What an opportunity, gap in the market

A while ago I went to Brunei and I have been meaning to write a peace on my coffee experience whist out there. Work has got in the why, I am now on some well deserved, even if I do say it myself, leave, I'm taking this opportunity to write a couple of three posts. One of the rules we have is that I'm not allowed to take a computer or tablet on holiday, subsequently I'm posting using my phone and a wireless keyboard.

Before going to Brunei I tweeted for some good place to have coffee, the never ending search for the perfect cup of coffee and yet another, god shot (term I came across recently that is used by baristas for a shot of coffee that when drunk causes something akin to a religious experience). Anyway I got some responses and duly noted them for use when in country. The hotel I was staying in served top nock afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches, scones and cake and yes the crusts where cut off (looking forward to going back given the opportunity). By chance we where meeting a couple of people on business and they suggested meeting up in one of the coffee houses that had been recommended, joy, two birds one stone. The coffee house was a place call ' the coffee bean and tea leaf' it turns out to be a chain, one I hadn't come across before and I don't think they have made it to Britain yet.

What a disappointment, it turns out they are the equivalent of a mainstream fast food retailer, you know the ones, but for coffee and tea. As Brunei is a dry country I'm guessing that this is quite a good market to be in.

My expectations where way to high. The places character was manufactured with info sheets on the tea and coffee, it also was a bloody mess as we where having a business meeting the first thing I had to do was tidy up. I got to the counter, my companion, wants a capacino and I decide to ask for a flat white. After some, lost in trasnlation moments I end up with a latte as they done do flat whites and havent even hear of them. They arnt bussy and I also order a bannana bread muffin, the service is glacial which is inpressive as there are five of them working the other side of the counter. A little recap: the place is covered in rubish; the service is slow and they dont know what flat white is. We get our drinks and the bannana bread muffin, the drinks arnt worth the wait but the banana breads is ok. I leave most of my drink, to steal a frase fron HAS BEAN, 'life is to short for bad coffee'.

On reflection, then there is a clear opatunity in the Brunei market place for a realy good independant coffee house culture to develop, prehaps its already there and I just was unlucky not to find it. Hopefully I will get an oppatunity to try again.

The length of it

A clean, clear mouthful of flavours that just keeps on going. I order different coffees and take them into work and share them with others in the office. A couple of us compare notes, on the quite because we don’t want others to think we are suffering from OCD (Obsessive Coffee Disorder) but we are. Any way I placed my first order with hasbean and in it was El Salvador Finca San Jose Elefante 2012. I know it’s not cheap but I have just finished reading ‘god in a cup’ by Michaele Weissman, which is all about good coffee and the 3rd wave of coffee coming out of America. I, personally think that the UK is at the start of the 4th but that’s a different subject. Anyway the book talks about how it’s important to pay more for your coffee as it support the farmer and improves the coffee in the longer term and as we all know ‘life is too short for bad coffee’.

The coffee arrived, quickly and the first thing I notice was the smell of it, god it smells good, the next day I took it into work and gave a friend the choice of 4 new coffees to try, secretly hopping that she would pick the San Jose first, she did. At work I use and airopress and have had to take an electric burr grinder in because when I start making coffee a large number of mugs and pleading looks suddenly appear and hand grinding was just taking too long. I make the coffee and go about my morning. It tastes as described but what isn’t mentioned is how long the flavour last, in your mouth, long enough to attach an emotional memory, it also has a kick to it, not, in your face, caffeine buss, high, running round the office bouncing off the walks more of a ooow, ok that’s nice, that is more even and prolonged. This coffee was worth every penny and I would recommend it as being one of the best coffees I have had the pleasure of trying. I have just placed my second order with hasbeean and am looking forward to the next round.

Glimpse of Brunei

This post is an overview of my week in Brunei. The first think is the wiredness caused by the seven hour time shift. For about the first 36 hours you feel out of line with the world and then you slowly seem to phase back into alinement with it. Bright sunshine, coffee and a large hotel bed with crisp white sheets help a lot.

As with my last trip, my fascination for clouds and sunrise seem to continue. I think its because I'm not normally up in time to seem them. The hotel was the Empire and Country Club a 5 start place that is opulence personified. Marble and grandeur everywhere, they serve high tea, which is a mixture of sandwich, with the crusts cut off, warms scones with cream and strawberry jam and cakes with gold on them, all the cutlery is silver from Aspray's.

There was an infinity pool lots of little beaches and lagoons, none of which I actually got time to use. For the first time when travelling for work I actual bothered to pack a pare of swimming trunks and didn't make the effort to use them.

