Saturday 11 December 2010

Roast, London, UK

The majestic Roast sits above Borough Market and is a fine restaurant. Quite clearly full of city types rather than the normal borough mix up of the city, market, creatives and journos it is still a great place to eat even if a little steep. If you want to sample it then Roast To Go down on the market floor is (try devil's on horse back and the roast pork sarnie) well worth it.

We both went for the roast rib of Welsh Black sheep, Roast's awesome roast potatoes, sprouts with stuffing and lardons and a lovely bottle of merlot. The food was excellent and so to finish off we thought we should, for the sake of the blog order a coffee.

The organic Columbian Roast special blend had to be sampled as a filter. Although a little weak it had a fantastic full earthy flavour. This Columbian was one of the freshest tasting coffee's I've ever consumed, you could taste the raw beans. Unfortunately the aftertaste suffered from a little fuzzy muddiness but it was not too bitter so far from a bad experience.
(This photo was been borrowed from the Roast website. Sorry for lack of permission. Will replace asap)


  • Black Filter (french press)
  • weak to medium
  • Great taste but with some fuzz
  • Pressed
  • Cafetiere for two
  • £3.00 a head


A good coffee no doubt. Incredible taste but not enough strength and for the price the overall package this joe did not transcend time and space.

Roast
Map

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Grace's Place, Brighton, UK

They boast the best fresh coffee on Brighton beach front and they probably do have it. Although confusingly they have the word "filter" written after Americano this is only to help punters who don't understand what an Americano is, that is, it is a coffee. Situated right on the beach next to Peter Pan's playground Grace's could easily be a lazy tourist trap but they seem to make a genuine effort with what is on.


It was terribly cold and the coffee hit the spot nicely. Apart from a bizarre overly bubbly crema the coffee had a good taste and aroma. There were no nasty after taste surprises and it had a good strength. This coffee didn't lack anything specifically and certainly was not bad in any way but overall the taste itself did not reach the very top tier  of coffee out there.

  • Black Americano
  • Strong
  • Smooth with a generally good taste
  • A huge amount of very bubbly crema
  • Regular size
  • £1.40
A surprise hit right by the sea. good taste, good strength but not quite top tier. Well worth a taste and certainly nothing better right on the front.

Map - could not find a perfect address so this will have to do.