Six Eight Kafe's Coffee Blog

In my mug live at 6/8 - 25th September

Our roasters Has Bean celebrated their 150th edition of their weekly coffee videocast In My Mug by sending out some new coffees to their stores - one of which was us!

This past Sunday, a collection of regulars, friends, fellow coffee shop owners and passers by tried some unique coffees in both espresso and filter - as well as Sal and our own Liz supplying some tasty cakes.

We didn’t charge anything and instead asked for a donation to Macmillan Coffee Morning for as much coffee as we could brew and in the end we raised over £50.

The coffee was Sumatra Wahana Jantung Seed and Longberry. Both two great coffees and although  we couldn’t connect to the others over the planned internet group sharing session, or loyal patrons enjoyed brews of filter, espresso and an aeropress by our regular and Foursquare Mayor Joe!

Check out the photos below

Geoff from Saints Caffe checks out the brew…

Our Foursquare Mayor Joseph performs tricks with his aeropress

A nice collection of brewing equipment

La Ilusion - guest espresso

On the 30th June and 2nd July we had the guest espresso of El Salvador’s La Ilusion in our hopper - as you may have read before, it was used by the World Barista Champion Alejandro Mendez as his signature espresso in his winning performance.

It was delicious and many came to sample its delights. Here are a few shots from the days. Enjoy.

In the hopper.

A shot turns into…

…a Flat White.

Gary from Anderson & Hill enjoys.

Dan and Rich from Radio 4’s Food Programme are the last to enjoy the shots.

2 kilos and filled up cards. Done.

Espresso Games: St. Ali Espresso Blend

Some know St. Ali as the Saint of Coffee, others will recognise it as a coffee shop renowned for being one of the best shop/roasteries in the world. Located in South Melbourne, Australia; they have become known for their superb quality of service and ever changing house espressos. 

Well lucky for us Brits then St. Ali has brought the party over here. They have recently opened a location in After a visit to the new and superb St. Ali coffee shop in London on Clerkenwell Road. The shop is beautifully designed with a huge central bar, equipped with a Slayer espresso machine, Uber boiler and all the brewing treats you could possibly imagine. Attach onto that an open roastery on the shop floor and top quality food to match the excellent coffee.

I was lucky enough to have a chat and tour of the shop with Head of Coffee, Tim Williams. After showing me the upstairs espresso bar, which boasted an all to familiar (for you 6/8 fans) Synesso Cyncra three group, he took me around the roasting area and I managed to accquire a kilo of their latest espresso blend forthe shop.

I smuggled it out of London, got it safely back in to the shop in Birmingham and got the ‘Tank’ grinder to unleash it on curious patrons of 6/8.

As you can read above, this is a mix of Brazilian and Guatemalan. The espresso came out extremely bright, not too sweet, but certainly a slap in the face as soon as it touched the tounge. This then gave away to a rich body; certainly a fun and tasty espresso - kind of wish I tried with a longer pre-infusion to see what affect it had, especially on the brightness.

A beautiful St. Ali espresso.

From bag, to grinder, to tamper, to machine, to shot.

The final latte of the day.

After burning through many shots (and varying degrees of annoyance with a temperamental grinder) both Greg and I were well and truly caffeinated to the brim. We had tried the espresso in the differen’t milks drinks and it certainly shone through in our 5oz Flat Whites and 7oz double shot Lattes. It was smooth and chocolately (well noticed by Greg that it tasted like Cadbury’s dairy milk) but then with an earthy finish. An interesting change in notes from the straight espresso.

All in all, well worth trying and I would love to hear the thoughts of anyone else who has managed to dial it in on their own machines.

Once again, thanks to Tim and the whole of the St. Ali team for their hospitality and giving us the chance to have a go with it in the shop.

Keep an eye out in the shop as you may see more random espressos, including other St. Ali blends, creeping into the store for some coffee fun afternoons.

All the best!

Craig

Special Offer for Saturday Opening on 26/3

On Saturday 26th 6/8 Kafe will being opening on Saturdays for the first time…and we’re having a bunch of offers to celebrate!

