6/8 is in the heart of Birmingham’s CBD and threatened from all sides by the usual chains. The obvious strategy might have been to glam up and go for a glossy, pseudo-Starbucks look, with tall, milky lattes. Thankfully, 6/8 hasn’t succumbed. It has a proper indie feel, with handwritten chalk boards, unbranded mugs and a photo pin-board.

6/8 has been open for just a year and owner Devinder (aka Dav) has worked hard to establish the business.

This has been achieved in part by working with the city’s other indie coffee shops. Baristas from other places (such as Saint Caffé) give evening classes at 6/8, and vice-versa.

It’s all part of Dav’s twin aims: to produce the best coffee in the city and to promote independent coffee shops.

As for the former, I think he may just have done it. My coffee – a flat white – was excellent. The beans come from Has Bean, the Stafford-based roastery familiar to Cosy Coffee Shops readers.

Dav told me that the beans used for my coffee were a little too new, having sat for only a few days after roasting (coffee beans are at their best about a week after roasting). He also modestly implied that his colleague Craig is the talented one! I’ve heard from a trusted source that Craig makes the best coffee in Birmimgham, but, as Craig was away when I visited, I can’t confirm.

Craig or no Craig, this was still the nicest coffee I had in Birmingham.

I was also mighty-tempted by the array of cakes, treats and freshly-prepared rolls.

As the window says in big capital letters, 6/8 is a proud to be an “independent coffee shop” in Birmingham’s generic city centre.

It’s a super friendly place gaining a loyal following. Highly recommended.

Date of visit: 16 January 2012

Web: http://www.sixeightkafe.co.uk/
Also on Twitter and Facebook.

Spring opened in Autumn 2011. The owners, Steve and Tracey, were formerly part of the Cafe2U franchise, selling coffee around the region from a bright red van. They left behind their lives on the road for a more static existence.

Fossgate was the perfect choice to lay down some roots. A nice street, plenty of footfall (but not too central) and a bright, airy room.

To this mix they’ve added some wonderful furniture. Every piece has been restored just for Spring, and every piece has a story to tell, whether it’s a wheel from a dark, disused Yorkshire mill or something equally intriguing. Ask Steve and he’ll happily point out the industrial notches. (A couple of tables pictured were awaiting custom-made glass tops at the time; they have since been topped.)

The furniture is a mark of Spring’s individuality, as is the rather cool branding. The wings allude to Steve’s former life in the Air Force.

The coffee comes from J. Atkinson & Co, a Lancaster-based roastery making its debut in Cosy Coffee Shops. The beans in use at the time made for quite an unusual flat white – rather citrusy and tangy – and a better espresso.

Steve is really into his coffee and reached the semi-finals of the UK Barista Championships in 2010. He’s just as passionate about tea, with plenty available at Spring along with cakes and savoury lunchtime options.

A lot of passion, talent and attention has gone into Spring. It’s a comfy, welcoming spot and Steve and Tracey are as friendly a pair of proprietors as you could wish to meet.

All in all, a worthy addition to York’s coffee shop scene.

Date of visit(s): December 2011

Website: http://www.springespresso.co.uk
Also on Twitter and Facebook.

Like most startup businesses, Laynes’ success is down to the owner. When the premises became available, Dave Olejnik snapped them up, and proceeded to mold Laynes as he saw fit. This included ripping out layers of grime and plasterboard so that a brick wall could see the light of day.

Since May 2011, Laynes has opened 7 days a week, and Dave has had just one day off.

This passion and/or obsession is easy to spot. Laynes is precision-engineered, the Vorsprung durch Technik of coffee shops. But it’s neither charmless nor clinical. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s a damn nice place to go, with a nice environment, friendly service and terrific coffee.

The coffee is down to Dave, a brilliant barista. My cohort and I had a flat white, delicious and beautifully presented. We also had a pour-over, a lovely way to enjoy good, tasty coffee (generally nicer, I’d say, than an Americano). This method is increasingly popular.

The beans are from Square Mile, one of the country’s top roasteries. Ever popular in London, its reach is extending further. But Dave likes to mix things up. We were enjoying the last of the current Square Mile “round”; next time it might be HasBean, Origin, Bolling/Grumpy Mule or whatever roastery tickles Dave’s interest.

It’s an unusual way of doing things but good for the customers, as Dave wraps his expert tastebuds around the latest and greatest seasonal roasts.

Aside from coffee, there are also fresh pastries, juices and more. There’s not much space but Dave has plans to increase seating.

Everything’s done right, but there’s no hint of coffee snobbery. It’s just a very fine coffee shop.

Along with Opposite, Leeds now has two.

I’ll leave you with an excellent video by Laynes, box-head and Wave Media.

Date of visit: 21 August 2011

Twitter: @laynesespresso
Website: http://www.laynesespresso.co.uk
Carl Fleischer (another barista at Laynes) on Twitter: @carlfleischer

Recommended by readers, The Velvet Lobster is a smart place in the pleasant surroundings of the inner harbour.

