Leave the Herd Behind - Coffee Masterclass - Black Sheep Coffee

I was so excited when Jane offered an opportunity for a Coffee Masterclass at Black Sheep Coffee at Regents Place.

I hadn't heard of the particular brand before, but this weather is perfect for fueling my caffeine addiction and I quickly said yes.

The evening began on a perfect note. As we signed in, we were handed freshly made espresso martinis and cups of popcorn. Very practical for participants like me, that had survived the whole day on just coffee, snicker bar, a piece of fruit (all true stories).

I caught up with some of my friends, Joanne from Love PopUps London, Joice and Jason while sipping our cocktails and waiting for the others to arrive.

While Black Sheep Coffee functions as a coffee shop during the day, they also have a couple of bar tenders and depending on the day of the week, they start filling in cocktail orders whenever their mainly office going customers request them for it. They have a huge space that's quite comfortable for business meetings, so they said that they have people who come in for meetings requesting coffee and as they get don with work, they segue to the alcoholic drinks. What an amazing concept!

Black Sheep Coffee has quite a few branches around town, mostly concentrated in the business districts. I can't wait for them to come to Paddington.

Once everyone was assembled, we were addressed by Tony and Monia. They showed us how to smell and taste coffee and gave us a few tips on what to look for when buying coffee grounds. We did the slurp test to try out a couple of different varieties.

We were then split into 2 groups. Our group headed to the heavy machinery first. Matt here was extremely patient with us as we tried our hands at some latte art.

Hint : Its not as easy as your Barista makes it look! Both your hands have to constantly move, but in completely different motions. Tougher than playing the piano I tell you.

We then returned to our table with our lattes. We now learned how to use a simple filter at home and a few tips to make better coffee at home.
1. Brew coffee at 93C. Anything higher burns out the sugars in it.
2. Let all the bubbles dissipate from your kettle before you pour hot water on your coffee.
3. 7 gms of coffee per 100 ml
4. Use really good quality coffee beans.
5. Coffee should be light caramel colour
6. Coffee loses taste and aroma within 15 minutes of grinding. So best to grind freshly when you want to make some coffee.
7. Brew for 3.5-4 minutes.
8. The longer you brew your coffee, the higher the caffeine content.

Through this whole process, we kept sipping on coffee and cocktails. The velvet martini was outstanding.

I have to say that the coffee was amazing. We sampled the Love Berries, Robusta Revival, Blue Volcano and Swiss Decaf. While I loved the smell of the Decaf, taste wise the Robusta Revival was my favourite.

They have a coffee that is combined with coconut oil for a whole day slow release of caffeine that sounded very intriguing. The peanut butter hot chocolate also piqued my interest. I will have to return soon, to try these out.

I'd definitely recommend the coffee here and if you have the chance to attend a masterclass, I'd say 'jump at it' and 'leave the herd behind'

The Listing Launch Party - Drake & Morgan, London

The Listing - Drake & Morgan
27 Bush Ln,
Cannon Green,
London, EC4R 0AA

0203 948 9820

The Listing is the latest (19th) Bar & Restaurant from Drake & Morgan, that has just opened near Cannon Street. I was lucky to be invited to join Joanne of Love Pop Ups London and Steve for the launch party on the 9th of November .

The lines to get in seemed really long which just goes to show how popular this spot is going to be. The process was pretty fast though and I was inside in under 10 minutes where my friends were already waiting.

The space is huge and absolutely stunning. With a two storied glass frontage which wraps around the building. The party was being held downstairs in the bar and restaurant section, but we also went up to where the Deli will be and that section was so warm and inviting, I just wanted to curl up on one of those chairs with a blanket, a book and a cup of coffee. All of which they provide.

There was quite an assortment of canapes being served and as we walked around the open kitchen, we saw how hard they were working to keep the food circulating. This was the first time that I was watching an open kitchen for this size of an event and I was thoroughly impressed at the efficiency of the chefs and serving staff.

The desserts were decadently delicious and I hope that they will continue to offer those brownies and mint marshmallows (were they gin and tonic marshmallows ?) on the menu.

The bar tenders were also working very hard to keep up with the demand. I did not get the opportunity to try one of the drinks at the bar, given the crowd around it. But there was a kiosk run by The London Essence Co. that served up some amazing cocktails. Plus we go to try a new flavour of Rekoderlig Cider - Premium Spiced Plum - very Christmassy flavours.

