Coffee Appreciation

Lol, poor old Lewisham! I thought I'd ask anyway, as there's usually somewhere nice hidden away.

Not Lewisham itself but the Waiting Room on Deptford High Street makes very good coffee. Probably other Deptford options too.

Big Bro is finished at lewisham, I think because something is going in the retail space behind where he was

something is going in the retail space behind where he was

Gym, supermarket and cinema supposedly. Not sure which one in which unit.

The second and final phase will be operated by Get Living, following a £252m forward funding deal, and will provide 649 homes for rent, c.25,000 sq ft of retail space, c.15,000 sq ft of food and beverage space, a gym, 10,000 sq ft of offices and Lewisham’s first major multiplex cinema, which has been pre-let to Empire Cinemas on a 25-year lease

Shit, would’ve given him so much custom!
Edit: ah there we go, food and bev space

Just been to Association Coffee on Ludgate Hill.

Felt different (less good) than on previous visits. Has it changed hands?

Are any of the places in Francis Road E10 reasonable?

As others have said, nothing in Lewisham since Big Bro had to close!
Nearest decent places are in
New Cross - Mughead, Red Lion Coffee,
Depford - Mousetail, or
Ladywell - OscarsSe13

Quick tips needed:

I’m staying somewhere - I have access to an aeropress, a grinder, but only really bad beans. I think they’re sainsburys. They’re dark, shiny, and bitter. I won’t get a chance to find some decent beans, so how can I get a decent drinkable cup out of these things?

Add milk and sugar...

Lots of sugar.

Think dark roast can be brewed at lower temps, doesn’t need to be ground as fine, then as JDP says mask the taste with some sort of milk and add sugar if it’s still unpalatable

I'd also do a shorter brew time to reduce the extraction of harsher flavours. So only 1 min in the aeropress and then press. (Increase the amount of coffee if you want it stronger rather than leaving it longer).

Don’t use freshly boiled water, grind coarser.

Cheers all, I made one with a shorter brew time which did help a little. Will try cooler water next.
I can’t stand sugar in coffee, but milk helps.

You should treat your body to a coffee holiday

You should treat your body to some decent coffee beans.

I’ve found some good deals on 1kg bags on eBay from reputable roasters.

Aeropress Espresso and embrace the dark roast!

HTFU and embrace the dark roast!

FTFY ;)

On a similar subject, any tips for cheap crap 100% robusta beans. I’m assuming low temp, coarse grind and short brew on a French press.
I’d been using it for espresso on a classic but it’s quite grim and I’m not much of a one for milky coffee

100% Robusta? New to me.

It’s called polishing a turd.

Rare to see 100% robusta beans. I’ve never had them myself, but I think you won’t get good espresso out of them unless you’re into that flavour. James Hoffmann sneaked a 100% robusta into one of those live taste sessions where they were basically immersion brewed. I think whichever way you look at it, you’re going to get that signature astringency and rubberiness.

If you decide to bin it, I’d be quite up for a little ride over to yours to try it.

Don’t Black Sheep use robusta exclusively?

Yeah that's part of the reason it's shit

Yes, it's the blurb on their ad board outside their Picadilly Approach shop here in Manchester

@Jonny69 & @withered_preacher - it’s this stuff -
https://kaffekapslen.co.uk/dulcis-vitae-coffee-beans-1000-g-gimoka.html
According to the blurb it’s 70% Robusta beans from Vietnam and 30% Robusta beans from Uganda.

Grinding coarse and a short, lower temperature brew was a big improvement - I’ll try some milk in it like some massive Heathen next!

It’ll be good to have some help getting through it Jon - I’ll PM you as I don’t seem to have your number on my phone