by psychomansam » Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:14 pm
I'm the aforementioned TMC member, so i guess it would be rude not to offer a review.
First off the tea, since that's their specialty.
Their no.1 product is tea, but pulled espresso style. The marmalade tea is worth it for a laugh although it's a bit sweet for my taste. I did actually perversely enjoy the straight espresso-tea, and reckon it's well worth a punt for any coffee fan, out of interest at least, but I actually got them to pull me a ridiculously strong one and had an interesting chat about it. Some interesting possibilities.
They have a good range of loose leaf, all treated with the right TLC, and plenty to keep you busy, certainly tasted good to me. I particularly enjoyed the roasted bancha, and I took a bag of their white tea home.
Secondly, the staff:
Extremely friendly and switched on, with plenty of time for their regulars, but making new customers feel welcome too (I thought they did well when a customer walked in and asked for a white coffee). Had some good conversation and found them very open and interested in ideas. Nice to be talking to the owners behind the bar for once.
Thirdly, the coffee:
They wouldn't tell me who roasted it, which is fair enough, but now I know anyway. The espresso was bitter, obv a bit of a dark roast and fairly uninteresting. A look/sniff in the grinder confirmed the length of the roast, oils showing, definitely over-roasted in my book. I recommended they ask their roaster for a lighter roast and they were very interested in that. As has been mentioned they're very keen and eager to be serving good coffee so watch this space.
In defence of the roaster (i've also found some info on their website useful once or twice), they advertise single origins which sound better, a bespoke blend service, and then advertise this house blend as “appealing to everyone” which I think can be taken as a good or bad thing, since to me this roast is for *$ drinkers. Commercial sense maybe, but not a shot for me. Hopefully they'll change it up. I did also wonder out loud if the machine wasn't hitting the grounds with too much pressure.
The cappuccino on the other hand was pretty good. Quite pleasant job done with the foam, no scorching, and a very good size and ratio of coffee to milk. Pity there was still some bitterness from the coffee, but I'd buy it again, unlike the place up the road where I couldn't even drink it.
I'm not that bothered by food but I love anyone who puts muesli on the menu since I live off the stuff!!
All in all, had a really nice afternoon and will keep my promise to return! Go along, give them some support and see/say what you think of their coffee – you won't get snarled at, so they're already ahead of the game. Manchester could yet have excellent coffee!
Thanks for the recommendation Youri
Sam
Bezzera BB105, Hario slim grinder, Hario filter, swissgold filter, aeropress, cafetieres, cold brewer, stovetops, lots of teas...
...and lots of love