Not all coffee is created equal.
Our house blend coffee was carefully developed and fine-tuned with Horsham Coffee Roaster, from a blend of Brazillian and Rwandan beans sourced from the top 1% graded coffee beans worldwide – and it shows.
In terms of how this translates to the true coffee aficionado, our Altitude House Blend is a medium roast sourced from an altitude of 1600+masl, with tasting notes of chocolate, nutty caramel and a hint of agave nectar.
We make coffee the proper way, in front of you, for you to see.
You’re invited to watch the process – it’s pretty fascinating and there’s far more to it than you’ll get from one of the corporate coffee chains!
The perfect coffee starts with a clean, dry portafilter, clear from the grounds of the previous shot. Take a look next time you visit another coffee shop (particularly the chains!) as they frequently miss this vital step – that’s one key factor as to why the coffee you buy elsewhere may taste burnt, bitter or just not fresh.
We then weigh the perfect measure of freshly ground espresso beans to exactly 18g, then level it out and ‘tamp’ it into a nice, compact puck ready to extract. But first, we’ll flush the machine to get rid of any remaining coffee sat in the machine from the last shot – again, now that you know you should do this, look to see if the next coffee house you go to actually does.
When we start the water extracting through the shot we’re looking for it to give us 36g brewed espresso and to take between 28-32 seconds. This is important! Any less and your coffee will taste bitter. Any more and it will taste burnt. Many factors can affect these timings. Room temperature, the level of the beans in the grinder and the grind size being the main ones. Throughout the day there’s a mini-science lab going on behind the coffee bar to ensure you get the perfect shot.
…and that’s just the coffee. All milks are not created equal and all machines are not created equal. We use whole milk as standard. This gives the best texture and taste to your coffee. Our skinny milk is semi-skimmed. No self-respecting coffee shop would use skimmed. It doesn’t texturise well as the molecules in it aren’t the right size and the taste doesn’t complement the coffee. (Calorie-wise, there is actually very little difference between skimmed and semi-skimmed when it comes to the amount you will be drinking too). Our dairy milks are oat and almond. We use the two best barista brands for texturising.
We have a 3-group head Conti MC Ultima commercial coffee machine. This will mean nothing to you, or everything to you. Basically, it’s bloody amazing and amongst the best coffee machines out there!
It’s a lot of effort to get everything perfect and to do it all barista-style and not just rely on the press of a button, but our baristas undergo regular training and we are all passionate about what we do. When it all comes together to pull the perfect shot of espresso, you’ll understand why it’s worth the extra effort.
