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Hello again, my coffee connoisseurs!! ☕️
Today my beloved partner and I decided to venture slightly deeper into the coffee world than we usually do… Our destination was Special Guests Coffee.. the name already gives away the philosophy…
Paulo had actually been here before with his friend and knowing that I am quite the coffee enthusiast myself, he decided that we had to visit this place together..
And apparently Paulos impression was not unfounded. I did a little research afterwards and discovered that Special Guests was founded by Paul Ross, a two-time UK Barista Champion, and the whole concept revolves around carefully selected, often rare coffees! So yes… this is definitely a level above just some casual neighbourhood coffee place..
The space is extremely minimalistic: pale walls, stainless steel, almost laboratory-like counters and the brewing process completely exposed in the centre🕯️
And their filter menu is honestly quite impressive. Special Guests is particularly known for its selection of hand-brewed filter coffees, with different experimental lots regularly appearing on the menu..
We chose filters No. 1 Release 063 - Acacia Hills, Tanzania; Washed, Geisha and No. 3 Release 062 - Finca Mamaruntu, Peru; Anaerobic Natural, Gesha
I deliberately didn’t look at their flavour descriptors beforehand because I wanted to make a little sensory experiment and see if I could identify descriptors myself rather than convincing my brain that it tasted something simply because the menu told me so..
And, well… turns out coffee tasting is significantly harder than it looks…
The first one was described as:
Blackcurrant; Nectarine; Bergamot
I picked up something much closer to hibiscus, together with a chocolate-like sweetness. I couldn’t really find the blackcurrant or nectarine myself, although my boyfriend did manage to detect nectarine notes.. 🥸
The second coffee, our No. 3, promised
Guava; Red Grape; Sweet Cherry
Here I actually did find the cherry! although guava and grape wasn’t particularly obvious to me. And I was really surprised when I saw that this coffee didn’t have any citrus descriptors because what stood out a lot for me was a bright citrusy acidity! 🍋🟩
And between the two, No. 1 was unquestionably my favourite. Both coffees were fairly acidic, but the first felt much softer, rounder and more pleasant to drink. The third one was almost aggressively acidic for my personal taste. But my lovely companion actually loved both!
The whole serving ritual was so special! Coffee arrives in a little glass carafe with a separate ceramic cup, all placed on beautiful little metal trays. Felt a lot like a cute tea ceremony! 🫖
And strangely, the coffee itself also drinks more like tea this way. It feels lighter and more delicate and so it made caffeine feel much less aggressive too!
Our only complaint here was the temperature. I don’t know whether it was the carafe, the small ceramic cups or the intended brewing temperature, but we never really caught the coffee properly hot which was a little disappointing..
Also! we also ordered their banana bread 🍞
instead of the familiar loaf-shaped slice, it came as this neat little square. The top was covered with very thinly sliced almonds. The top was noticeably dry and the bottom half was much richer and more moist. Surprisingly we didn’t get actual banana flavour from banana bread.. that was sad, but it still paired beautifully with the coffee, but on its own it didn’t quite win me over.. 7/10🍌
The pastry selection itself was not that broad to choose from but it’s completely fine since Special Guests clearly isn’t a bakery or a brunch café.
The service deserves a mention as well. Everyone was genuinely lovely!
I would definitely come back but it has to be a special occasion.. ☕️
