I will try and get a coffee review up this week as I start to explore my new home. Until then, I hope you are all well.

My first review of an old favourite haunt. When my wife and I used to live in Withington, a trendy student area of South Manchester, we visited this establishment more than any other… of course, as a bar/restaurant, we didn’t typically have coffee.

My first cappuccino here today (I had quite a bit of time to kill) had one hell of a kick. It was quite bitter, but strangely not so much in a bad way; it was like an espresso with a froth topping. The initial sip was a shock but overall the falvour was satisfying: more of a biting bitterness than the rude assault that accompanies a poorly made or overly strong coffee. However, I very nearly resorted to sugar, so in all, the bitterness was a bit too much. Also, the drink was more warm than hot, making it gulpable which is fine in a hurry but not in this case.

The froth situation was quite unique – lightly dusted with a slightly salty chocolate powder, it formed a decent covering which I was able to enjoy with my coffee (i.e. I didn’t have to spoon it out to be able to reach the caffeinated goodness). It was forming quite large air bubbles – but this was a mere curiousity.

Having more time to spare, I ordered a second (not a habit I want to develop). This one was rediculously hot (the tip of my toungue is still complaining) but it was not quite as strong as the first. The froth was large-bubble free but not as creamy. Overall, the two coffees were reminiscent of the Parisian cafe au lait in flavour (although perhaps stronger). I suspect this is the result of the Lavazza coffe they use here rather than the barrister.

The establishment has a trendy atmosphere, second hand furniture and local art giving it some real character. However, this really is a restaurant/bar, not a cafe and the lack of a lounge makes the place a little uncomfortable. I was actually the only customer for the first 10 minutes which was strange, but then Solomon’s had been open about 10 minutes when I strolled in.

I don’t understand the concept of charging your customers for a drink/snack/lunch/all of the above and then asking them to pay £4 for 40 minutes of internet access? Surely running a wireless network in your cafe has a set cost no matter how many customers do/do not use it. What is the mark-up on this service?

Is it an issue of security – not wanting a freely available network which could be taken advantage of by unscrupulous pirates and deviants? As always, this attitude merely punishes the honest user and the lazy (ie amature crooks). It seems to me that the benefit of blocking access to the latter is outweighed by the cost of restricting it from the former.

Quite frankly, anyone serious enough (ie wanting to commit serious crimes) can and will hack this, or any, network. WEP and WPA are not that secure.

When will the internet be set free of wires and prejudice?

Alternatively, why not ask me to join your service with a credit/debit card but don’t charge me anything (providing security and accountability without ripping me off).

Now I have to go back and point out the wifi capabilities of the cafes I have visited.

Catch up with the times British cafe owners!

This is the first time I have ever actually had a coffee at this cafe. To be honest, it did not feel like it… The lay out is quite similar to the Cafe Nero by the Whitworth Gallery. There was plenty of seating, perhaps primarily because there were very few customers. It depends on your view but I personally prefer a cafe that is bustling with activity. Still, it was nice and quiet which is ok anyways.

The froth: airy but strangely heavy as well… basically, it was like a stable layer of soft soil covering the strong flavoured coffee. Fortunately it was not too thick and there was a good amount of chocolate powder.

The coffee: as usual for Cafe Nero, the coffee was strong (being a double shot) but today it left a slightly dry aftertaste and a certain furriness on the tip of the toungue.

The thing was, this coffee was nothing special. It was, point of fact, the usual unimaginative unsurprising umber beverage I have come to expect from Cafe Nero. Don’t get me wrong, this is not bad, it just leaves me little to criticise and feeling a little empty inside… but then it wouldn’t be fair for me to mark it down over my own sense of insecurity would it?

I must admit that I rarely come to this cafe, I have often found the coffee to be unacceptable and over-priced. They do use a manual espresso machine and this comes as a surprise given the automatic machine quality of the coffee.

The froth was a very thin, bubbling layer wedged between the somewhat milky coffee itself and an over-abundant layer of chocolate powder. My first attempt at tasting the coffee was foiled by the exceedingly hot mug – I had to return it to the saucer immediately to avoid burning my fingers. The coffee was initally weak in taste but seemed to grow on me with more sips. Unfortunately, this did not last and it became clear that this was a single shot based cappuccino; not to my liking, although easily fixed. The variation was probably due to the tasty slice of over-priced (£2.75) coffee-walnut cake accompanying my coffee.