There was a glitter station, where we got ourselves glammed up - all shimmery and sparkly. Such fun. Being London, I was able to travel home by bus with all the sparkles still on my face, without any stares or questions. I just love living in this city!

The Listing is a great venue, very beautiful. Modern interiors below at the pub and warm comfortable tones upstairs at the deli. What we ate, isn't likely to be on the regular menu, but the chefs and bartenders know what they are doing, so I'm sure this place will be very popular.

Do take a look at some of their special menus for the upcoming Christmas season. They are quite ideal for office parties. The Listing will be open on weekdays from 7:30am and weekends are available for private hire.

Casa Brindisa, London

Casa Brindisa
7-9 Exhibition Road,
South Kensingtin,
London SW7 2HE
020 75900008

After a whole day of exploring the Victoria and Albert Museums, we just wanted a place where we could sit down and calmly reflect and discuss the many wonderful objects of art, that we had seen during the day.

A right and left turn from the museum entry, took us to this beautiful cul de sac filled with many eateries. While the pastries in the Lebanese  place were extremely enticing, we settled on Casa Brindisa, because we liked the look and feel of this place the best.

Part of a chain, Casa Brindisa is a small Spanish Tapas bar, just across the Natural History museum with a lovely range of Spanish cured meats, tapas and wines.

When we entered and asked for a table for 2, the lady in charge said something about an hour and a half. The place was full, so I said "I'm sorry, but we can't wait an hour and a half for a table" She then said "Sorry, if I wasn't clear, but I need the table back in one and a half hour as it is booked for someone else" Talk about organisation and being prepared!! But, I think this is also because most patrons here, seem to order a bottle of wine from their huge selection and take their time relaxing and catching up with friends.

For us, we just needed a quick pick me up of coffee, a bit of food for energy and a warm place to rest our tired legs for awhile.

They have a lot of original Spanish cured meats that were being sliced at the entry and in a bid to sample a few varieties, I ordered the Charcuteria Regional selection (12.50). It came with Teruel ham,  salchichon, lomo, and chorizo with fresh sourdough bread and olive oil. The platter was really huge and meant for 4 rather than 2 people. The same platter with iberico ham instead of Teruel ham was 21.50 pounds, but I wasn't in the mood to spend that much on a tea break - we shall try iberico ham when we visit Spain. :)

They have a lot of lovely touches around the place, the cutlery served in empty pimento cans, the menus as table mats, water served in wine bottles.

The latte that I ordered was 2.75 pounds and quite good.

They have quite a few mains and hot starters too. Definitely worth trying either for evening drinks or an early dinner.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Monkey Bar, Bangalore

Monkey Bar,
14/1, Krishna Manare,
Wood Street,
Ashoknagar,
Off Richmond Road
Bangalore
080 41116878, 080 41116879


I'd heard a lot of good things about Monkey Bar before my visit to Bangalore. But I was only interested in their food and not in the evening vibe, so I wanted to avoid the Friday and Saturday evening rush. The default option then was Saturday lunch and I'm glad I made the effort to go here.

Its a lovely quirky 2 storeyed bar and restaurant off Richmond Road. We headed down into the basement as that seemed marginally quieter and I needed to be able to talk with a friend I was meeting after 8 years. The crowd seemed really young, but the reviews of their food did not deter me and I'm glad I persevered.

Their menu is really cute and quirky and once I had admired the menu, I got around to ordering. We started with a non alcoholic watermelon mojito and a virgin mangaa. The mojito was a lovely blend of sweet watermelon with sour lemon. The mangaa was a mix of jaljeera and aampanna flavours. They were just what we needed to cool off from the mild Bangalore afternoon heat.

Their hot wings were different from any I've ever eaten (crumb coated and whole wings), but very tasty. The caramelised ribs were melt-in-the-mouth perfect and I would go back just for these ribs alone. The quick gun murughen was a differently marinated chicken kebab.

The mains of jerk chicken with buttered rice and tiger beef were ok. Not bad, but not as good as the starters. There are a lot of dishes that I wanted to try but wasn't in the mood to eat at that point - like the pork dumplings in soup and the kheema bao.

I like the music and the setting, so I'd definitely like to go back again for the caramelised ribs and some of the other pork dishes on the menu.

Rating : 4 / 5

This Review of Mine has been published in the Zomato Connoiseurs's Guide to Eating Out in Bangalore 2014