I tried a coffee shop that someone recommend me and will post by review later. Lets just say there is a gap in the market for a independent coffee house, at this point.

The hotels coffee was about the best I could fine in Brunei, it could easily be improved, if someone was to spend some time and passion on it as they have all the right equipment. The phrase that springs to mind, which I picked up whist scuba diving, is they have all the gear' be no idea. The coffee was okish, drinkable but you had to ask for the latte to be made strong our you ended up with something weak, milky and warm.

When I travel I normally pack my airopress, hand grinder and some of my favourite beans, I didn't this trip and they where sadly missed, life lesson learnt and which wont happen again.

Brunei is truly beautiful, the people are friendly, welcoming and happy to help, the weather is hot and wet. The food is a mashup of everything, good fresh fruit, I eat everything form sushi to curry (for breakfast) to high tea with scones and darjeeling tea (with a slice of lemons, of cause). At dinner, in he hotel, they severed six types of rice w evening meal, I didn't know that there was six types of rice. I can recommend the chicken rice, it creamy and some of best rice I have ever had.

Onward journey

We left Dubai 40 minutes after arriving just enough time for 2 smokes, 2 security checks and some exercise. Back on the plane for another nine and a half hours. Surprisingly it wasn't that bad, once I had workout how to turn the chair into a bed, I passed out for most of the journey. Food was good as was the attentiveness of the cabin staff.

Landed around 8.30 local time and passed through customs and immigration seamlessly. Its worth noting that Brunei is a dry country BUT you are allowed to bring in one bottle of spirits if you declare it, are not a muslim and are above the drinking age. I only found this out once I got the immigration forms, which was to late as I was working on the premise that you couldn't bring any alcohol into the country.

Meet by our driver and whisked off to the hotel, we check in and are told that our rooms will not be ready for about an hour. On reflection, having been here for a couple of days, this is odd, the hotel isn't exactly full and they have staff everywhere. After a short wait our room and a coffee in the lounge we are shown to our rooms and I can have a shower.

Hell defined

Its the little things in life that amuse me, like turning left when you get onto the plane. I get on this tin tube, I've forgot my nicotine patches and they are packed in my case which is now in the hold, getting to my seat, what do I find, in the seat next to me there is a woman holding an 18 month old child, who is screaming its head off. Your having a laugh, this is not the way my first business class flight is supposed to go, so I've got 18 hours of this right..........TAXI.

Luckily my companion on this trip talked me into a couple of glasses of free champaign before getting on the flight and I fall a sleep before take off and wake up 2 hours into the first 6 hour leg. We are flying on Royal Brunei airways, the important think to note at this point is the BRA is a dry airline.

Lets recap: no smoking, no nicotine supplement, no alcohol, screaming child, mother intent on breast feeding in the seat next to me. On the plus side, seats that turns into flat beds, that have controls that only take one and one half hours to workout. A selection of dumbed and heavily edited second rate movies. When do we get to Dubai I need a smoke!

We make it to Dubai, now I only have to get off the plane, walk half a mile, get through security, walk another quarter mile to find the room of fellow sinners and addicts.....' we would like to inform passengers that are continuing on to Brunei that you have 20 mins before re-boarding the plane.' Someone somewhere is now officially taking the p1ss. Do not even think about mentioning coffee!

How fare east?

I'm off on another trip, Brunei this time. For the first time in my life I am legitimately getting to travel 'Business Class'. I've travelled a lot and had the pleasure of getting bumped up on a couple of occasions.

I'm a bit wary as this is going to be a long flight, the longest I've ever done. I jut realised I've forgotten to put on my necitin patch and I have check my luaggage in......arse........this is going to be an intresting first leg.

At the time of typing, I'm sat in the lounge in Heathrow T4 having just had breakfast and booked my reiki sessision before getting on the plane.

So near so Milk bar

I think things are getiting out of hand. I just walked for half an hour across london on the hottest day of the year, so far, in order to go to one specifics coffee house, Milk Bar in Soho.

Milk Bar is the sister shop to Flat White (previous post) they use the same beans but the coffee is subtly different. I reported in my previous post that I thought the coffee at Flat white was slightly bitter, at Milk bar it isn't. This actually gives me an issue, is Milk bar actually better than Taylors of Brighton .........?

Put the answer this way, I enjoyed my coffee so much that I had to buy a take away for my half an hour journey back to the train station. I'm not in London that often but when I am, I'll be going to milk bar for my coffee.

There is something about a coffee in a none dicriped recyclie paper cup, if you look, you will notice people walking around jealously guarding or smugly smiling to themselves, whilst hold these nondescript articles.

