moksha caffe, Brighton, UK

Moksha is a relatively new establishment near the London road in Brighton. It has the feel of a chain with a highly polished but slightly sterile interior. So although large, roomy, nicely decorated and boasting some original artwork hung well, the synthetic nature of it took something away. The original review was lost to over enthusiastic paper recycling which is good for Moksha as it was not terribly positive, this time things were better.

Surprisingly smooth and with a good strength this coffee elevated itself over the standard station swill. There was the hint of something not quite right, possibly the beans were not as fresh as they could have been which resulted in an odd taste. At first there was no poor after taste, it went down well but suddenly I was caught with a tacky bitter taste in my mouth, thoroughly unpleasant. On top of the frankly crap cup that leaked everywhere this final assault on my person by my own beverage meant that the strengths were outweighed by the negatives.

• Black Americano
• Medium strength
• Flavour slightly poor but smooth
• A little crema
• Large 
• £2.10 (corrected from comments.)

Brewing with the high quality of Union beans I would expect more from what was a distinctly average cup. In a word, mediocre.
*correction - Need to check but I misreported and it is a locally roasted own blend served here.

http://www.mokshacaffe.com/

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Weekend break

A slight hiatus in posting is over.

This break has been punctuated with a trip to Amsterdam, a city of many facets. A full and rigorous set of reviews of every cafe and coffee shop was planned for the visit. This action plan fell apart in around 5 minutes of meeting the rest of the party in a coffee shop; apathy set in and the reviews were suspended for the weekend.

Like much of the continent the general quality of coffee is several steps ahead of the UK. It seems even the most terrible dive can rustle up a half decent, well balanced cup of joe to lubricate the body and mind.

The trip consistent of all almost constant coffee consumption so the fact that the standard is that much higher was a blessing.

A couple of places I can pull out from the haze:

Cafe La Grotte where we had a super breakfast, strong coffee and friendly service but quite bizarre cave style decorations.

't BlaueTheehuis (Blue Tea House) in Vondel Park was a great place, I was taken there by my old pal Alf who lives out in dam now. Good coffee and a nice place to take someone on a date as the dark park is romantically lit by the night lighting.