GOOD FOOD GUY
GET ROASTED!
Taken from this month’s Cotswold Life magazine
THE LOCAL COFFEE ROASTERIES THAT ARE GIVING US COFFEE FROM THE COTSWOLDS…
While we may be known as a nation of tea-drinkers, have you ever wondered why you’re so much more likely to see a cool coffee shop on our streets, rather than a traditional tea shop?
Contrary to what we might have been led to believe, the same number of people consume coffee every day as those that drink tea. But, interestingly, five times as many cups of takeaway coffee are sold compared to takeaway tea. To put it mildly, we love our coffee, and we love our cafés. Over the last decade or so, the UK coffee shop industry has been energised, carried along in a frenzy of double espressos and ristrettos, and is now worth £15 billion a year, and climbing.
I must confess that I love coffee. But just like a good bottle of wine, coffee is a very personal thing. I like a strong, full-bodied, intense roast – the sort of dark tar-like liquid that would make the hairs on the back of some people’s neck stand on end. For me, it’s about being able to taste the coffee, rather than the hot milk/froth/sugar/syrup that floats other people’s boats. I’m not quite a coffee snob yet (I still have a jar of Gold Blend in the office after all), but I am guilty of steering friends to those coffee shops that do the blends I know that I personally like.
That’s the thing about coffee – whether you prefer a latte, a cappuccino or flat white (the UK’s top 3 coffee requests), a macchiato, americano or short black – there is no right or wrong choice. Coffee provides us with a moment of pleasure – whether that’s time spent with friends or a quick caffeine fix on the way to work – and affordable pleasures are what we’re all chasing right now.
How lucky then, that you can’t turn a corner in the Cotswolds without happening upon an independent, artisan café (have you noticed how the best ones are usually tucked down a back street, often discovered through word of mouth?). And even more exciting is how our love for coffee has led to an explosion in the number of local roasters popping up in the area, which means you can often take your favourite coffee home with you – just make sure you’ve a decent bean-to-cup coffee machine to prepare it in. It’s definitely not as easy as popping a bag in the teapot, but it’s a whole lot more fun!
CAFFEINE FIX! WHERE TO FIND GREAT, LOCALLY-ROASTED COFFEE
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Ritual Coffee, Cheltenham
Voted the Best Coffee Supplier in the Cotswolds, Ritual sources ethical coffee beans from small producers and co-operatives. Roasting takes place manually in small batches in order to maintain full control over the roast. The Brew Bar is open Friday to Sundays for coffee and cake.
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Ethical Addictions Coffee, Gloucester
Roasting ethically sourced, award-winning coffee since 2006, EA is passionate about making a difference to farmers and families. The company works with and buys direct from farms and villages caring for workers and the environment, offering full transparency of the process.
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Fire & Flow Coffee Roasters, Cirencester
An aim to celebrate the quality of the coffee bean and honour the devoted coffee farmers at source are what drives this young, creative roastery. Constantly looking to innovate and collaborate, they earned second place in the ‘best producers in the Cotswolds’ awards run by Cotswolds Eats.
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Stow Town Coffee, Stow-on-the-Wold
This artisan micro roastery has been roasting coffee in the Cotswolds since 2010 and is one of the UK’s smallest commercial roasteries. Keeping customer numbers to a minimum allows each batch of coffee to be freshly roasted to order. There is a small espresso bar on site.