FREE HOT DRINKS-

Along with with live music throughout the day, some of the offers that will be running will enable you to get FREE HOT DRINKS…heres how:

• Use your Twitter & Facebook profiles to follow us/like us and then write in your status “I’m at @SixEightKafe enjoying my free (insert hot drink name)” and whatever hot drink name you will include, you will get it for free! Keep in mind, this will only apply to one drink per customer - the rest you have to pay for!
• Be one of the first five customers at the beginning of every hour and get a free hot drink! Yup, we’re practically giving them away - we just want to spread our love of good coffee around and show what we have to offer. Again, a customer can only take this opportunity once. No running away and coming back!

Also throughout the day will be LIVE MUSIC and A NEW ART EXHIBIT will be adorning our walls.

Doors open 11am-5pm

Spread the word! Be at Six Eight Kafe this Saturday!

The Synesso Cyncra - An Introduction to Our Machine

Our Synesso Cyncra Three-group in all its glory

Tipped as one of the best espresso machines in the world, you can’t get much better than the sleek design of the American designed Synesso Cyncra. Known for its meticulous consistency for getting the best out of an espresso, the Cyncra is a beast - but love and it will love you straight back.

This is just a taster of our chrome beauty; rest assured that I will be publishing follow up articles about the aspects of the Synesso and how it helps up make great coffee.

For now, have a nose around the Synesso site, I’ll start you off on the page dedicated to the model we use and you can go from there.

6/8 Visits: North Tea Power, Manchester

Oh, North Tea Power. You wonderful place nestled in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Run by the infinitely friendly rhyming duo of Wayne and Jane; this is a space to sit, chat, chill, work & network. 

In one corner a few friends sit and knit, while at a long central table media types gather round and chat in front of their Macbooks. Each member of these groups has a partner; a mug filled with one of a huge selection of finely brewed loose leaf teas or an espresso coffee, made lovingly from Hasbean’s earthy Blake blend.

Macchiato and Cappuccino 

This is my go to place for coffee in Manchester and they are quickly gaining a reputation for their espressos as much as their wall of teas (which I highly recommend as well, especially their Oolong).

Wayne & Jane hard at work

Topping it all off is their superb range of cakes; sourced locally from the area and sold as fast as they are baked.

I am a huge fan of what the guys have done at NTP. A cosy, welcoming atmosphere where you can comfortably spend hours sampling from their menu. It is a space that seems to nurture creativity - possibly due to the obvious attention to detail that Wayne and Jane have put into the place (notice the excellent choice of fonts on everything from the tea information cards to the takeaway cup stamps).

So, if you’re hanging around Manc city centre, do yourself a favour and pop in to say hello to our friends North.

North Tea Power’s website is under development here

Check them out on Twitter

Special thanks to Katie Liana Riley - known to many as Rile-Dog-Woof/NTP-Resident-Bummer - for introducing the author to North Tea Power. Katie Riley is a Manchester based theatre producer and you can see the beautiful nonsense that spills from her fingertips on her Twitter page.

6/8 Visits: The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse

This is the first in series of blog posts where 6/8 Kafe visits other independent coffee shops around the UK; often those that share some connection with 6/8 - more often than not, they will use the same supplier of our luxurious coffee beans, Hasbean.

Fitting this profile is The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, a relatively large and cosy coffee shop nestled in Shropshire. Open for only a couple of weeks after this post is being written, the Coffeehouse is already a stellar success; packed with customers, excellent coffee and stellar reviews by local media.

Run by Jess (also Events Coordinator) and Chris (Operations Manager/Head Barista), the team run a tight ship in a comfortable and relaxed environment. 

The coffee they use is Hasbean’s Jabberwocky, a bright blend that works really well with milk - especially recommend the Flat White - beautifully prepared with top latte art on a La Marzocco GB/5. Along with that the tea is excellent (great glass tea pots too) and a fresh range of sandwiches & cakes.

They are looking to expand their downstairs area to host gigs and other events. Well worth checking out if you love your coffee and since they’re only about an hour of Birmingham (and right next to Shrewsbury train station) you’ve no excuse.

6/8 Kafe hopes to work closely with these guys and hopefully you’ll hear a lot more about them in the future.

Website: http://www.thecoffeehouseltd.co.uk/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShrewsburyCoffeehouse

Twitter:http://twitter.com/CoffeehouseLtd

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecoffeehouse