Roasters Coffee Company, Scarborough

A starting point is the website (http://www.roasterscoffee.co.uk/) which I stumbled across before my visit.  After reading the blurbs about ethical coffee sourcing and in-house roasting, I knew I'd like the place before I'd set foot inside.

Take a look at all those beans (above) and the coffee options (below, if you squint). No doubt some purists baulk at the idea of a cinnamon latte or vanilla mocha, but, personally, I don't mind them at all. I plumped for a conservative "red eye" cappuccino (an extra strong cappuccino) and it was pretty good.

The coffee-preparing pedigree is excellent. The proprietor Barry Lawrenson won the Northern Heat of the UK Barista Championships in 2008 and an employee finished sixth at the first attempt. Simon Robertson, barista at the wonderful Leoni in Malton, once helped train Mr Lawrenson.

There are other good things, including a room upstairs with comfy chairs.

On the day, it was perhaps not the best coffee shop experience I've ever had, partly due to a slightly grumpy barista (having a rare off-day, by all accounts) and mostly due to wind blowing damp tabloids onto our legs as we sat outside. 

Most significantly, my companion and I had just spent the night being battered by a gale, in a tent, on a cliff, above Robin Hood's Bay, so we were showerless and more stinky than usual. And just as one should never shop for food on an empty stomach, maybe I should not describe coffee shops after an arduous night's camping.   

But never mind my trials and tribulations; this is a really good, characterful and cosy coffee shop. I don't hesitate to recommend Roasters to anyone, and I look forward to going back when I'm in a bit more of a fit state.
 

Don't just take my word for it.  Judges at the UK Barista Championships (no less) have remarked on this "inspirational" coffee shop.  And the Scarborough public patronise Roasters so frequently that Mr Lawrenson felt confident enough to open a "Roasters 2"  in May 2008, just a few weeks before my visit.

Below is the original (left) and the new branch (right), a few streets along.

And below is a shot of smashing Scarborough, which is not short on chips, arcades, donkeys, English quaintness, sand and at least two good coffee shops.
 

Roasters Coffee Company
8 Aberdeen Walk
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO11 1XP.

Phone: 07971 808549
Fax: 01723 361922

http://www.roasterscoffee.co.uk/