Coffee shops: winners and losers

[Scalpel]

Seattle just off Lynwood near the Hillside tavern in Pretoria. The best coffee. Bike friendly. Friendly and great baristas!!

[LazyTrailRider]

I reckon if you ate out once a week you could spend a year JUST doing Kloof street.

 

Absolutely.

 

Speaking of Kloof Street, we did Janse & Co on Saturday. Dayum. It's officially 4th on my personal list after a 1st-place tie between Test Kitchen, Chef's Warehouse at Beau Constantia and Fermier (which, believe it or not is in P-Town).

[LazyTrailRider]

Apparently value is directly correlated to the size of the serving, and not the quality thereof.

 

It's a common thing. Many a franchise was financially built knowing that the market wants this. People are hungry, apparently.

[cadenceblur]

We have all listed our favourites, but what makes an ideal cycling coffee shop?

 

I will start about what I look for in a (hypothetical) cycling coffee shop:

 

It must be open and ready for business at 05h45. Enough staff to meet a rush, and machines up to pressure;

 

It must have an excellent barista who understands grinds, tamping and brewing. They must use excellent and freshly roasted beans AND good quality water. In short, the espresso must be top notch;

 

It should have a bike-rack outside with space to handle all comers; 

 

It should have sufficient sitting space. Tables and counters with more chairs than the tables demand. We want to sit 5 or 6 at a 4 seater table without having to beg chairs from adjoining tables;

 

Seating should be available both outside - sunny in the early morning and shady thereafter and inside - warm (not hot) in winter and cool but not cold in summer;

 

It must serve a good breakfast from 07h00 onwards with a small menu offering variety. Porridge or muesli with fruit and real yogurt.  Eggs must be fresh,  bacon crispy, good bread for toast (which must be served hot and crisply toasted without being burnt). A good Eggs Benedict with spinach and a dollop of Hollandaise sauce. Pancakes or waffles and real Maple syrup. A bag of oranges and grapefruit so you can have freshly squeezed juice. Breakfast must be available all day;

 

Cakes must be professionally but not mass produced. The selection must go beyond Carrot cake and Cheesecake. Nice small biscuits to be available if you want a little snack.

 

Must have good beer on tap.

 

 

My favourites all have some, but none has all of the above.

 

What do you want ?

Bootleggers sells good coffee, good beer as well as lekker toasted banana bread - a weekly stop for me in Kalk Bay

[The Ouzo]

It's a common thing. Many a franchise was financially built knowing that the market wants this. People are hungry, apparently.

you just need to market it as good value and the sheeple lap it up.

 

The other day I wanted to buy my colleagues pizza for taking care of a few things whilst I was down in CPT for the CTCT.

Around the area here are about 5/6 different pizza joints, decided to compare pricing.

most place for 2 large pizza were about the same price, then looked at a lesser known pizza place, also a franchise yet very small (only around 4 stores country wide), for the same price as 2 large I got a massive 24 piece pizza with vastly better quality of ingredients and flavour than any of the others could even dream of.

 

We liked it so much that 2 weeks later we bought another one.

[PhilipV]

It's a common thing. Many a franchise was financially built knowing that the market wants this. People are hungry, apparently.

Common as in common

Or

Common as on Kommin?

 

P-Town??? I'm thinking PK!!

You're very likely to get a PK in P-Town if you tune a guy or look skeef at his cherry.

[Sidersky]

Gotta love the barista's at Seattle...

[LazyTrailRider]

Gotta love the barista's at Seattle...

 

As much as I dislike franchises chains, Seattle does actually make good coffee.

Edited April 5, 2018 by LazyEnduroRider

[Scalpel]

As much as I dislike franchises chains, Seattle does actually make good coffee.

 

The fact that the owners of Seattle are passionate about coffee and cycling makes Seattle a great group of coffee shops!!

[Meezo]

Agreed with Seattle more on than offf days, bit hectic on the pocket if you at 2-3 a day every day

[Sidersky]

Agreed with Seattle more on than offf days, bit hectic on the pocket if you at 2-3 a day every day

Crikey... I thought I was bad with one tall cap a day...

[The Ouzo]

Agreed with Seattle more on than offf days, bit hectic on the pocket if you at 2-3 a day every day

very good coffee at work FTW (or is that FTL)

 

When I started here I went from max 2 cups a day to around 6 cups a day.

Had to have a serious talk with myself 2 weeks in and am down to 3-4 cups a day.

[V12man]

It must be open and ready for business at 05h45.

This is just so you can take a shortcut on your morning ride....

[Frosty]

Agreed with Seattle more on than offf days, bit hectic on the pocket if you at 2-3 a day every day

What if I told you I have 32 credits on my loyalty account with Seattle? And that is from August last year only, with a few complimentaries cashed in since then. 1 free for every 10 purchased... work out the amount spent at our locale (on grande's). And that's for Saturday/Sunday/Public Holiday rides only, excludes during the week and to/from work.

 

32 * 31 * 10 = just shy of R10k worth of spend. I think we (regular riders of the club) have spent close to R40k already since SSC opened at Newmarket Mall in December 2015.

[RussD1]

Morning. I'd hoped that the new-found impetus of this thread would be sustained.

 

Latest offering for a quality coffee shop: Cramers Coffee, Marshalltown (downtown Jozi CBD) - killer Americanos.

 

Not that many cyclists get there ... .

 

[kosmonooit]

Morning. I'd hoped that the new-found impetus of this thread would be sustained.

 

Latest offering for a quality coffee shop: Cramers Coffee, Marshalltown (downtown Jozi CBD) - killer Americanos.

 

Not that many cyclists get there ... .

 

 

Where are they?

 

I stopped off at a decent looking place corner Anderson & Harrison, the coffee I got turned out to be totally underwhelming despite the price and enticing mod look & decor.

 

Downtown Jhb is certainly not the place to cycle for many reasons, HECTIC!  I was going from doing a chore in Sellby to Jhb North, best is to go via Fordsburg from Marshalltown and avoid downtown / Braamfontein, though Marshalltown is okay, just dont go on any roads which have that dump phuck Ria Viva system!