Coffee shops

[Kingoftheroad]

What do you expect from a good quality coffee shop?

I was having a discussion with a friend who owns a small chain of independent coffee shops. I mentioned that I’m not keen on having people queue up behind me for take away food whilst I’m enjoying either a peaceful few minutes to myself or chatting with a friend etc.

What, in your opinion makes for the ideal coffee shop?

Must serve filter coffee, I drink mine black, Americano without milk does not make black coffee, its just water with a faint taste of coffee, add an extra shot and its hot bitter water. An espresso is OK but not what I want either. I want a nice big cup of coffee to go with my cake, which leads me on to...

Proper cake, dare I say moist 😁, hate getting a lovely looking slice/muffin/cupcake biting into it and finding it dry. It then crumbles all down me and makes me look messy.

Keep ordinary teabags away from the herbal ones, if I want a herbal tea I will ask for one, I don't want my tea with a herbal twang.
God I'm a grumpy old woman aren't I!

Saying that I find a lot of independent coffee shops hit the spot.

True with Starbucks, it’s never very clean...

Clean, spacious, light and airy, no heavy music and good coffee. That’s all you can really ask for. Nice muffins help too .

Clean loos. I find coffee shop loos are the worst for cleanliness - probably because they are usually unisex.

Soya milk ,and at least one vegan food choice of sweet and one savoury .

Very quiet music as well,sometimes you can’t chat because the music is to loud.and clean loos.always unisex in our local costa,they are filthy

My local coffee shop is great. It's run by two ladies I have known for a long time as their children went to school with my youngest. The shop is light and airy with space between tables but small enough to greet the people already in there. The cakes are homemade so change almost on a daily basis and the food they serve is all freshly cooked - the bacon baps are to die for

They serve coffee but also a small selection of teas and cold drinks. I hate drinking out of the tea cups you get in coffee shops as I find them too big and round and make my tea taste bad so I now use a staff mug for mine.

They have a terrace (even though it does look over the car park) which on a clear day you can look over the lovely field we have. It's just an all round decent coffee shop which rather spoils your experience when you have to visit the big chains.

Clean and relaxing environment. Wide range of hot drinks from herbal to hot chocolate.
The most important thing is obviously good coffee. I rarely go out these days for a coffee unless it is to socialise. I can make much better coffee at home. I use Pact and my local independent seller of coffee. So many places think they make good coffee but it's bitter and burnt. At least in my area, a coffee shop that brews nice coffee is a rare thing indeed.

Finally decent baked goods. Lots of them look delicious but are over sweetened and tasteless.

Space. I don't want to share a table. I also want room for my baby's pram or my uncles wheelchair.

Good decaf, vegetarian and vegan options (food and drink). My local independent cafe is great - homemade cakes, good quality decaf coffee, range of teas, non dairy milks, simple but freshly made lunch menu and personal service.

Thing is, fewer tables and more staff cost money. Are people willing to pay more for their coffee and muffin?

Another vote for cleanliness too here.

Plenty of soft comfortable seating, not crammed together, and not something like one Chesterfield and one couch, with every other chair a hard wooden one. If it has outside seating, parasols and a table or two for none smokers.

Fresh good quality baked goods, doesn't have to be home made as such, but there's nothing worse than ordering what looks like a delicious cake or pastry and finding you could hammer nails with it. So hard no to pre-cutting big cakes.

I like a bit of gentle music in the background, preferably something instrumental, like a bit of chilled out jazz or something.

Decent sized mugs/cups with proper handles. Can't stand coffee cups with farty little handles that actually serve no purpose other than fooling you into thinking you could pick up the cup with it without spilling boiling hot coffee everywhere.

And don't burn the paninis.

For me its all about the standard of the food. I don't care how smiley the staff are or he clean and spacious the tables are if what they are selling is mediocre hot drinks and pre-packed sandwiches and sad cakes in cellophane.

It's only worth me going into a cafe if the food is freshly made (cakes home made or so I can't tell the difference) and the tea and coffee are really good.

@AnnaComnena - definitely yes if the service and ambience are correct.

Smaller cakes for children/people with small appetites

Not too crowded

Good scones with cream.

Space for wheelchairs and prams

If serving sandwiches etc- the children's options being nice ingredients as well (not cheap sliced white for children while adults get fancy homemade stuff)
If hot food, not having all children's food with chips.

Clean, friendly, polite, efficient and no blaring music

Clean toilets. In most chain coffee shops the toilets are disgusting.

Good tea, not grey dishwater as a token effort. If you can’t make good tea then don’t sell it.

Fresh cakes. I like it when coffee shops change what they have every day as a way of enticing you in.

The best independent coffee shops near me really care about what they sell.

Good filter coffee available without having to queue for 10 minutes while they faff endlessly with machines.

And preferably brought to the table. Like in the lovely, civilised, non Starbucks/Costa etc, cafes we so often find abroad.

There ought IMO to be separate caffs for people who want machine-faff concoctions, not to mention with caramel/marshmallows, or other disgusting adulterations.

I hate queuing if I'm on my own as often people come in behind me and save the table and I have nowhere to sit.

I want vegan cake and plant milk. I don't want my vegan food to also be gluten free in a covers all way. I want gluten!

Also child suitable cookies or something they can have - lots of cafes don't have child sized cake etc.

Tables cleared regularly. Nothing worse than having all the free tables covered in dishes.

Clean loos.

Friendly staff. I love Coffee1 but without fail the staff are teenage and really rude! Customer service training for all.

Oh, and at risk of being a bitch, I avoid cafes where people can pull buggies up to the tables indoors. Even when DS was a baby I hated this, so I'm not being a hypocrite.

The ability to make a proper cup of tea.
Clean.

Clean tables, a welcome and good coffee made well.....which means the coffee is ground for each order not going stale in the grinder. The espresso shots come through in around 23-35s depending on the set up for the day. The milk is new and steamed to order each time and is not boiled or pretentiously tepid. The milk wand is cleaned after each use - a filthy steam wand and rancid cloth is enough to make me leave the shop. And finally, there are more gluten free options then a bloody brownie!! All the other things that PP have said - not too crowded etc. A rare find......but it's lovely when you do find one.

Ugh - espresso after 35s! Meant 23-25s - banana fingers today!!

Staff who know the types of coffees and how to make them. I don’t want a cappuccino that’s more like a latte

A teapot that actually pours properly is always a bonus. So many just pour it all over the table...

Good coffee, a decent lunch/snack/cake selection, cleanliness and friendly staff. Since I've become a mum I also really appreciate if a coffee shop has baby change facilities, high chairs and doesn't mind if you bring in a pram/baby carrier.

A guinea pig and light roast coffee rather than the burnt, dark roast favoured by many shops.

Easily available menus for the pay then sit down places. My lovely local is great except the menu is laminated to the front counter so you can’t see it until you are being served and the queue gets held up while people decide.