A flat white in the red light

As mentioned in one of my earlier post 'flat white' is considered to be one of the best coffee houses in London, along with its sister shop 'milk bar'. It is nestled on the east side of a row of shops right in the midel of the Soho market area.

The inside is long and thin and it is always bussy, expect to wait if you want a seat and if there is a group of you, expect to wait longer.

The atmosphere is friendly and orders are taken quickly, even if you have to wait to actualy get your coffee. Its worth the wait though the coffee is excellent, very rich and a little bitter to my taste but the flaviour will stay with you for a good couple of hours, which is always a good sign. If I think realy hard and can still just about invoke the memory of the coffee from darkfluid, thats when you know you have had a realy good coffee, when it creates a memory that lasts. If you haven't or cannot bring to mind an occasion when a cup of coffee was this good, your drinking the wrong stuff and I recommend making the effort, just once, to find a good coffee house and try it.

If in London, I recommend making the effort of a ten minute walk to get good coffee. It has to be a better decision than going for the convenance of a cup of brown warm stuff from a chain.

Say's who....The Times.....Really

I went to London for a meeting and whist in town one of my colleges said "I know this grate coffee house, it severs the best expresso in London". Well whats a chap to do, when presented with the offer of the best expresso in London. Walk for twenty minutes in the pissing rain, getting socked to the skin, that's what.

Eventually, we arrived at 1882 and the sign outside did indeed promise the best expresso in London. We went straight in and I stood looking at the menu, whilst the drips off my coat made puddles on the floor. The barista, prompted me to order "regular flat white with sugar, please". "Sorry sir we don't serve flat whites". "I'll have a cappuccino, then, thanks".

I started drinking flat whites about 2 years ago, an antipodean drink in origin and similar to a latte, however a latte should be served in a glass where as a flat white comes in a cup and saucer, who knew, just looked it up. There are apparently also some other subtle differences to do with milk and micro-foam.

It would appear that the Times has not woken up to the fact that the nature of coffee in our capital is changing. Not longer are people prepared to except a brown, thin liquid, resembling buddy rain as coffee.
The coffee at 1882 is comparable to some the bigger chains, ok, nothing more. Will I go again; But this way, I wont be seeking them out.

I hadn't been up to London for a while and was presently surprise by the number of decent independent coffee house spring up selling carefully roasted, blended and served drinks. All I can hope is that this trend spreads across the country, banishing all 3rd rate dirty ditchwater mongeriors.

Day tripping: an opportunity, denied!

Last weekend, we when up to town to see the Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Excellent, exhibition that allowed you to understand how he constructed his works. Going up to town also gave me the opportunity to go to Taylor's HQ and tick it off the todo list as well as allowing me to go to a couple of my favour shops. I did my homework and found Taylor's on google maps and bookmarked it on my phone as it is a bit off the beaten track, hidden be hind Clarigates.

A : See Details(Google Map)

We arrived in London and took a tube to the closest station and then followed the phones instruction to find the coffee house, tucked up a back allay. The one thing I didn't check was if they actually opened at the weekend, they do not. I mean who doesn't open at the weekend, apparently they don't.

Its now mid morning, I have survived public transport, the place I've actually made the effort to find is shut. I need coffee. On route to the shut Taylor's we passed a couple of interesting / independent looking coffee houses.

The one we chose was a place called Everbean, what a peace of luck, from walking in to walking out again, it was a pleasure. The environment is contemporary industrial, the atmosphere is intermit and friendly and the coffee......

Is first rate, every bit as good as the coffee I didn't have at Taylor's because they don't open at the weekends at the London shop.

A : See Details(Google Map)

More in hope than expectation

You never know what you might find or see in Brighton so some times its a pleasure to turn left instead of the usual right.

Whist searching for more detail on darkfluid and where I might be able to get some beans, I came across this link. The link details some of the better coffee shops, dotted around Brighton. As we go to Brighton quite often, I'm keeping my eyes open and as I come across one on the list I'll update with some photos and opinion.

On this weekends trip to Brighton, we stopped in at Taylor's for the obligatory breakfast, before going shopping and wondering. In the back of my mind I was hoping their would be another food market and we would just trip upon Lawrence and darkfluid again.

There was another food market much bigger than the previous one, so we checked every stall and ......nothing, lots of great food other coffee sellers and even some selling a coffee substitute. Like there can be a substitute, I ask you. But no darkfluid, so we went for sushi as a consolation, a little Japan's place hidden in one of the lanes, that if you don't know where it is you will never find it. Servers tempura, sushi and sashimi and no I'm not telling where you can find it.

