The Coffee Is So Good

Piccolo latte at Nude Espresso.

I haven't forgotten about coffee either. I love both coffee and tea. But currently, I only have the capacity to pursue one in depth. So coffee has taken a back seat. On this trip, afternoons are set aside for tea, and in the mornings, I sort out coffee at the cafes, or with their beans bought home to work magic with the excellent kitchen machine that my Aunts had to spend 1.5 hours teaching me how to operate the levers.

The indie Oz-influenced coffeeshops are still burgeoning. Exciting. Some have added outlets here and there, but it's not exactly viewed as a chain. Unlike Starbucks who expected to rake in more profits from UK and don't pay hefty taxes, now has to pay more.  Errmmm...yah, who wants to drink Starbucks coffee in UK when there're plenty of better options? Monmouth Coffee has switched around its house blends, but the coffee produced is now generally inconsistent as opposed to the mind-blowing cups I've had years ago. The others have caught up. Isn't it awesome that years on, the addresses of indie cafes are still valid for a visitor to explore in the city? Rents aren't cheap here, but it certainly doesn't seem to kill business owners the way they do in Singapore.

The cheery counter of Notes, Music and Coffee.

Many coffeeshops offer hot food, breakfasts and lunches. Some don't, and only serve bread that may be warmed up. Whichever way, coffeeshops are a must-stop between destinations. I've woken up really early on some days just so that I can be one of the first to arrive at a cafe for a cup of coffee. Thinking about the aroma of a cup could easily propel me out of bed before sunrise and sprint to the cafe-of-the-day within the hour. Don't be impressed. Sunrise is at like...8am nowadays. The best part, there's always freshly squeezed orange juice on the menu. Yay. But after having had regular sweet juice out of Valencia oranges at home, whatever oranges used in the cafes here have been really really sour. *shudder* But they're a good palate cleanser.

Oh for a cup of thick piccolo latte! Yes, I've abandoned having a flat white, unless it's Berwick Street's Flat White or Craft Coffee at Maltby Street Market. Flat whites aren't done consistently at one cafe, much less at all. The baristas aren't always in tune with what they churn out. In layman terms, the cup could well end up with too much milk. You gotta either get 'em on a good day, or get to know your favorite baristas in order to have a consistent cup that meets all expectations. I don't live in this city to have the luxury of this knowledge. But I can depend on the friends and follow their choices and timings at certain cafes to get a more or less decent cup of caffeine.