the Mazzer grinder, in matching silver grey was a beautiful 3 group Futurmat. Wow, the young baristas' street cred went up a large notch - it was a lever group. I complemented her on the espresso and asked about her bean source (as one does). She's very keen on her job, strict stock control, always fresh and her supplier is Darlingtons. They are fairtrade and organic (mostly) wholesale only and they also service and do lease hire on Faemas, LM's etc. All in all, a nice start to the day and will definately give the straight espresso's a try, next time I'm in the village.
Quentin