The cafe itself is less lounge, more cafeteria. It does have exceptionally large, south facing windows and is attached to a bookshop but that is as far as the positive points go. The music was very quiet and business bustling at first (lunch break). There’s no real private space and I doubt I will feel comfortable staying very long at all once my coffee and cake are finished.

The combination of high-price, low quality coffee and a decor which makes the cafe feel as though it has been squeezed into a bookshop as an after-thought to take up spare room makes this a place to avoid when possible. 1.5/5

Of course, writing delayed discussion entries is not really in the spirit of this blog (discussion = thoughts and ideas I encountered whilst drinking my coffee) so I will avoid this as much as possible in future.

Rhode Island Coffee is a relatively new cafe based in Stockport which my wife and I happened across only a few weeks back. It is set over two floors, the upstairs is particularly bright and airy with an open balcony over the downstairs area.

The cafe was bustling with activity today, not that we struggled to find some decent seats. However, we did have to wait a bit longer than usual (compared with Starbucks/Cafe Nero) for our coffee, but it was worth it. My cappuccino had a fantastically creamy-smooth yet delicate froth – it formed “smooth peaks” like when whipping egg-whites for a merangue! Better yet, there was just enough froth: I could actually sip the coffee through it. Unfortunately, the barrister was too rushed to pay attention to the minimal amount of chocolate powder he applied. The coffee was strong and full-flavoured but not to the point of leaving a bitter after-taste). It was also very hot yet still perfectly drinkable. Overall an excellent coffee. We also shared a slice of a gorgeous-tasting carrot cake… I can still recall the joy of its flavour and texture.

However, this blog is about the coffee experience, not the coffee alone and this is where Rhode Island Coffee Stockport let us down. The music was awful given the “coffee lounge” context. When we arrived they were playing Beach Boys, when we left, the music had gone full circle back to the same song that was playing when we arrived. This shouldn’t matter so much except that it was also very loud. I struggled to read either the newspaper my wife had bought or the Terry Pratchett novel I had brought along. We had to raise our voices above normal conversational levels to hear eachother and our conversations generally centred around the topic of the intrusive and distracting music: we (understandably) agreed that cafes should stick to inobtrusive music (preferably without words/lyrics) as we felt most people visit them to a) have a coffee and a chat with friends or b) to have a coffee and read. Either way, the aggressively loud music largely ruined our experience – in fact, we specifically left earlier than we wanted because of this problem.

Coffee was 4.5/5 but the music easily brought it down to 4/5… 3.5/5 is tempting but perhaps too harsh.

The froth was too airy, not creamy enough but light and still enjoyable. Supplied with abundant chocolate (not cocoa!) powder, it was a pretty good start to a coffee. I quite enjoy spooning off some of the froth and the chocolate as a way to start my capp’s. However, there was a bit too much froth, something I have noticed at several Neros. Barely half of my “large” coffee was actually coffee which leaves me feeling a little burnt given the price. Regardless, the coffee was full flavoured, strong and just hot enough. Unfortunately, this coffee was perhaps slightly too bitter leaving a strong aftertaste in my mouth. Of course, I think this is down to the choice of beans rather than any deficiency in skill of the barrister. Music was (as usual for Cafe Nero) loungy and relaxed. Plenty of customers but still plenty of seating and fast but friendly service made this a pleasurable experience overall.

My initial sip of this coffee was disappointing – weak, milky and bland in flavour. I bought a WickedCAKE company Rocky Road with it and after having some of this, my overall coffee experience instantly improved. It may have just been the chocolate – a few sips later, this cappuccino was still weak and overly milky with a flat, insufficient froth head and sparse chocolate powder topping (which was a little salty in flavour). However, in its defence, this was the affordable option and I had no wait and my choice of seats by the very large (south-facing) windows. With the sun showing its unfamiliar self a bit today, the windows were a major factor in my decision to drink here. The cafe itself is large and open, music-less but not quiet. Not a bad atmosphere but perhaps a bit too functional and not sufficiently lounge-like.