Covfaffe - the road to despair, calling at futility and disappointment

Love the way it does a little guff at the end :smile:

Been trying out Black Sheep takeaway whilst in the Capital. Definitely a cut above the standard coffee shop.

@Wayward directed me towards the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs whilst I was there recently. That was very good indeed.

Been enjoying Turkish coffees for the last four days, not sure I’ll bother at home

easily made at home with one of these

I think DOCASA are trying to become the first trully high-end chain in the country. Whether they succeed I think will depend on their consistency.
There are two branches near where I work, one is the little kiosk I recommended to you and the other is just off Carnaby St and is a full on café with a couple of floors of seating. The coffee can be superb but I think varies depending on the barista. The Carnaby outlet is busy and the music is too loud imv. The kiosk does a slightly better coffee generally I would say (less busy) but even then there is one particular guy who is better than the rest. They sell very good beans and have a great deal of 2 bags for £16 (regardless of price) with a free coffee per bag. Their flat white is the best around at the moment imv and is 3 quid and makes the bean deal really good value.

@browellm I’ve not tried Black Sheep, annoyingly they are all a little too far off my beaten track! Will definitely try though now you have flagged. :+1:

Edit: which branch were you in?

I was fucking annoyed to get such great coffee when I was last in London. There is good coffee available in St Albans, but there is no damn fine coffee here :unamused:

Kiosk outside Aldgate tube.

Ah, I ended up at the cafe off Carnaby Street. As I sat outside the music wasn’t such an issue, although the couple having a serious lovers tiff in the street did take the edge off slightly. Granted not really the fault of the cafe!

I have enough gadgets in the kitchen, this would never get used like it should. neat though

London is a long way to go for a coffee.

TBF if you suffer the commute you deserve a decent cuppa when you get there.

Had a so called decent coffee last week. Utter shit staying with Nescafé

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Were you in London ?

No,was that the problem?

Can only get good coffee in London, see above.

anyone using a Sage Oracle coffee machine.

I have now had the chance to play with the Sage and with a La Spaziale S1. I have to say the espressos that both machines make as you would expect was good and top notch.

When I made a cappuccino the Sage beat the La Spaziale hands down. Hardly surprising though, as the Sage auto textures the milk and the La Spaziale relies on my (non-existent) skill to adjust the temperature/pressure and timing to get the milk right…

The auto milk texturing of the Sage is making me favour that model. I did have some concern over the built in grinder in the Sage, but the people at sage tell me it uses the same internals as the Sage standalone pro grinder which is very well regarded.

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Yep, the La Spaziale comes with a wand that has too big an opening (iirc 1mm) which makes frothing quite difficult - you need to change it to a 1/2mm nozzle.

Read all about it here s1cafe.com

If you like milk-based coffees that Sage looks unbeatable as a sort of top-of-the-tree automagic thing.

I think that is where I am leaning. Personally, I don’t like the milky stuff, but Louise does and most of our visitors do…

@Jim the La Spaziale I played with already had the smaller nozzle, I like the auto bit for the milk that appears to do it consistently time and time again with me needing to concentrate

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I drink a mixture of espresso and others now. When they are done properly, i.e. not 80% milk, they are quite satisfying.

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