Coffee Appreciation

Thanks for the advice.

That makes sense @mrs_socks thanks. He's going to have a chat to the Boston Tea Party guys as they seem to have a clear progression and training model.

Improved cup this morning with a slightly coarser grind than filter. 15g coffee, 230ml filtered water, 2 min brew time. Might push the time to 2.3o to see the difference.

My Dad is looking for a decent coffee shop whilst in Windsor for the weekend... any local knowledge on here?

Anyone a member at UK Coffee Forums? Want to view their coffee map to see where we should be moving to but need a 5 post count just to view (!?) and don't have the patience to wade through some forum nursery.

I am but don't use much. Just prompted me to post Windsor question there too. If I can help with map then shout me.

I am and just had a look, but appears not to be working currently.

This might be helpful...

http://100cups.blogspot.co.uk/p/map.html

Anyone clued up on ESE pods and can suggest a good source for quality pods?

My wife likes Lucaffé.

^^^thanks @tomatoe, though was actually looking for outside of London - need some inspiration for a move elsewhere in the country.

Coastal / near a national park / ideally within 2 hours drive of an airport (can be something like Newquay/Exeter etc) and 1 hr of a train link to London / within 45 mins drive of a decent size town or city with LFGSS approved coffee shop.

Have been looking at Cornwall/Devon but want to broaden horizons so including areas I'd literally have never considered before like Suffolk C0ast & Heaths/Forest of Bowland/High Weald etc. Would slam Northampton for YBCR were it not for the fact that it's about as far away from the sea as you can get.

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Suffolk Coast

There's reasonable coffee in Woodbridge. I'm kind of looking in that direction.

Don't know about coffee in Bournemouth, but my sister likes it there and it seems to have some decrepit charm going for it.
Boscanova can give you your 3rd wave fix but since I can't stand the stuff I don't know whether it's quality or not.

@CYOA

I’ve got friends who live in Exeter and there’s a really good coffee place. Guy roasts his own coffee using a roaster he built in his own shed.

Also Exeter is really nice and there’s a great walking/cycling trail to Exmouth which will be brilliant when your kids are a little bit older. There’s a fantastic pub about halfway that does good pub food and has a massive field as a pub garden.

I like Exeter.

Possibly cheaper to move where you want to go and invest in a decent machine/grinder and do a one day training course.

I've got plenty of clobber and experience, I just want the chance to go and enjoy a couple of hours here and there in a coffee shop/community where they don't serve instant.

Might have to give Exeter another bash. Went there a lot when I was very young (friends nearby in Otterton, Sidmouth etc) and just remember concrete. Not been back. Shall pop it on the list.

As with Exeter I don't think I've been to Bournemouth for yonks. Think actually the last time was during my last year at school in Southampton where we used to ditch afternoon lessons, steal train rides down there, stock up on alcopops, and sit on the beach until we were drunk enough to climb up the cliff without ropes or fear of death.

The whole Exeter -> Weymouth coastline has loads of ok to good coffee places. We visit Honiton / Sidmouth area each year and don't struggle to find cafes now. Most recommendations have come from this thread too.

Norwich fits those criteria nicely

We went for a weekend in Bridport maybe 2013 (West Bay another childhood staple) and were served a single origin v60 with a fucking infrared thermometer.

I hadn't even seen one of those in Clapton at that time.

I've heard Norwich mentioned a lot in the Homes thread - something about it has never appealed but willing to give it a proper look. Though 2 or 3 hrs travel to Liverpool St is that annoying middle ground - too short to justify going the night before if I have a job in town, not that comfortable to go the same day as my jobs usually start around 7 on location (looking at a house in Gimingham for example).

Yeah, the train service is the main downer, but the current plan is for new trains and cut down journey times for 2020. I think the main appeal would come from living in/near the city itself though, I've never been sold on the villages out in the sticks. The Victorian/Georgian houses in the North City are where it's at. 5 minutes cycle to all the coffee you can manage

I'll second Norwich for coffee (and generally being a nice place to live). 2 hours on a trian for London is a bit of a drag as you say. Suffolk is lovely but coffee wise you might struggle to find more than a few '3rd wave' cafes. Lots of very good food shops and delis though.

Edit: what Tom said as well