Harveys Coffee Company

This is a relatively new addition to the café scene in Clevedon. While the café has “coffee” in the name, they make no claims about their coffee in terms of its origin, roasters or speciality either inside or online.

The décor is smart, service was friendly and efficient and prices reasonable and typical. It’s excellently situation on the triangle and its large window frontage is inviting and offers a great look-out on the town centre. 

What it doesn’t have for me is character and that goes through to the coffee. To appreciate the flavour of their beans I took an espresso. It was strong with an edge of bitterness and certainly fresh. One nice thing is that it was hot enough to sip over a period of time. It appears like a good middle of the road blend that will appeal to a large number of people without having the character of an  interesting flavour profile.

Nigel’s espresso 7/10

I ordered my stock coffee of a black americano.  My feelings on the establishment itself are similar to Nigel's, however, I thought it felt like it had a nice buzz probably due to plenty of custom at the time we were in there.

My americano was delivered at a temperature akin to the sun, which is not a bad thing as far as making a drink last is concerned... plenty of time to relax.  It does worry me that this would possible scald the coffee when made and could be responsible for the slightly flat flavour.  Don't get me wrong, this was a pleasant enough coffee, but it didn't blow me away in any department.  It did maintain a nice crema throughout drinking.

Jim's americano 6/10

Arnett's Cosy Kitchen

Review from Jim on this prestigious Clevedon cafe, sounds good, I'm looking forward to going again myself now after having read this. Note we might be biased because they are our friends :-)

The care and attention to detail with Arnett’s coffee is evident before any beans are ground.  Cups are kept warm and covered to keep them in optimum condition.  Beans are freshly ground to order and time is taken to ensure proper compression is applied prior to making the espresso.

I ordered a black Americano and added (controversially) a small amount of white sugar.  It was served with a home-made shortbread biscuit.  The coffee was excellent.  A strong potent hit of coffee with almost a bitter edge which then subsided to a smooth and almost chocolaty flavour.  The owner told me he sampled many different providers and types of coffee before settling on the one served and the research has paid off.  Highly recommended for strong coffee lovers.

8/10

The Cellar Wine Bar, Hill Rd, Clevedon

To introduce this blog which may or may not last long :-). The first review is based on a visit made today 4th March 2014 to The Cellar Wine Bar on the Hill Rd in Clevedon. All we are looking at here is the coffee and make no comment on the other fine offerings available.

All coffees are £2.50. Not a bad price for the admirable environment. I chose the cafetiere of coffee, which arrived in the stylish stainless steel vessel pictured.

My first impression was of a traditional tasting coffee, nothing out of the ordinary, which was followed by a dominating sense of staleness, that the coffee was not fresh. Like a bag of supermarket coffee unused for a few weeks. I added a couple lumps of brown sugar (unusual for me) to make it palatable and even went so far as reasonably enjoying the drink, though I'm not in a hurry to repeat it.

Score for Cafetiere coffee: 4 out of 10