UKBC & New Coffee

Last week it was the UK Barista Championship finals down in London. It would've been great to go and watch as it was all part of a 3 day coffee festival but I was too busy with design work and London is way to busy a place for me to particularly want to visit.


However thanks to the wonders of the internet I was able to follow the finalists with some live, online streaming although a bit intermittent with the slow connection here.
I had some local interest in the 20 finalists, we had Gordon Howell & Steve Dyson from the coffee shops The Attic & Spring Espresso which I frequent in York. Also in the final and who ended up coming overall 3rd was Howard Barwick who did some of my barista training when I did a mini course the other year, excellent result for him. Another name I recognised in the last 6 was Dale Harris who works with HasBean who I usually buy my subscription coffee from.

They all did really well as it's a high pressure performance both pulling your shots and talking about your coffee infront of 5 or 6 judges. They get 15 minutes to serve cappuccinos to 4 judges, then they serve espressos and finally, the creative bit is for them to serve their own signature drinks. Some weird concoctions were being served for the signatures, coffee with rhubarb, a version of cola and coffee, Steve Dyson did coffee with oranges as it was synonymous with York and chocolate oranges! Interesting stuff.


I am currently between subscriptions with my HasBean coffee, it's brilliant coffee but having a delivery of fresh beans every week is starting to get expensive so I'm taking a coffee break for a while and have taken this opportunity to broaden my coffee horizons and sample a mini pack from another roaster, this time Union coffee.

It's a selection of S. American coffees and so far so good. Having been without coffee for a week it was good to crank the machine up again as I was having withdrawal symptoms!


Some coffee links:
Best cafes in York, with proper baristas & fine coffee


http://harlequinyork.com/

http://www.springespresso.co.uk/


http://www.perkypeacockcoffee.co.uk/


Coffee roasters for online purchasing:


http://www.hasbean.co.uk/


http://www.unionroasted.com/

http://www.jamesgourmetcoffee.com/


http://www.origincoffee.co.uk/

Origin coffee have very groovy packaging!

York does Vintage

On Saturday there was another vintage fair in York at the Merchant Adventurers Hall, it was the one where they do a clothes swap and I needed to go because I had quite a few clothes swap tokens from the last event when I couldn't find much to use them on. 


Quite promising when I went in as we got a goodie bag with a lots of leaflets / vouchers, a vintage explorer magazine & a mini pot of BodyShop rose body butter which was nice.

It was pretty busy, lots of stalls I've come across before at events, a few new ones and a few interesting clothing items in amongst a lot of not so vintage, over-priced tat.


I found the clothes swap and it was about as disappointing as last year. I think some people turn up with a bag of rubbishy stuff in the hope to find some choice items but if everyone turns up with rubbish, or like one lady, a bag of her husbands stuff, then there's nothing much for other ladies to choose from. They had 3 small clothes rails and I found hardly anything I wanted or anything which would be my size and I've still come away with tokens to use up!
I got the things below, the only item which will fit is the linen jacket bottom right, the other things were bought purely to chop up and use the fabric.

On a slightly more positive note I did purchase some vintage fabric & trimmings. The fabric below is 50's barkcloth with a medieaval banquet scene, the woven braid is vintage but not the made in britain ribbon.

Moving swiftly on from the vintage fair I had lovely coffee and snacks in Spring Espresso which is just a few doors along from the back entrance of Merchant Adventurers Hall.
I then made a first time visit, with Bob, to the LoveCheese shop on Gillygate.

It was a lovely little shop, we sampled some cheese and have come away with Ribblesdale cheeses, the one on the left is a mature Wensleydale & the one which I'm really hooked on is the piece on the right, a smoked goats cheese.

Our trip was finished with a quick ride in the trolley for Bob around Sainsbury's.

He had carrots on his shopping list so we had to get a stash to take home!

Nice day in York

Dug the car out from the icy driveway and made the effort to go to York today. If nothing else it would be a few hours away from the cold miserable house. I was half planning to go to the vintage fair which was on today but first on the agenda was a warming coffee at Spring Espresso.


