Leeds Coffee Crawl

To anyone sitting up and taking notice, it’s evident that there’s been something of a surge in local indie business in Leeds of late. This quiet revolution has been heralded as much by the passing of some of our city’s success stories (see the demise of the iconic Tetley’s brewery) as it has been by young upstarts swooping in to take their place (see the growing Leeds Brewery empire).

Perhaps the most apparent shift, though, has been the rise and rise of the indie coffee shop. We started with one or two, then along came others. Suddenly, for every Starbucks, Costa or Nero there seems to be another indie outlet beating the big boys on quality, service and price. They’re not hidden away down side alleys, either – they’re occupying some of the city’s prime retail real estate, bringing quality coffee to the masses passing through the train station, our busiest shopping centres and tourist attractions.

I went along to the second Leeds Coffee Crawl yesterday to meet some of the folks behind Leeds’ indie coffee shops. Along the way, I also hoped to stuff myself to the gills with (exceptionally flavoured) caffeine and hang out with some fellow enthusiasts. The Coffee Crawl is the first in a series of Wing Walks which aim to show off Leeds’ top indie spots.

Our first stop was Laynes Espresso, a small but well-formed shop on New Station St, a stone’s throw from the train station. Here, David regaled us with a potted history of coffee (really!) and some fascinating insights into the science of coffee preparation. We all got a sample of the painstakingly prepared aeropress coffee – made using precise, to-the-gram measurements of freshly ground coffee, boiled water and a stopwatch.

There are two main types of coffee bean, arabica (light, floral, zesty flavours) and robusta (the bitter, heavy, “strong” flavour more readily associated with coffee). Laynes use arabica exclusively, and David talked very engagingly through the reasons why. High street chains tend to use cheap and strong robusta in order to get enough coffee flavour to cut through the large measures of milk, syrups and other flavourings that they use in their lattes and cappucinos. All of the shops we visited on the coffee crawl serve smaller measures, allowing them to use coffee blends with much more subtlety and variety.

The aeropress coffee we sampled was a pale brown, and slightly cloudy. It smelled floral, with autumnal hints of berry. And it tasted a world away from your usual expectation of black coffee, having almost as much in common with a very strongly brewed black tea. David talked us through some flavours we may note, including the slightly oily orange of bergamot, more traditionally associated with Earl Grey tea.

Armed with takeaway cups from Laynes, we wandered through town to our next stop. This was the newest cafe on the crawl – Brewbar Espresso, situated underneath Leeds Art Gallery’s tiled hall cafe. Here we were introduced to two baristas, Charlie and Luca. A coffee crawl special of a split shot was laid on for us, including an espresso, a piccolo (a short drink served in a glass of espresso served with steamed milk) and a sample jug to share of pourover.

The atmosphere in Brewbar was less the hustle and bustle of Laynes, and more of a quiet Saturday afternoon with the papers. The staff here are all self-confessed music geeks, and our visit coincided with a day of music from the movies – Also Sprach Zurasthra was a surreal highlight, along with a slightly sweary selection from Pulp Fiction. The coffee was, again, excellent, this time using a blend with more bitter flavours, still more complex than your average cup. Drinking the same blend in three ways highlighted how important the barista’s role is in bringing out different characteristics from the raw ingredients using a number of techniques. The espresso was a jolt of dark, chocolatey flavours. These flavours enhanced the sweetness of the milk in the short piccolo, and the pourover was much brighter and more open in taste.

Our next stop was Opposite in the Victoria Quarter, where we were welcomed by barista Howard. Here we were introduced to two coffees, both prepared as espresso. The first was Costa Rican Cacao, an arabica bean. Like the arabica we tasted at Laynes, it was very light. The espresso preparation opened up the zesty flavours with a long, sweet aftertaste that kept developing. The second was Red Brick, a blend of the Cacao (80%) with a Brazilian arabica. In the cup, the initial zesty flavours of the Cacao were still evident, but the addition of the Brazilian bean added a bitter pep which closed the flavour down much more quickly. Both were very pleasant – and surprisingly different.

While we were tasting, Howard talked about the seasonality of coffee – something that, as consumers of dried coffee, we tend to overlook. All of the shops that we visited change their blends on a regular basis, buying in fresh beans at their peak. Interestingly, Howard also told us how the onset of climate change is changing which countries are producing the best coffee, as the optimum combination of temperature and altitude creeps further south from the equator.

It must be said that en route from Opposite to our final destination, Cafe 164, the coffee had begun to take its toll. But we braved the jitters for one final cup, prepared in this spacious, comfy setting. It’s the closest to an American style cafe of all of those we visited, serving slightly longer drinks, and maintaining its own high standards in terms of suppliers and quality. All coffee is sourced through Union, who maintain direct trade relationships with growers. It’s the most sustainable model for the farmers, as they enter into minimum supply contracts which allow them to plan beyond the initial transaction for the next harvest.

We watched a short video here, about the roasting process. It’s on the Union website, and well worth a watch. There’s a lovely infographic in there about the flavour profile of coffee at 2:15 too.

So, what did I learn, apart from the effect of nine coffees on a slightly hungover body? Well, actually I learnt a hell of a lot. More than I could hope to fit into this write-up. Without exception all of the staff we spoke to were knowledgeable, friendly, and enthusiastic enough to impart their knowledge to anyone willing to listen. And there’s a real sense of community between them, irrespective of where they work.

Maybe that’s the key to the success of these small businesses. Undoubtedly, there’s competition between them. But instead of approaching this with animosity, they each find their own point of difference and celebrate each other’s successes. In so doing, they’ve managed to create a thriving scene with an array of options for the consumer, which is greater than the sum of its parts in battling with the omnipresent big boys.

Watch out for future coffee crawls by following Kirsty on twitter at @Gumbokomodo.

Image supplied by Kirsty Ware.