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'

Camden Coffee House, London

Camden Coffee House
30 Camden Road
London NW1 9DP

Phone number 020 7428 9477

Given the high rating of this place, I've been trying for awhile to grab a coffee here, but they shut quite early (last orders around 16:45), so yesterday was the first time I actually managed to step in by 16:30 and order some takeaway coffee.

The people at the counter were really sweet and polite and it looked like they had a lovely garden area downstairs.

When we arrived, they warned us that they would be shutting in 20 minutes, in case we wanted to linger over our coffees. After 4 hours wandering around the warrens of Camden markets, We just needed to sit down for 5-10 minutes and get our caffeine fix before carrying on, so this wasn't a problem.

The reason I haven't given the place a higher rating is
1. The seats were low and slightly uncomfortable. (We sat upstairs) I understand the tighter fit (think economy seats on budget airlines) as their space is limited in a small shop, but they were really low or maybe it's just my bones growing older.

I could ignore this completely as I mostly take my coffee to go and don't bother with sitting down.

However,
2. We ordered 2 iced coffees and my mum got a nice iced latte type coffee, but mine barely had a spot of milk in it. Mums looked and Tasted like it had been well blended, mine looked like a black coffee poured on ice and a spot of milk added to it.
I had to go back and request more milk in my coffee as I couldn't drink it the way it was served.

Unfortunately, we were so hot and tired that mum finished her coffee before I even got up to add more milk to my coffee, so I didn't have the chance to click a comparative picture.

Dad's hot latte was fine. I'm not sure if this was a shop / machine closing time problem, but if I order 2 of the same thing, I do expect them to look and taste similar.

We had a lemon white chocolate muffin and that was good too, but for a coffee shop to not make my coffee right? I really wanted to like this place and was sadly disappointed.

Rating : 2/5

The Flour Station Bakery, London

The Flour Station Bakery
91 North Yard
Camden
London NW1 8AH
020 8457 2098

The Flour Station Bakery has an industrial interior and serves up baked goods and cold meats. Cold meats and drinks come from their curated suppliers.

I was in the area for the Camden cheese festival this weekend and wanted to pick up some breads to accompany the multiple cheeses I had bought.

Their English muffins (£1 each) were ok. The jalapeño corn bread(£1.50 each) was good, but I had to fry them in a pan to get a crisper crust, like I prefer. The sticky toffee buns(£2.40 each)are very similar in flavour to cinnabon, but with less sugar, so it's a great way to enjoy the pecan toffee cinnamon bread combination. The brownies (£2.50 each) however were the crowning glory. Absolutely decadently satisfying.

They advertise their scones as the best, but there weren't any left by the time I got there.

I tried the locally made ginger beer from Hackney by Square Root London,  and it was lovely.

I'd go back, but for the sweet stuff rather than the breads.

Rating : 3 / 5

Rapha Cycle Club, London

Rapha Cycle Club
85 Brewer Street
Soho
London W1F 9ZN
Phone number 020 7494 9831

It's a coffee shop inside a cycle store. The cycle store is amazing if you are a cyclist, but my only self propelled motion activity is walking, so I have to confess I haven't paid too much attention to the store itself.

I've only ever picked up takeaway coffee from them and the coffee is worth a little detour when you are in the Piccadilly Circus area.

They do have seating space with large tables and I've always seen people working on their laptops or having quick meetings here. So it's a nice quiet space to get some work done too with awesome coffee on the side.

They offer some basic snacks and lunch options too. But that coffee is 5* and what keeps bringing me back. The staff is pretty awesome too.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Chocolaterie Beluga, Munich, Germany

Chocolaterie Beluga
Viktualienmarkt 6
80331 Munich
Altstadt-Lehel
Germany
Phone number +49 89 23231577

After a whole day of walking around the Old City of Munich I was exhausted and desperately in need of a coffee. Unfortunately by 6pm all the shops, markets & coffee places had closed and the only thing that seemed to be open was the beer gardens.

But beer is not a substitute when the caffeine craving hits, so I was hoping to at least get some chocolate milkshake in me.

However when we reached here I was able to get a cold coffee with an extra shot and it was the perfect pick-me-up that I needed at that point of time.

We also had the chocolate bomb - like a molten lava cake which was very good and tried the walnut ice cream which was amazing, the White chocolate ice cream wasn't as good as the walnut.