After lunch we continue up the lanes and where we would normally turn round and head back to the car we turned left and headed up the hill towards the station. That's when we spotted coffee@33, having read the reviews on line, not had coffee after lunch and not wishing to miss an opportunity to try a coffeehouse that I hadn't had the pleasure of before, we popped in.

Friendly staff and an excellent selection of cakes and chocolate, stodgy looking pastries....we'd just had lunch so we gave them a miss but they did look very tempting. There's an Italian feel to the place, decor is minimal but functional, didn't spot any free wifi but didn't real look for it.

I ordered a cappuccino and a mocha, the chap serving gave me a look, then I remembered, that in Italy cappuccino is a morning drink and drinking in after 10 am is frowned on. Just as well I'm in England and don't really give a damn, I'm more interested in how good your coffee is and if your good enough to tempt me away from Taylor's.

The coffee was good, the cappuccino wasn't, classic thirds but the mocha was chocolate heaven, dark and strong, luckily I only ordered the regular any more and a headache would have been guaranteed. The outcome, I will continue to go to Taylor's. In short, as I have said before, its about the coffee and the coffee is better at Taylor's.

Tinker, Taylor's, Soldier, Spy: 'a dark matter'

I have been intending to talk coffee for a while but the events of today has brought matter to a head.

I've always liked a good cup of coffee, from my early years, brewing in my parents old percolator, moving to an expresso maker for my sixteen birthday, next was my beloved stove top, to the present the unprecedented, Aeropress.

I have been going to Taylor's in Brighton for a number of years. The main draw for me is the first rate coffee. They use Rogue Expresso from Union Coffee and I believe that one of the founders, of Taylor's, was responsible for the rogue blend. I enjoy this blend so much that I have a standing order with union coffee to deliver me a kilo of fresh beans once a month. I find leaving the beans for month improves the flavour.

You will find a bright mix of the Brighton faithful and folks straight off the train, as it is on the main drag, down the hill, on the way into town. The Brighton branch, of this independent (chain of four) coffee house, is frequented by Macalites and creatives as the wifi is free and the password is chalk at the bottom of the main menu board. The food is excellent, using local and organic sourced produce but its really all about the coffee.

The thing about coffee connoisseurs, snobs, addicts, what every you like to call us, is that we are as fickle as they come. We will go out of our way, just to get a good cup and when we find a place that ticks all the boxs we will keep coming back.......until we find a better brew.

A cold, grey, cover-case, rainy day was the background to an event that was total unexpected. Having gone to Taylor's for the usual flat white and eggs royal and then done the usual round of shops. We went for a walk, through one of the often on outdoor markets, that pop up on a regular basics in Brighton. This one was chocolate focused.

Half why through I spotted a small stall, buried by the surrounding stall, nothing special, in fact it was most unimposing but it was selling coffee so I gave it a second look. At this point a noticed the sign, ok, now I'm interested. I approached and ask for a cup of "award wining cappuccino" with a touch of cynicism.

Having ordered one and luckily got two coffees, my partner and I walked off, cups in hand. Five paces later my part stopped in her tracks, "this is good, no this is really good, it reminds me of Croatia". I hadn't tried mine yet.

I stopped, took the lid off the cup, raised it to my lips and.... It was better than good it was perfect. What strikes me now is that the temperature was, ready to drink. The balance between coffee, milk and foam was classic thirds and perfectly balance and he had made it all look so effortless. I cannot and will not attempt to describe the taste but the memory of it is still with me a day later.

After a minute or two of this heavenly, dark fluid, I went back to the stall. I wanted beans, also I just had to tell the chap how dame good it was. He simply smiled, thanked me and shook my hand. As for the beans "sorry mate I have got any for sale today come back tomorrow".

Having now done a bit of homework, I had just had the pleasure, no the honour, of meeting Lawrence the unimposing taste buds behind dark fluid.

Straight back into the Megatropolis

It was my fathers 70th birthday mid February and as a treat I booked tickets to Aida at the Albert hall. My dad has always had an affinity with Aida, I have never seen the whole opera as on the previous occasion, I when to see it, the performance was delayed and we had to leave early in order to catch the last train home. This time I book a matinee.

The highlight, for me was the voice of the woman playing Aida, it was incredible and to be honest, floored me. The day was one of the best days in London I have had in a long time.

Sun rise on the last day

I'm now back in the UK and back in the office and tying to get into the rhythm of my life. I'm not finding as much time to write and still have a number of updates that I want to upload and share.

This time lapse was taken on my last morning in Kenya. I got up early about 05:30 in order to capture the sunrise over the mountain. This short video was actual an hour in real time.