Hudson & Bridges, Brighton, UK

Hudson & Bridges is a coffee shop and Deli on the outskirts of Kemp Town, it sits on the edge of the garden district. The owners also run the similarly themed Swan pub, which is just round the corner. I have to say I like the place although I think the decor is pretty terrible however the ambience is good, the staff friendly and attentive and most of all the products are great.

The food and the coffee is top notch. Lots of nice savoury and sweet things to choose from including bread from the Real Patisserie and nice looking pastas and pies to eat in or take away. I've drunk coffee here many time, it is solid , close to where I live and I like browsing Deli style produce.

Top marks for presentation as the coffee comes often on a board with just the espresso and a jug of water. I've only been to a few places that do this and I love it, I get it just the way I like it. It had a great aroma and I mixed it quite strong. The taste on this occasion was good but marred by a tangy after taste that I could not ignore.

Early rises you can get an espresso for a £1 before 9. 

• Double shot black Americano, drink in.
• Strong
• Good aroma, slight tang.
• Little crema
• Size medium
• 1.70

Normally a very good coffee, this last one held a little bitter tang but don't let this put you off. Best of all you get to choose the strength yourself.


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Competition: Win 20 fully loaded loyalty cards for Cafe Coho

Our great friends at the excellent Cafe Coho have given us 20 fully loaded loyalty cards to give away in a grand prize draw.

That is 20 of their expertly made delicious coffees to give away.

To take part you need to go to the Damn Fine Joe Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/damnfinejoe

1. LIKE the facebook page.

2. Before we start the prize draw we need just 100 people to like this page.

3. That means you need to ask your friends to like it to till we have 100. 

4. Just share the page by clicking the bottom right share link.

If you already like Damn Fine Joe then you will be entered into the draw twice but please tell your friends so we can get this great prize draw started. 

• 1st prize: 10 free coffees
• 2nd prize: 4 free coffees
• 3rd prize 2 free coffees
• 4th - 7th prize: 1 free coffee 

Get liking and we can get giving and you can get drinking.

http://cafecoho.co.uk/

Cafe Coho review

London Coffee Festival

As a self confessed coffee fiend I could not miss out on the first ever London Coffee Festival.Running for 3 days at The Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, the festival was part of UK coffee week.

So what was it? Well the bumf cited it as "a celebration of London's new food and coffee culture" but it seemed to be more a trade show focused primarily on buyers for stores rather than consumers. Having said that there was plenty of fun to be had. Live music was played constantly in one of the three halls, christened Soho, Hype Park, Shoreditch. Through out all the halls there were plenty of free treats to consume and inbibe. 


I never thought I would write this in the blog but Starbucks literally saved me with their constant supply of sweet things. We drank tea from the great nation of Cornwall which was excellent and had a slightly hoppy taste to it. 


The highlight of the day was the Guinness World Record for the most espressos made in an hour. It was a surreal sight watching every barrista and coffee maker in the place switching to this task for an hour. Every stall was pumping them out, filling trestle tables and festival staff running back and forth with extra water and beans to aid the attempt. They did it with an incredible 12,005 shots made, quadrupling the previous record. It did mean an hour without coffee so we had to switch to beer to keep lubricated.


I didn't get to try coffee from every stall, I wish I could have.  The best coffee of the day for me was from Allpress Expresso a roaster and coffee supplier with a cafe in Shoreditch. Dark, strong and oily with a full flavour. It was so good that I had two.

It was a good fun day out but next year it would be great to see the organisers try to cater for your average consumer a little more and perhaps have a little more to see such as some barrista led showbiz to the proceedings. 


In case you are wondering we did drink an insane amount off coffee. What else could we do?


http://www.londoncoffeefestival.com/
http://uk.allpressespresso.com/

The Real Patisserie - Kemp Town

Although their website does not say it the wonderful cake and bread emporium of The Real Patisserie has opened a new store and bakery in Kemp Town. I've reviewed the Trafalgar street store before, how does this new place fair? 

Situated next to the excellent Pizza Face which itself sits next to the truly awesome Ground the new site for The Real Patisserie is a good one. The store is large and light and is focused on selling rather than sitting and eating or drinking. It has one large wooden table with benches. The rest of the store is handed over to the display counter and the open baking area and bread shelf. I liked the style of the place and the sight and smell of all that freshly baked bread really got my juices flowing.

