Coffee

Anyone who's been to New Zealand will understand that we are pretty obsessive about coffee ! Coffee culture is a big thing, I miss going out at night and stopping for coffee instead of a beer. As far as kiwis are concerned I always considered myself pretty average in my regard and taste for a good coffee ... till I got to the UK and the complete drought of good coffee shops !

To my great delight I've found an excellent bunch of british guys who are far more obsessive about coffee than me, the team at Origon coffee make good coffee and roast their own, they are totally obsessive about it and I had a great couple of hours talking to one of their owners. I've found my coffee supplier for the restaurant.

It was also great to find somewhere outside of London to get a flat white ! Relish coffee and Deli in Wadebridge have the 2008 UK barrista champion Hugo and his protege 'Barrista boy' who placed 8th in the 2009 competition. I had the pleasure of comparing flat whites made by them both and I think the boy won it by a nose ! Needless to say they use Origon coffees ...

More news on the restaurant plans any day now !

7 comments:

Diane said...

Cant wait to hear you restaurant plane.

Sal said...

Mat,

If you're ever up in the north west - you should check out Atkinsons tea and coffee merchants in Lancaster. Est in 1837 the newish manager is about as coffee mad as these guys - he has his own roaster and will happily spend hours talking about coffee to you. Check out their website, not all English people like instant sludge - honest!

Flash Bristow said...

Hi Matt, if you love decent coffee then look up L'Unico in London, they supply loads of the best restaurants and hotels and really know their stuff.

cazj said...

Relish don't just do great coffee either - they are my fav place for lunch and do superb hot chocolate - just wish they were slightly bigger so you wouldn't need to fight off the tourists to get a table!!

Mat Follas said...

sorry if I've added to the crush ... and yest they do great food too !

Karin said...

I had to laugh at this coffee entry, particularly the reference to a flat white, which is my personal fav. If you think getting coffee in the UK is bad, try the US! No such thing as a flat white, nor a white coffee, it's coffee with milk or cream, and they do mean cream! Wonderful to read that there are restaurant plans. I'm so excited for you and your family.

Mat Follas said...

US coffee ... I did RT66 couple of years ago ... coffee nightmare ... sounds sad I know unless you've learnt to love the good stuff ... I think NZ/Aus take some beating for coffee ... all the top houses here are run by kiwis and aussies

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