Newborn baby induced sleep deprivation brings a new found appreciation for the glorious powers of coffee. I've always loved coffee but our life-long romance is finding new depths in these sleepless days.
Over the years I've tried more than my fair share of coffee from all over the world. Costa, Starbucks, Neros… of course. Blends from Whittard, Nespresso, supermarkets and small shops. I've tasted espressos in Rome, Toronto, Paris, Montreal and Havana. Drinking Jamaican Blue Mountain beans I'd actually bought in Jamaica was a particular highlight – wonderful beans which are absurdly expensive in the UK. I mourn the old Seattle Coffee Company that thinly veiled Startbucks investment vehicle which they then acquired to officially enter the UK market after Seattle had proved the market's viability. Their Sugar Daddy Americano was quite gorgeous. I'm not the only one who misses them it seems.
But all that doesn't matter as a about six months ago I discovered, without doubt, the greatest coffee in the whole wide world. I was at Clapham Junction station, on my way to see a client. It was cold and I needed a pick-me-up so I stopped at a tiny coffee kiosk on one of the platforms. Covered in orange panels it proclaimed to sell fairtrade organic coffee. I'd passed the kiosk thousands of times without trying it, today was the day.
I ordered a latte and the friendly staff encased in their tiny box of a kiosk began their ministrations on the steaming monster of a coffee machine.
When I received my drink and tried it, I couldn't believe the taste. Rich, earthy, deep and slightly sweet. I looked inside, yes it was coffee – amazing! It was reminiscent of that Ally McBeal coffee tasting scene with Georgia…
Anyway I asked them where they got their coffee from and it's from a fine company called Union Coffee Roasters. They have a incredible selection of roasts and blends which you can buy from their site. I started off with their Espresso Collection to help me sample their roasts – they were all wonderful. But for me the winner was and still is the blend I first tried that cold day in Clapham. The divine Organic and Fairtrade Natural Spirit Blend.
Enjoy. I do, a cup at a time!
Jason Kitcat 