Flat whites aren’t on the menu, but I asked for one anyway. Alan, one of the owners, was happy to oblige, and produced a great brew, very nicely presented.

The beans come from top roastery Has Bean. It’s a sign, like everything else at The Velvet Lobster, that Alan and his wife Hannah do things very well. The food is local (where possible), the atmosphere warm and the Manx customers happy.

Mind you, the food and (alcoholic) drinks nearly excluded the “Lobster” from Cosy Coffee Shops. It’s at risk of being just a little bit too bar/bistro for this blog.

What’s more, little Douglas scarcely deserves three entries. One of the others, Java Lounge, Alan used to own, if my memory serves.

But, all in all, it would be a shame not to mention the lovely Lobster, which is a terrific spot for a coffee.

Apart from anything else, it serves by far the best cup of coffee on the Isle of Man.

Date of visit: 9 July 2011

Website: http://www.thevelvetlobster.com
Find The Velvet Lobster on Twitter and Facebook.

In equally timely fashion, I’m posting this entry a few months after visiting.

But it’s not entirely out of date, as the long-standing standard of coffee, plus the personnel and Dose ethos continue at the new premises (70 Long Lane, just next door).

One of Time Out’s top 10 London coffee shops, Dose has been a reliable source top-notch coffee since early 2009. The beans come from top London roastery Square Mile, the supplier for so many of the capital’s cafés.

And similarly to many of those cafés, James Phillips, the man at the helm, hails from New Zealand. Before setting up Dose, he spent 8 years plying his trade as a barista in Sydney.

My coffee (a flat white, as usual), was beautifully presented and delicious. One of the best coffees in my coffee-filled long weekend.

A tiny place at the time of my visit, with colourful magnetic letters on a blackboard, Dose’s new, larger, premises are big enough to swing a couple of cats more. I wonder if the blackboard/magnets survived the move.

In addition to the usual drink options there are plenty of snacks, and it’s very friendly.

I introduced myself to a barista (as I always do), and he’d heard of Cosy Coffee Shops. He imagined I’d be a 50-year old with a big bushy beard. Something about the way I write, no doubt. I do have a beard (of sorts) but in fact I’m only 29.

Dose is a terrific place and I hope to visit the new premises soon.

Date of visit: 12 April 2011

Opened in 2011, Prufrock is headed by 2009 World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies, though the be-capped guru was absent during my visit.

It’s on Leather Lane, an up-and-coming spot away from the crowds. The Department of Coffee & Social Affairs is another cool cafe just down the road.

In the capital’s increasingly crowded coffee scene, Prufrock sparkles with originality.

It’s not, for example, the first to offer coffee by “siphon“, but it’s the first to rejoice in it, with these exotic chemistry sets greeting visitors before the more traditional espresso machine.

It all points to a place where coffee is king.

Despite this, I’m delighted to report that I didn’t experience any coffee snobbery (and boy, is there anything I hate more than coffee snobbery). The barista preparing the siphon asked if I’d had it before, and she suggested I let it cool for a few minutes to taste it at its best. Friendly advice.

So I let it cool, and it was terrific. Siphon coffee is beautifully crisp and clear, similar to coffee bewed in a Chemex and not a million miles from a cup of tea. If you prefer flat whites and espressos, these and more are available too, along with cakes and other sweet treats.

So it’s the ideal place for expanding coffee horizons, but it’s also a perfectly nice spot for nattering, whether you’re a coffee person or not. The stripped floorboards, a mix of paleness and colour, paraphernalia and funky chairs contribute to a pleasant environment.

I was chatting to one of the baristas about this blog. He seemed worried that Prufrock wouldn’t live up to the “cosy” requirement. What I really look for is character, friendliness and atmosphere, and I’m glad to say that Prufrock seems to have all these things.

With all that, plus superb coffee and a bit of imagination, it has to be up there with the very best in London.

Date of visit: 12 April 2011

The branch I went to was the original: on New Street, near Liverpool Street. It is popular spot for local suits on their weekday lunch breaks, not to mention coffee fans around the capital and beyond.

Though not particularly charming or characterful, it’s all about the coffee. Coffee-heads can even check out the make of the coffee grinder on the website, if that sort of thing is of interest (happy to admit it’s not of interest to me).

The beans come from well-regarded London roastery Union Handroasted. My friend and I each had a flat white, which were superb. We sat on two of the very limited number of seats… it really is a tiny place, ideal for take-away, not good for lingering.

Afterwards we had a brief chat with a friendly and knowledgeable barista (pictured, above) over an espresso. The other guy was a bit grumpy, not exactly adding to already muted atmosphere.

Taylor St is a solid choice for excellent coffee, though it’s not a place with bags of soul.

The sign says “for serious coffee drinkers”, and, in more ways than one, that about sums it up.

