Breaking New Grounds

[Edit] A few things have changed. The Cafe is still open but it is a little different. More British. In fact a lot more more British. Vintage British.]

[For a taste of SA we head for Mopani Trading in Ford. No Moer Koffie but I enjoy their boerewors and chilli bites.]

Not quite a coffee shop

Nor a biltong bar

But if there are any South Africans who occassionally hanker after a mug of koffie with one of Ouma’s rusks, we still do both. But at home these days. There are a few packets of Freshpak  as well, and we are trying to source the best biltong and wors we can find.

If anyone is interested we are generally open early morning and evening and then at odd times during the day. So unless it is ‘just passing through’, it is probably best to contact us beforehand via the website or by mail to support@cafeonplatform2.uk .

There is also Mazoe orange for those who remember the early days in Rhodesia. By the glass though. At at eleven pounds a bottle, it is one of those occasional now and again things.

As hard as I might try, I will never make it as a coffee aficionado.

Something I came to realise after I discovered cafe boran or ancient coffee in Thailand. What I believed was the best brew I ever had the pleasure of tasting.

It was only later that I found out that it is made by stewing coarsely ground robusta  beans and finished off by adding half a mug of the creamiest, sweetest condensed milk.

Despite which I have every intention of searching out the local craft coffee roasters and learning what I can in the process.

When I venture out for coffee I look for somewhere different. Somewhere I can put my feet up, relax and browse a newspaper. Somewhere that offers home baked, homemade if not craft roasted and whilst I don’t think they have got around to the roasting the cafe at the Apuldram Centre is different.

richardjarrett.com/post/taylors-bagels-bath-review

I don’t know about coffee roasters in Chichester Harbour but premium, speciality coffees, is no problem.

You don’t get cappuccinos, laartes or flat whites at the cafe on Platform 2 in Emsworth. Just a house coffee in a plunger with milk, without milk or if preferred with condensed milk. It is a koffie liosk at a railway station.

But under the counter there is a selection of some of the local artisan roasts for the very curious.

After over doing it, I end up cross eyed and on a coffee buzz that gets very boring, very quickly.

Prompting me to order a couple of packets of Dafe, made from roasted date seeds. Much the same way coffee beans are roasted, ground and brewed.

Whilst you don’t get that heady early morning aroma from that first cup of the day, the date coffee works just as well. Better, once you factor out the shakes and all the other nasty side affects after one mug too many.

Add a generous dollop of condensed milk which I admit I do and you end up with a brew I consider to be the best hot chocolate ever.

[Edit] Closed…..aaargh!

Tucked away behind the Four Chestnuts on Oving Rd in Chichester is a small coffee shop cum takeaway, Mr Jack Potato.

Not really a coffee shop in the traditional sense. But it is different. The enthusiasm and pride Mr Potato has in the quality of his coffee and the vaiety of topping on offer tells a story.

Coffee Mongers, Lymington

Explorer Coffee Roasters, Gosport

Forest Edge Roasting Co, New Forest

Hayling Island Coffee Society, Hayling Island

Lazy Goat

Moon Roast, Alresford

Peaberry Coffee, Andover

River Coffee Roasters, Winchester

SO Roast Coffee Roasters, Southampton

Sunday Coffee Roasters, Portsmouth

Winchester Coffee Roasters, Winchester

brightlightsbigcity.co.uk/10-hampshire-coffee-roasters/

Isle of Wight Coffee Company