Dinkyccino stall, Brighton/ Worthing /East Sussex area, UK

Somehow  Joe saw Dinkyccino online or the other way round, they became friends but had never met. As luck would have it wondering through the Brighton Food Festival on the way to another coffee house Joe saw Dinky and had a drink. 

The reason for the special interest in this company inhabiting the increasingly popular world of mobile coffee stations is aside from their love of great coffee is their impressive skill in turning out a constant supply off coffee masterpieces. 


Resisting the urge to fill the rest of the review with puns I was impressed with this Monet of Mocha, bringing the Toulouse Lautrec to the latte and the Euan Uglow to the espresso (that is enough!). I believe this fine work belongs all (or primarily to) Adrian Lucking who founded the company. 

If you follow Joe on facebook you will have seen some of these wicked looking brews reposted there and for your viewing pleasure I have borrowed a few from their facebook page and set up a little gallery below.  I hope they don't mind but I could not resist, they look awesome.

But what about the coffee? It wasn't the main man running the stall that day and as I drink it black and straight up for these reviews there would be no chance of milky flair to alter my judgement. The barista asked how big I wanted it which was great service and polite, I took it short to medium. It came promptly and was possibly a little hot. 


The joe smelt good but there was little if any crema in my mug but there was a glint of oil.  It was smooth and silky however there was an uncomfortable bitterness hanging over the whole affair which spoilt what could have been a great cup of coffee. Not so much to destroy the drink but enough to knock it down a peg.

• Double shot black americano, take away
• Strong
• Smooth but a little bitter
• No or little crema
• Size: medium
• £2.50
• Machine: Astoria

A good coffee but sadly not a breathtaking one. Certainly well above the water mark set by many station coffee stalls. I was hoping for sensational to match the showmanship this company prides itself on, perhaps next time. 

Enjoy the coffee art below.

http://www.dinkyccino.com/

http://www.facebook.com/dinkyccino.coffee
adrian@dinkyccino.com

Map - To be found at various events especially in the east Sussex area and regularly at Durrington Railway station, Worthing

Dinkyccino Gallery

New town, new logo.

To celebrate my move back to London Damn Fine Joe gifted itself a logo. Hurrah.

Here it is:

Thanks to the fabulous Cait Russell for dealing with my repeated demands and tweaks, especially for the colour version. It took some time but we got there, thank you Cait, coffee is on me. Also a smaller but just as robust thanks to the fabulous Dan Nilsen for hacking in the com for an as yet unannounced bit of fun.

What is the line? Most of my reviews come from take away coffees. In these waxed 6 ounces cups I've always loved the way the coffee leaches into seal, check the reference below. As it is the last thing I see when I finish a coffee I thought what better way to represent the blog.

Allpress Espresso, Shoreditch, London, UK

Allpress was my knock out favourite coffee at the London Coffee Festival. I was excited to go and try out their East London store and roastery and so Allpress became the first store I would visit in my more focused attack on London coffee houses.

I was nobly accompanied on this and the next few trips by first class British artist, designer and director Rex Crowle. He even drew some pictures of our little visit.

It was lunch so we treated ourselves to a bite to eat, Rex had the corn beef sandwich, I went for the breakfast salad thingy with avocado, both were delicious and I could talk about the food for sometime but I don't want to get side tracked.

After we made our order we took some seat by the counter and checked out the room. The space has great light from the large surrounding windows and this is amplified by the sparse near Scandinavian feel of the decor (wood and plain light paint). The detail or the flair rather is in the roaster, the bean holders and the other coffee paraphernalia as it should be. You can see some of the other clientèle in Rex's awesome sketch. 

The coffee arrived with a little mug of water on the side so we could mix the strength ourselves. This is always a plus in my mind and is pretty cute to boot. It looked good with a shaving cream thick layer of crema. The taste backed up the presentation, it was full on, rich and pretty wonderful. That broad, mouth filling flavour comes naturally sweetened which cuts beautifully against the lightly bitter blackness. 

A word of warning, I have one issue with this coffee and that is that it was a little strong. Even using up all my water left me slightly overwhelmed, sure I could have asked for more water but how it is served is what I'm critiquing. 


I should also mention that this was their own roasted ethically sourced beans which you can buy to take home, the Redchurch blend I believe. 

• Long Black, stay in
• Very strong
• Full flavour and sweet
• Thick Crema
• Size: short
• £2.50

Super coffee served with style the New Zealand way, from the black clad barristas to the purity of the product itself. Go get yourself this joe.

Map

http://uk.allpressespresso.com/

Garcia Coffee Company, Beckenham, UK - New Beckenham station

New Beckenham station. The train station of my child hood, my youth and the one that took me to school every day. Many memories I have of this station and here I was many years later trying out the coffee on offer.

Garcia Coffee seems to have a stall at Clock House station and Beckenham Junction as well but I found it hard to find much other information on them on the interweb. This review is for the New Beckenham stall found in a little hatch on the platform and also serving papers and other things you need early on in the day.

I took a double espresso. It was quite long, no crema and the aroma hard to find. The strength was good and the flavour relatively smooth. It had I fear been slightly over espressed giving it the length but also souring the taste. The after-taste started of pleasant but gave way to a low level bitterness also due to too much trying to be extracted from those beans.

• Double shot espresso, take away
• Strong
• Relatively smooth with sour notes
• No crema
• size long
• £1.50

Garcia Coffee provide a drinkable coffee but one that is not climbing the heights of flavour. Considering the location, availability and convenience it certainly has some benefits depending on your needs but I would wait till London Bridge.


