No wonder you turned down that cup of instant muck they offered you today! I wonder how much you have to spend in there before they offer you a proper coffee!
Nice meeting you anyway.
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And you 
This week I have mostly been drinking Fortnum and Mason’s 181 espresso blend.
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Hmmm I haven’t spent enough yet 
Although Ross appreciates proper coffee I know, Pete doesn’t seem to be interested, which is of course absolutely fine
I quite like Lavazza Qualità Oro which is very middle of the road but very pleasant to my taste buds. Recently tried Roastworks pe de cedro Brazil which is on offer in Waitrose and it gets thumbs up from me - well worth a try whilst on promotion. Perhaps worth noting that my preference is for a lighter roast - when I was living out in Jamaica I simply adored some of the lighter roast Blue Mountain coffee from the local producers.
Peter
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Our “go to” is Union Coffee’s signature espresso blend, Revelation. Delivered in 1kg bags, very recently roasted. For example, our last delivery was on 16th Dec with a roasting date of 13th Dec.
Occasionally, we try others from Union or our local Old Spike Roastery but always end up coming back to Revelation.
Brewed in last year’s Christmas present.
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We’re not coffee connoisseurs but we find this always works well in our bean to cup maker for everyday use.
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When italian coffee machines came to the uk.
It was one shilling and sixpence a cup.
That was a lot of money. My mother only let me
Have 1 cup. Now it is over £3. A cup.
Still expensive. And some places it no taste.
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I know! And very few would have a good tasty espresso! All covered up by all kinds of milks for disguise, blame it on Starbucks!
And full of campers! How about a sweet shot of great coffee, at the bar, quick chat and ciao!
When I have my espresso machine running for guests who have not had “proper” espresso based drinks before, I try to get them to taste without sugar first then if they still want to add sugar that’s fine. Starbucks have to burn their beans to cut through all the sugar and other junk that people add, and people are used to coffee being bitter well it ain’t if made properly!
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I see you have been auto corrected! Threlkeld rather than thrilled. Having climbed Sharp Edge a few times coffee was the last thing on my mind. But I did enjoy one when I got back to the hotel quite a few years ago now.
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Bah! Thanks for letting me know - now corrected
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That’s right!
What I do sometimes, especially for guests is drop a bit of sugar in the espresso and not stir or shake at all (so … Not stirred, Not even shaken!) - it goes to the bottom with essentially no (or super subtle) impact and stays there until the last sip - a blast of unashamed sweetness - at that point it goes to “Shaken, not stirred” stage … or just go for it and scoop it all out.
One of my favourite after dinner coffees was served by a modern Italian restaurant near me which they called a Custardo. An espresso with a dollop of custard (crème Anglaise if you’re being posh). Spectacular.
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“Waiter, there’s a yellow splodge in my espresso!”
“It’s custardo”
“Custardo, there’s a yellow splodge in my espresso!”
(Apologies to the Gazpacho joke for that)
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Actually I should confess I was a bit incomplete in my answer. Guests don’t normally have espresso - they have what I call a cappuflatte (vaguely a cross between a flat white, cappuccino and flat white as I am not good enough with milk frothing as I should be in an ideal world). So with milk in they should get enough sweetness from that…
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We don’t have a lot of access to coffee beans where we’re living but this one from our local supermarket isn’t bad at all.
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We used to use beans from Whittards many years ago, but converted over to pods for convenience due to my late wife’s disability.
Now, many years later, many pod systems later, new Mrs DG, we are using the Nespresso system.
Current favourites are the Stockholm Fortissio Lungo for drinking black;
Have tried other branded pods for the Nespresso system, but always end up back on the original Nespresso pods. We do prefer their taste, does this makes us Coffee Snobs as well?
And if MrS DG has milk, then Ispirazione Napolli,
I know not everyone likes pod systems due to cost, waste, etc. But, here in the UK we do use their good recycling system when we order the coffee.
DG…
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I don’t think anyone who uses pods can be termed a coffee snob. I’m sure it tastes fine and is very convenient. However, for me, whatever you say about the recycling scheme in the UK, this method of coffee preparation is really not environmentally sustainable. Apart from the materials and energy used in preparing the pods, any recycling also requires energy and materials and can never be 100% efficient. But the biggest hurdle to sustainability is that many, if not most, people do not return their used pods for recycling. Definitely not for me and what’s more I much prefer the flavour from freshly-ground beans. I think I may be becoming a coffee snob!
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