The Art of Tea, Manchester

This is the kind of place you want to hole up for a few days and write your novel. Manchester is the heart of the old Industrial north, familiar with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) among others. So if your novel has been taking a while to come out, don’t worry, you’ll have just as fruitful a time watching native Mancunians go by and admiring the stolid red brick buildings amid the bustle of a metropolitan city. Luckily, the caffeine produce on offer is conducive to thought. Chain venues like Starbucks and co. may know how to make easy reliable coffee for people who have left their imagination at home, but when you visit the Art of Tea, you’ll remember what a true cappucino is all about. Nice drink, friendly people, and a seat you’ll want to make your own.

Market Diner, Brighton

Does what it says on the tin. Of Walmart baked beans. Brighton, hedonist-central on the South coast an hour out of London, is crammed with the weird and wonderful, and this is where you’ll see them at their dogged, up all-night-raving worst, scraping the drug and booze haze out of their ears via a lard-based intravenous injection of heartstopping proportions. The coffee here is not exactly legendary, but the point is to know what a good old fashioned English Café is all about – i.e. more than just following the snootier "Brighton Café Reviews". Get all the best greasy breakfast fry-up ingredients, pile them on a single plate till they’re dripping onto the formica tabletop à la Michael Phelps, and know that you’ll soon be in bed, sleeping off the fattest head of your life.

(Note: this is a sponsored post.)

Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peet's Coffee & Tea is offering a special August 13 roasting of its amazing Tanzania Peaberry, with a reduced shipping charge.

A few weeks ago I bought a pound of this. It is one of the best coffees I have tasted, and I immediately ordered two more pounds. So this is a very special opportunity and I encourage readers to try it.

It is shipped immediately after roasting. The coffee arrives in a shipping box, inside of which is a special sealed foil bag. So you don't have to worry about the distance it might have to travel to reach you -- the bag will keep it fresh.

The first pot you make is the best, of course, because it is the absolute freshest, but also because it is the first experience of this coffee. It's a bit like a Kona, rich and creamy, with no bitterness. I use a French Press pot. I recommend ordering whole beans because you can grind them when you brew the pot, keeping the freshness.

And while we're talking about Peet's, I see that they are offering their Panama Esmeralda Geisha! This is an amazing, distinctive coffee with an almost blueberry hint in it. It is rare, so it is somewhat expensive -- $24.95 for a half pound. I absolutely love this coffee but I'll let you know it is a very special, distinctive coffee that some will love and others might find a bit too different.

Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)