Having said that I do love their bright blue cups.


New Beckenham: Map


Other locations:
Beckenham Junction
Clock House

Barista Profile: Andrew Long, Ground

Hello. Who are you?
Andrew "big hair" Long


And what do you do?
Barista - Ground, Kemptown

And what is that in detail?
Someone with a flair for good quality coffee

When did you first discover real coffee?
I've always known about it, but was only exposed to it's true potential over a year ago. It was like this big secret in the UK where suddenly someone turned on the lights and went, "hang on why am I in Starbucks? I can drink better coffee from that lovely little place across the road with flowers in the window. I also get treated like a human being.

How did you get started in the coffee trade and learn your skills?
I've had to use a machine at some point in the majority of the jobs I've had whilst growing up. Some of the skills learned along the way have been exotic to say the least in method and madness. 


Being asked to pour instant granules into a grinder as a fresh faced 18 year old will never cease to amaze me. But the past 18 months have been a real eye opener and a privilege since moving to Brighton. 

What is the best thing about doing what you do?
The people you meet. Customers and colleagues alike. I'm not just a machine, and neither are you. Find me another job where you can be yourself and you'd be lying.

What drink do you make best?
I make a damn fine Cappuccino but my best drink is Espresso. I take great pride in trying to make it the best you've ever had.

What are the top 3 things you should you look out for from your neighbourhood barista?

• Someone who engages with you on a personal level. 
• Not being afraid to voice their own opinion. 
• Not baffling customers with your extensive and often boring knowledge of blends at 7am. It's dull and unnecessary, lets be honest. 

Working in a good cafe with good people you end up seeing how bad alot of other cafes are. Right from service to the drink. It's the snobbery that annoys me. How can you be a coffee snob when your coffee is about as exciting as being slapped around the face with a side of pork? Cafes are places where people go to every single day of their life. It's part of their routine which you end up being part of. Show some respect.

A home coffee brewing trick or technique?
Be good to your beans. Use a nice cup.

What do you look for in a good bean or blend?
Balance and honesty. If you like it, great. If you don't, stop pretending to be the blurb on the back and throw it away.


What do you drink yourself? There's an "in" joke at work that I HAVE to have a sugar in my coffee because I'm not hardcore enough to take it straight. This is true to an extent. I only ever put sugar in milk based coffee because to me they resemble a cake. And cakes have sugar. 


However, my preference would be a strong small black coffee, either a single origin fresh filter or espresso based long black.


What is your favourite professional machine and grinder?La Marzocco, Compak K-10

What is the most important part of the coffee process- the growing, the roasting, the blending, the brewing or anything in between?
It's all important. mess one process up and it has a knock on effect.
How do you make coffee at home?
Aeropress. I'm currently experimenting with Turkish coffee.


Anything else you want to say?
I'm also very font of fine cheese and American country pop music. Don't hold it against me.


Andrew, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. 

Andrew in action unedited

Andrew works at Ground one of the premiere coffee houses in Brighton.
Map: here
Website: www.groundcoffeehouses.com
Twitter: @Ground_Coffee
Original review: http://damnfinejoe.blogspot.com/2010/09/ground-brighton-uk.html

Le Traiteur, Beckenham, UK

It was a hot sunny day in the suburbs when I popped into Le Traiteru on Beckenham high street. As a food place I had heard good things and a friend even worked there in the past, she was an Aussie so I expected excellent coffee to boot.

The coffee didn't look too bad with a light frothy crema floating on top but it was over-ridingly bitter in flavour. To its credit it had real knock your socks off strength and even a little sweetness but that can't avoid the fact that the taste was pretty foul. 


There was one final bright moment to my visit, a large coffee costs £2.00, they charged me £1.50 for a short double so either I was lucky, they were generous or you have have to pay 50 pence for hot water.

• Double shot black americano, drink in
• Strong
• Bitter
• Frothy crema
• size medium
• £1.50 

A pretty poor tasting coffee.  I don't see much hope for Beckenham but I will persevere.


Map
http://www.cuisinegroup.co.uk/

The Mad Hatter Cafe, Brighton, UK

This was the coffee I had before speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton. I was nervous so it was a bit of a risk going somewhere new but The Mad Hatter Cafe looked popular and more importantly was where I had got off on the bus. 

After trying to score some bacon (I was low carbing it) I found it was a vegetarian establishment. Although I'm fairly certain the man did then try to offer me ham. I declined the under counter chacuterie and went for a mushroom and cheese omelette. Fluffy with a gooey heart and plenty of it; this protein feast was just what I needed to power we through my talk. I very much enjoyed demolishing my plate and had need to wash it down.

As is usual I opted for a black americano. When it first arrived it was so hot I could not get near it. There was n0t much going for it in terms or aroma and there was no crema to think of so I had to bide my time and wait for it to cool. Cool it did and I was rewarded with a good, above average coffee. Although a little weak for me it shone with regards to flavour. It was full and flavoursome and smooth all the way through. There were no sour notes and at the end a little sweetness shined through. 

• Double shot black americano, drink in
• Medium to weak strength
• A good robust flavour
• No crema
• Size medium
• £2.00

A really nice coffee that by not going for gusto has ended up with a lovely smooth taste. They are not at the top table yet but this is undoubtedly good and leaves a large gap between them and those behind.


Map
http://www.themadhattercafe.co.uk/about.html