I went in with my old man who was in Brighton for a medical thingy for a spot of breakfast. We were a bit early but they kindly let us in and served us, we were then treated to tray upon tray of freshly baked produce pouring out of their ovens. We both had black coffees, he had the cinnamon swirl, I had the Croque Monsieur. These in turn were lovely and fresh and the latter a bit heavy on the bechamel but perfectly pleasant.

The coffee was made quickly with no pretension. Like all The Real Patisserie stores they use Red Roaster beans. 

It came in a small cup and I was struck my a very pleasant aroma. On tasting it was strong, sweet and smooth. I have to say I was surprised, it was a great cup off coffee, I expected it just to be pretty good. I don't have much else to say as it was a quality brew.

• Double shot black Americano
• Strong
• Sweet flavour
• Little crema
• Small size 
• £1.25

It had all the 3 S's (strength, sweetness, smoothness) with no negatives. At £1.25 this is one of the cheapest quality coffees you can get in Brighton.

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http://realpatisserie.co.uk/index.html

Small Batch Coffee Company – station stall, Brighton, UK

As promised I returned to check out the spanking new stall at Brighton station and I am happy to say I was not left disappointed.

The new cart looks great; very clean, neat and smart. They still have a good selection of high quality pastries and fruit available alongside all the standard coffees. From the stall I have found ordering the single (small cup) with an extra shot gets me the right size and strength for me, give it a go.

The baristas have a fast pipeline in place but without sacrificing the quality of the brew. The team (of 2-3) work well together with one taking the order, money and prepping the cup and the other one or two pumping out the joe. This demonstrates how vital well trained baristas are to producing a great cup of coffee, even under high pressure conditions they are doing it cup after cup. Alongside those fresh and clearly well roasted beans from the Small Batch roastery you have all the ingredients to make something brilliant.

..and what was the coffee like? Fresh, bright and repleat with flavour. It had good strength and was well balanced with some lovely sweet notes coming through. There was a single minor issue, a hint off fuzz left on the tongue but it was slight and only at the very end. 

All round a top cup off coffee.

• Single black Americano - with extra shot, take away.
• Strong
• Full of flavour
• Medium crema
• Small size 
• 1.80

An excellent and swiftly brewed coffee. There is no other choice when at the station if you like quality coffee. 

Great beans, well used.

                                                                                    All Gone.


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http://smallbatchcoffee.co.uk

@SmallBatchCC
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Spinelli Coffee, Brighton, UK

I had spied Spinelli's coffee shop as I cycled up through Kemp Town and it was on the hit list of must taste places. Big thanks to Jan (who reads the blog) to spur me on and get me down there to give it a shot.

Picking the worst day to cross the  street (see photos) I eventually got in and found a seat in the comfortable, light surroundings. I ordered and took my seat with the little one who has become quite the Bambinochino expert in recent weeks. Within minutes our drinks arrived and so the review begins.

I asked for a double but did not specify size so was lumbered with a large mug and so it was inevitably a bit weak. In recent reviews I've been less critical about this habit of over watering as size can be tailored if you ask in time but in my mind a double should be about strength and not size. This was one of those huge cappuccino beast mugs. 

Putting aside that first hurdle the coffee looked good with a nice level of crema and as that started to clear a good thick oily sheen. The aroma and flavour were good and broad and this should not be under sold. The taste was let down by the strength (due to size) and a muddy fuzziness of an after note but other than that it was a smooth drink.

The babychino was nicely presented without skimping on the chocolate which is always a bonus.

• Black Americano - Double, drink in.
• Medium strength
• Great flavour but muddy after taste
• Medium Crema
• Large size
• £2.50

Not bad Joe, with high quality oily beans and a smooth flavour but let down by a muddy finish left on the palette.

http://spinellicoffee.co.uk/
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Competition: Win beans and a free cup of coffee

Yes we are doing our first competition on Damn Fine Joe.

All you need to do is to go on twitter http://twitter.com/damnfinejoe and them Retweet the competition tweet and follow Damn Fine Joe's tweets.

What can you win? A bag of house blend beans and a free coffee from those master roasters/ lovely people at the Small Batch Coffee Company. See the previous post for news about this great Brighton/ Hove company.