Comments on: British Coffee

By: Chris Keene

Chris Keene — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Nice blog post. I think Michael summarises it well, and his 1985 date is probably a could marker (on what is a slow evaluation not an over night thing). I’m trying to remember when I first saw a Cafetiere/coffee press – it was probably that time or later. Before then instant coffee WAS coffee – in the same was as a tea bag was tea. But this followed a general trend in British food, pasta was new to me in the 80s, always spagetti, always with bolognese, always dried. It was only years (decades?) later that I discovered fresh pasta.

We’ve come along way.

The second point i’d make is our lack of independent retailers. For example in the states from what I’ve see (admittedly from movies in the main) there are road side dinners (especially on long dusty roads… umm again mainly from the movies!), which seem to be independent. In the UK with have little chef (for those outside the UK think McDonalds, with seat service and a few curtains on the windows, and stupidly high prices).

As you note, the coffee shops are so utterly generic. And not particularly pleasant: long slow queue, fairly basic service, often cramped messy seating. Oh and massive ugly mugs and terrible food.

Brighton is lucky (especially near me) that we have many, many independent cafes. Many serve good coffee (I’m no expert, especially compared with most people I follow on twitter) in original surroundings, nice staff and at table service.

Best coffee http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/coffee-33-brighton

Another great cafe http://www.metro-deco.com/ (in Kemp town, where there were quite large protests to try and stop a starbucks opening).

But for most of the UK, we are stuck with three main chains, with identical – poor – offerings. I’m sure there’s a market in many towns across the UK for people to open unique and independent coffee shops and cafes!

Finally, a couple of years a go I realised that most drinks we call coffee are actually Hot Milky Drinks with a hint of coffee in there. I tend to drink Americano now when I am out (Expresso drinkers feel free to tut).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:41:00 +0000

We just got back from travelling all over GB, and the coffee was abysmal everywhere we went. I don’t think they even know what an arabica bean is.

By: Michael Smethurst

Michael Smethurst — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:25:00 +0000

modern british history breaks down into 2 distinct phases:

1945 – 1985 was post war. we made food from packets (vesta curries, birds trifle) and drank drinks from jars. we still kept up appearances by making “real tea” from “real leaves”. as the moldy old stones said, “she buys an instant cake and she buys a frozen steak and goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper”. or something like that. there were a few false dawns with psychedelic e-types on carnaby street and safety pin wearing punks. but don’t be fooled! they all ate from packets

1985 – now was post thatcher. and marked the arrival of the now ubiquitous “BICC cartel”

sitting quite alone between the 2 was michael caine. 1965, the ipcress file. britain was still mainly bombsites and instant coffee. but michael caine wore good suits, made love (really rather roughly) to beautiful women and got up to scramble eggs and grind post-coital coffee beans

apparently it was just some product placement but to the average post war brit with nhs glasses and nhs teeth it was about as sophisticated as any brit was ever likely to get

just check the posters: http://keesstam.tripod.com/trivia.html

if you’re gonna blame anyone, blame michael. he gave us ideas above our station

By: Zach Beauvais

Zach Beauvais — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:58:00 +0000

It's not that grinders actually are expensive, it's that they're seen as an extravagance. When most people buy coffee in a jar and the only kit needed to prepare it are a mug, spoon and kettle; the perception of actual coffee prep can be slightly distorted.

By: K Cups

K Cups — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:50:00 +0000

You’ll know as soon as you taste it, for sure. Also I find it hard to believe that a grinder would be considered expensive. Mine was less than 10 bucks.

By: Coffee of the Month Club

Coffee of the Month Club — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:47:23 +0000

Coffee doesn't bring joy only to our office but also to our health. Coffee gives us heat when we feel cold and it always keeps us warm. I couldn't agree more on this article.

By: Owen Stephens

Owen Stephens — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:06:02 +0000

In general I couldn’t agree more, although I personally think an espresso machine at home is worth it for when you want a treat (but you really need espresso ground coffee – either a decent grinder that will go to very fine, or buy espresso grind.

Actually, despite the love of ‘hot drinks’ in the UK, we behave just about as badly towards tea – if you go into Cafe Nero, or Starbucks, then at least they’ll be using loose, ground coffee to make it – try finding a high street cafe that uses loose tea.

And finally, the thing I really hate – instant coffee. I just don’t think they should be allowed to call it coffee. The problem is when you go and see someone and they offer you coffee – is it rude to check ‘is that instant coffee’?

By: Owen Stephens

Owen Stephens — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:06:00 +0000