Steve and Tracey who run Spring are entering the UK Barista championships and they very kindly did us a sample of their cappuccino blend for starters which was absolutely lovely. I also had a very nice Java pour over with a piece of Traceys white chocolate caramel shortbread.
As some folk may know, I'm quite into my coffee and Steve asked if I would like a go on their super dupa espresso machine. Well it would have been rude not to accept so with a bit of guidance from Steve, the crazy guy in the photo, I got stuck into the industrial size 3 group head espresso machine. 
I don't normally reveal myself as I hate having photos taken but you can't see me terribly well which is why I let this slip through the net.

Next I texturised the milk, their steam wand is very powerful.

Here is my result, it's kind of a cappuccino / flat white and not too bad an effort, tasted really good too.

It was fast approaching lunchtime and I was thinking less of the vintage fair and more about food so Tracey rustled up some delish sandwiches, they are experimenting with fillings at the moment and this was a type of cheese with some lovely fruity chutney and salad, as you can see my little friend approved!

Full of lovely food and coffee it was time to go, it had been such a nice few hours that I didn't fancy a frantic rush around the vintage fair so that can wait until next time.
If you're in Fossgate do look up Spring as they are open 7 days a week and it's a great place.

Christmas Eve coffee & tea

Had a lovely morning in York, no stress, no crowds, no shopping.
Arrived early to get parked and I was strolling alongside the river by 8.30, it was a wee bit chilly, I took Bob the Bunny and he wore his new red winter scarf.
Here he is just going by Cliffords Tower into town.

Not long before we reached the warm welcoming door to Spring Espresso on Fossgate.

Steve had just opened up and I started with a delicious flat white.

Enjoyed some sticky toffee cake, eaten too quick for a photo! 


An espresso followed by a piccolo and then Bob tucked into a juicy cinnamon bagel!

The purpose of the trip was also to buy a Piaoi tea pot which is a fantastic device from China to make the perfect cuppa. I went mad and bought the tea pot with a special cup and some interesting loose tea, Vietnamese Puerh, Pouchong and Dragon Well. And, just incase I run out of coffee beans over Christmas I bought a bag of Melpomene Espresso blend.

So I think that's me about done now and here's one final photo of some odd decorations I saw in a shop on Fossgate, not sure if I like them or not.

Bob the bunny's visit to the best coffee shops in York

What a lovely autumnal day it turned out to be. Just as well as Bob had planned a trip to York to sample some of the best coffee shops his owner knows.

This was no ordinary trip, this was purely a coffee trip, no shopping, just a peaceful potter around the streets with juice from the bean to keep us going.

First off was the newest coffee shop in York, Spring Espresso on Fossgate. So new, they haven't got the sign up yet but Bob had no trouble sniffing out the espresso!

Spring is run by the lovely Steve & Tracey who we had briefly met at The Attic before. This is Steve preparing a flat white.

And here is the delicious drink.

Not only do they prepare fantastic coffee, they have the most amazing tea and Piao-i tea infusers. This is some jasmine pearl tea infusing, ooh it was so fragrant, mmmm, like spring (pardon the pun) flower meadows.

The shop has some interesting handmade furniture from reclaimed Yorkshire timber, it was a fascinating start to the day.

Swiftly moving on, Bob and I headed towards the river, our destination Lendal Tower.

New to us, although pretty well established already is The Perky Peacock, run by its namesake owner, Nicola Peacock.

What a quirky little coffee shop, housed inside the tower. Bijou but beautifully formed, full to the brim with customers so we sat outside in the sun and sipped our delicious flat white and homemade ginger biscuits.

Nicola popped out to say hello but Bob had bounced off to admire the river at that point so he'll meet Nicola next time!

We were just starting to get that caffeine fueled buzz, but that wouldn't deter us from scuttling across town to our most frequented venue, yes you guessed it, The Attic above Harlequin.

The doors had more or less just opened but someone had beat us to being first up the stairs. no problem, still plenty of seating.

We were tempted by a sweet sounding Mexican espresso, we weren't disappointed, it was very palatable indeed. The water was divine too, it had turned quite warm so the cooling and caffeine diluting effect was much appreciated.

All this scurrying about had made Bob quite peckish so no trip to the Attic would be complete without a portion of our favourite snack, herb & garlic bread, excellent fodder for a young rabbit like Bob.

Our trip had drawn to a close, the money was all gone, we were high as kites on caffeine, The Attic was now very busy and it was time to go home for a rest. 

Bob enjoyed meeting all our coffee friends, old and new, sampling some wonderful, drinks, hospitality and service. York is certainly becoming a hot spot for good coffee.

Bye bye Bob.