Date of visit: 10 April 2011

Last month I found myself in London for a few days. Of course I couldn’t resist a visit to the London Coffee Festival, and to some of the newer additions to the ever-blossoming London cafe scene. Tapped & Packed is almost a veteran at around 1 year old, though they still haven’t got round to hanging a sign outside (I jest… I’m sure the nameless frontage is deliberate).

Anonymous on the outside, and, in some ways, a little anonymous on the inside. The more I go to indie coffee shops, the more I wonder if there’s one interior designer doing the rounds. Kaffeine, Flat White, Fernandez & Wells, Bold Street, Prufrock and others… all share a pale, minimalist and/or industrial vibe.

All of those are brilliant in their own way, and so is Tapped & Packed. One of the first places in London to offer coffee by siphon, the sugar comes in treacle jars and is served with souvenir spoons. Mine had a crest from tiny North Yorkshire city Ripon.

Most coffee shops get their beans from one roastery, maybe two. Tapped & Packed is supplied by Square Mile, Climpson & Sons, Has Bean, Origin and Union Handroasted. Quite the selection.

Despite this, my flat white – if measured against the very best coffees I’ve had in London and elsewhere – was fairly ordinary. This comes with the disclaimer that this was my first and, so far, only taste of Tapped & Packed. I also had an espresso which was much nicer.

All that taken into account, this place has a lot going for it. Friendly, comfy, popular, nicely decked out, lots of coffee options, good brews.

Well worth a detour. Recommended.

Date of visit: 9 April 2011

Speaking of mugs, the coffee comes in big tall ones. For a gourmet coffee shop, this is unusual. I thought the proper receptacle for espresso-based drinks is a petite and delicate cup, or perhaps a glass, probably for reasons relating to coffee-to-milk ratios and other such boffinary that I don’t begin to understand.

The Window blows this out of the water. My generous mug was chocka with a wonderful flat white, expertly prepared by owner and barista Hayley.

The mugs (no saucers required) are one of many space-saving exercises. Square footage is at a premium in The Window, which Hayley says is probably the smallest coffee shop in the world. I went to one in Vietnam which comes close, but let’s not pick hairs, The Window is tiny.

It’s just a few meters long, with a couple of seats outside. There’s space enough for three or four people, cakes, a table and a plastic bird in a cage who goes by the name of “Chirp-a-cino”.

It’s this intimacy that makes The Window such a convivial place. Hayley loves to engage with the customers, and she says she likes it even more when strangers strike up conversation (as we did with a regular). The more I visit coffee shops, the more I think it’s this personal stuff that marks out the great ones.

So this is no place for hiding away in a corner, though I’m sure you’d be left to your own devices if you’d like to be (or have your coffee to go).

On top of all this characterful, cosy kitchness is superb coffee. Hayley recently finished a hugely respectable 5th in the UK Barista Championships, and, therefore, can be described as officially the best female barista in Britain.

She buys the beans from Has Bean, a terrific roastery that crops up time and again in this blog.

As well as a flat white I tried an AeroPress. This brewing method has only been around for a few years and it continues to gain popularity, particularly amongst home-drinkers, for its simplicity, reliability and cost.

It was pretty good.

There’s a great mural outside and plenty of colour inside, thanks to art and plants. Hayley even finds space for some food, including particularly brilliant fresh pastries.

The Window is one of those coffee shops that brightens up a dull day. It’s unique, characterful, friendly, well-run and overflowing with top notch coffee. It’s got soul.

Along with the Little Red Roaster, Norwich now has a couple of brilliant independent coffee shops.

Bean & Bud is a gourmet coffee shop; perhaps the first in Harrogate. Great news for the town’s coffee-heads who used to pop over to nearby Leeds or York.

The name comes from the bean of the coffee tree and the bud of the tea plant (tea, so I’m told, is a popular concoction consisting of dried leaves, boiled).

I stuck with the coffee and ordered a flat white, which was beautifully presented, perfectly textured, great temperature, delicious, etc etc. The beans come from Limini Coffee, a Yorkshire-based roastery (previously Absolute Coffee). I’ve been aware of Limini for some time but this was my first taste.

My cohort had a mocha. I understand that mochas elsewhere are often disappointingly sweet, but this one – she tells me – was spot on.

The inside is red. Very red. An interesting colour choice… not the most soothing. This, combined with a frantic Saturday, left me not entirely calm.

However, it is desperately unfair of me to visit anywhere on a Saturday, particularly in a tourist hot-spot like Harrogate. As the delightful owners Ruth and Hayden mentioned, it’s a different beast on weekdays when there’s time to relax and chat with the customers. I must return between Monday and Friday.

Fresh and spectacular cup-cakes and locally-sourced food are available, alongside the locally-roasted coffee.

Best of all, Ruth and Hayden are at the coal-face extracting espressos, brewing teas and making sure their customers have the best possible experience. They even head abroad to sample teas and coffee at source… now that’s going above and beyond the call of duty.

These are the marks of a terrific independent coffee shop.

Date of visit: 19 March 2011