Cafes / Reviews
Small Street Espresso
Small Street Espresso may be one of Bristol’s smallest cafes, but it now serves some of the best coffee in the city. Opened by a coffee connoisseur who has spent the last few years working in cafes and roasters in Australia and New Zealand, there is a seriously good selection of coffee here.
Located opposite the Crown Court, a fire alarm yesterday morning meant an early taste of the cafe for judges, barristers and defendants, all sitting next to each other.
Not unlike a real ale pub with a revolving selection of beers on tap, Small Street Espresso will always have three different espresso beans, as well as two single origin beans for filter.
Drinks are served in baby blue cups and saucers, similar to those seen in Colonna & Small’s in Bath and Six Eight Kafe in Birmingham, two other cafes that also take coffee very seriously and serve it exceptionally well.
Alongside the coffee, there is also a range of loose leaf teas from the Bedminster-based Canton Tea Company and cakes from The Exploding Bakery of Exeter, which yesterday when I visited included cheese cake and polenta cake.
Small Street Espresso is completely unrecognisable from the days when Brunch provided a production line of sandwiches. There is an exposed brick wall on the right as you walk in, with wooden benches that will soon be complemented by a few stools.
The bar is behind black tiles, with a La Marzocco espresso machine, handmade in Florence, painted the same colour blue as the cups and saucers, while oversize light bulbs hang on a pulley system.
Open from 7.30am Monday to Friday and from 9.30am on Saturdays, Small Street Espresso is a superb addition to Bristol, finally enabling us to catch up with the coffee culture elsewhere in the UK and across the rest of the world.
It should definitely attract more customers than just those dressed in wigs.
Small Street Espresso, 23 Small Street, Bristol, BS1 1DW.
Website: www.smallstreetespresso.co.uk
Twitter: @smallstespresso
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