The staff were super sweet & helpful. They speak English fluently, which was a huge advantage to this exhausted non-German.

They had lots of yummy looking chocolates that would make great gifts, including little chocolate hedgehogs which were absolutely adorable.

Since we were planning another couple of hours of walking around, we didn't want to carry anything that would get smashed in our bags, so sadly we could only try what we were willing to consume at that point.

Heavily recommended for a lovely break when you are near this market and not yet ready for beer.

Rating : 4 / 5

Urban Social, London

Urban Social
148-151 Queensway
London W2 4SB
020 7243 9031

The only non-chain place available to eat at, at Whiteleys (the others are pizza express, Costa and Starbucks)

They do waffles, crepes, fruit juice/smoothies, hot drinks, some cookies and cakes. They often have a fresh hot organic soup on offer too.

I like their coffee. Costa next door is normally my default choice. But if I want to sit down and not have people constantly bumping me, then Urban Social is more conducive to that. And it's quiet, unlike Costa which is normally the hub of "loud" conversations.

Their crepes are decent, nothing outstanding, but better than a reheated sandwich if you want something hot and fresh.

Rating : 3 / 5

Paul, London

Paul
55 Baker Street
Unit 65
London W1U 8EW
020 7486 0626

Stepped in here for a quick coffee before heading for a seminar. Paul's makes coffee that's perfect to my taste - strong, good amount of milk, and not too bitter or too heavily roasted. Maybe I should stick to French instead of Italian coffees?

What I like about Pauls in general is that their coffee shops are always clean, tables are well spaced apart (so you aren't unwittingly eavesdropping on others conversations), they have outdoor seating. This outlet ticked all those boxes too.

Friendly staff who immediately offered to heat my ham and cheese croissant when I ordered it (others who shan't be named, act like you are asking for the moon if you want your croissant /sandwich warmed/toasted).

They have washrooms on the premises and are ok with people lingering around while working on their laptops.

I'd go here any day if they were closer to where I live.

Oh and they do lovely picnic hampers too. I remember ordering one last summer, think we'll do a repeat one of these days, now that it's turned sunny.

They have a membership / loyalty card, which gives you free croissants & coffee at various milestones

Rating : 4 / 5

Arancina, London

Arancina
19 Pembridge Road,
Notting Hill,
London W11 3HG
020 72217776

I was surprised to see that Recipease has closed down, so we moved further down the street, avoided a few options and walked into Arancina. I've been wanting to try it out for ages, but I normally try and avoid high carb places like pizzerias. Having my sister with me, allows me to justify, (in my mind) a visit to places like Arancina that I've been longing to try out.

This location has a small space downstairs where the pizzas and arancinis/arancina? are on display in counters. There's just one tiny table for 2 to stand at, but there is seating upstairs.

The pizza (mixed meat) was excellent. I could definitely go back for more. Thin crust, a lovely sauce, not too much cheese and lots of meat. They were very light to eat and the rectangular shape makes them easy to manage without spilling toppings.The coffees were fantastic. (latte & flat white).

I'm not a big fan of arancini and the broccoli and sausage meat one that we tried, didn't inspire me to try any more.

I'll go back for sure, but I'm sticking to pizza and coffee.

Oh, and I also picked up the mini biscotti at the counter, that were amazing!

Rating : 4 / 5

Choco L'Art - Hyatt, Ahmedabad

Choco L'Art - Hyatt
Opposite AlphaOne Mall
Near Vastrapur Lake,
Vastrapur,
Ahmedabad
079 61908888

Stopped here for a quick bite. They have a good selection of basic coffees, milkshakes, cakes, pastries, breads and a few savoury dishes too.

The menu for savoury dishes is limited to a sandwich, burger, kathi roll and a Cesar salad among the non-veg options, so not much to choose from. But I was in no mood to eat at Collage, so we sat down here.

The Dining space is airy and there are quite a few outside tables, that look lovely, but with the threat of rain, we were quite happy sitting inside.

Service was on the slower side, but it could have been due to the large demanding kitty party at another table.

We had the lamb and the chicken burger which were really nice. My lamb burger (375/-)I asked for medium rare and it was beautifully juicy and well seasoned. Mum's chicken burger (375/-) turned out to be a piece of chicken rather than a chicken patty, so it wasn't as soft and juicy, but it was well seasoned too. The meat came with cheese melted on top of it and pickles, onions, tomatoes and lettuce on the side. The French Fries weren't the best I have tasted, but they weren't bad either.

Mum lived her nutella shake (250/-) but I felt there was more Hershey's chocolate syrup in it, than nutella for flavour. My latte (250/-) was a bit too strong for me (they had first mistakenly got me a cappuccino and I suspect, he just took off the foam and brought me the mug back), but once they got me some extra milk, it was good.

They have a huge range of pastries, we tried the Berliner (100/-) which is like a doughnut with some preserved fruit as a stuffing inside. The almond hazelnut gateaux (150/-) was slightly chewy but in a good way like caramel toffee chewy. It had a faint taste of orange blossom and was quite light. I suspect the texture of the biscuit base had gone a bit soft because of the humid weather and would be better when it was nice, crispy and biscuity.

Its a good place to stop for an evening snack, but not if you are in a hurry.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Coffee Connection, Ahmedabad

Coffee Connection
A 104, - First Floor - Shivalik Plaza,
Opposite AMA,
IIM Road,
Vastrapur,
Ahmedabad
079 30631515

When we walked into Coffee Connection, we were greeted by really nice warm interiors (more relaxing and welcoming than CCD) and lovely English music, so I had high hopes. I loved their decals on the wall of the different coffee cups and the seating was quite comfortable.

They have a really extensive drinks menu and an even longer snacks menu. Since we had, enjoyed a filling lunch at Simran's Farm and had then walked a couple of hours at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Museum in the heat, we just wanted something chilled to drink.

Between the 3 of us we ordered a mango shake, cinnamon frappe, amaretto frappe and a choco chip waffle.

The Mango shake (136/-) was good, the amaretto frappe (136/-) was lovely and I would recommend it. The cinnamon frappe (136/-) however, was more the "Big Red" chewing gum flavour of cinnamon than the kind of cinnamon flavour that I like in my coffee - fail :(

The waffle was supposed to be chocolate flavoured batter with chocolate ice cream (as described in menu) - what turned up was a regular waffle, topped with chocolate sauce, sprinkled with chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream. The waffle tasted like biscuit rather than waffle (not light and airy enough) But neither of those, was the biggest disappointment. the credit for that, goes to the quarter sized waffle that was served, hence making the ice cream portion, way larger than the waffle proportion. For 157/- + tax in Ahmedabad, I think the waffle portion was too measly.

Service was weird. The mango shake appeared 5-7 minutes after the order, the amaretto frappe came another 5 minutes later, the cinnamon frappe came a further 7 minutes later and the waffle came after another 10 minutes. Hence there was only 1 drink at a time on the table, between the 3 of us, as each drink was finished long before the next one arrived. (2 other tables were occupied when we entered, 1 couple finished and left before we placed our order, the other group did not order or receive anything as long as we were on the premises, they were just relaxing - so its not a case of too many orders to deal with and we saw at least 5 staff walking around, in and out of the kitchen)

Taste was average, interiors are nice, some of the food is good, but service is weird.

Rating : 3 / 5

Caffé Nero, London

Caffé Nero
60-61 Trafalgar Square,
London WC2N 5DS
020 79307929

Cafe Nero, prides itself on offering "The Best Espresso, outside of Milan". I did not have the Espresso, so I cannot comment on that claim.

What I did have was the Ice Latte (2.70) and it was a very weak Iced Latte. Thin Cold coffee, served on ice. Maybe I would have been better off ordering the Frappe Latte (3.25)?

While there are sit down tables, service is all self service and there's often a build up of people waiting their turn in this area.

Remember to order the coffee and other items to go. there is a 10-25p extra charge on each item for dining in.

They have clean washrooms, so not a bad idea to stop here for a coffee-to-go and a quick bathroom break.

The pastries on dispay looked really yum the only reason I didn't try to taste any of them was because I had already had an extremely filling, very late lunch.

Rating : 3 / 5



Caffé Nero
36A St Martin's Lane,
Covent Garden,
London WC2N 4ET

020 78365110

After my last experience, I decided against ordering the cold coffee and stuck to a Latte (2.45) and I was glad that I did. It was a good strong latte with the perfect amount of coffee to energise and rejuvenate me at the end of the day, to aid in another couple of hours of walking around the city. Husband also loved his Cappucino (2.40) and said that it was one of the best cappucinos he had had on this trip, which is saying a lot.

We also ordered their coffee cake that was absolutely yummy.

Rating : 3.5 / 5


Caffé Nero
Stand 6, Heathrow T2 Bus Station,
Hounslow,
Heathrow TW6 1AP

Tel : 020 8759 3000

When we were stuck at this terminal waiting for a bus to take us where we needed to go, we stopped here for a quick meal. Between the 2 of us we had a Chicken Milanese sandwich (4.40), a Ham & Mozarella Panini (3.70), a Ham & Egg Muffin (2.45), packet of crisps (0.90) a large still water (1.55) and for dessert we had a carrot & raisin cake (1.55) and a
Lemon drizzle slice (1.55)

The sandwiches were quite good for cafe food and the cakes were excellent.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

Cafe Unplugged Bar & Grill, Ahmedabad

Cafe Unplugged Bar & Grill,
3, Acumen Building,
Opposite Passport Office,
University Area,
Gulbai Tekra
Ahmedabad
079 30494989, +91 9978909801

We only stopped here for an evening coffee break between shopping and exploring the city. So we were really thirsty, but not hungry at all.

We ordered a cucumber mint cooler (100/- which was lovely - very refreshing, very soothing), a green tea (40/- no rocket science required - just boil water and serve with a tea bag on the side) and a cappucino (70/- which had too little milk for our liking, but the staff very helpfully and sweetly added more milk to the coffee when we requested them.

Given that we had just these items, why have I rated Unplugged so high?

Well, I just fell in love with the place. Lovely ambiance, perfect for chilling out and completely non-pretentious. The fact that they were playing good English music (which I haven't heard in any other restaurant in Ahmedabad) immediately endeared the place to me. They have a brilliant juke box, where you can choose your own selection. And the staff was extremely sweet, polite, obliging and pleasant. I'm definitely going back here for a meal. But I had to rate and review them after today's experience.

Rating : 4 / 5

Java+ - Courtyard by Marriott, Ahmedabad

Java+ - Courtyard by Marriott
Ramdevnagar Cross Roads,
Satellite
Ahmedabad
079 66185000

Finally stopped by here 2 days ago, for a late lunch / high tea kind of break.

From a previous visit, I knew that they didn't serve any hot "meals" but just some snack type sandwiches and puffs (which was the reason we left, the first time we visited this location - we wanted a hot meal and just went to Momo Cafe instead).

There are a couple of counters. The main counter has all the savoury puffs and sandwiches and sweets - cakes, eclairs, cupcakes, macarons etc, with a coffee machine behind it. There is a sweets table which operates like those candy land counters that you see in mall - kids choose from an assortment of sweets, that are weighed and then billed. And there was a thin counter with whatever additives you may need for your coffee.

Order taking is self service style, where you pick and choose from the items on display, but the order will be delivered to your table.

I first ordered a chicken puff, a grilled chicken and hummus foccacia sandwich and a hazelnut sub zero (iced) coffee. There were 7 customers in the restaurant. All of them already had their orders on their tables. There were 3 people behind the counter and 2 serving tables. The snacks were already on the counter. They just had to be slightly warmed up. It took them 35 minutes to do this!

Tastewise they weren't bad, but I've had much better snacks and coffee at much better rates. The chicken in the grilled chicken focaccia was on the drier side and the lettuce felt soggy (even McDonalds serve fresh crispy lettuce!)

Since other people had commended their sweets, I thought I'd give them a chance on that front. While the pistachio biscotti wasn't bad, the nutella eclair was heavy, hard and the absolute opposite of what good choux pastry should be - light, airy, pillowy, melt in your mouth goodness.

The macaroon shells were ok on taste and texture, but the chocolate filling was thick and too much, so the heavy chocolate flavour completely inundated the light almond flour flavour and slightly grainy texture of the macaroon shells.

The bill wasn't printed properly and I don't remember individual prices. I think the biscotti was 60/- for 2 pieces, the macaroon around 45/- or 60/- and the coffee was somewhere in the 120/- to 175/- range. There was an offer displayed on the board outside saying ladies would get free drinks with their food orders, but I don't think it was applied to me. My total bill came up to 735/- inclusive of taxes.

You can find much, much better cafes in Ahmedabad, Java+ might have a good (read as 'different in Ahmedabad') decor (especially the open air garden, but its normally filled with smoking groups, Sigh!) and a decent ambiance, but the food isn't worth it at all.

Rating : 2.75 / 5
(because I expect a much higher standard of service and food from a renowned 5 star property)