When is a Coffee House not a Coffee House
Hi,
No photos this time because I'm on a bit of a rant:
Hubby & I like our coffee. He's all Americano & I like Cappuccino. We like full-bodied strong but not bitter coffee. I make a pot of filtered coffee most mornings when I'm at home and just have it with a drop of milk. I've tried black, but it just doesn't work for me.
Always on the lookout for places that serve good coffee, we were on our way home from Kerry recently. We stopped at one hotel, where the receptionist didn't even look up from her computer screen and the bar was closed. I suggested we could get a cup and sit to read the paper in the foyer where the furniture looked really comfy, but Hubby was having none of it. He had previous experience of being served the coffee from a coffee jug and it was super weak in his opinion.
Retreating to our vehicle, we continued on our merry, or not so merry, way. Before long, I spied a simple sign, 'Coffee House'. That was all the encouragement we needed and we parked - ready and eager for a good cup of coffee. We were made feel very welcome. Hubby asked for an Americano and a Cappuccino! 'Sorry, we serve coffee only in the filter pots!' We compromised and asked for strong coffee for two. The ambience was lovely and time had been taken to colour co-ordinate the furnishings but a Coffee House it is not. There was a choice of home baking but as we weren't long after a good breakfast, we declined.
So my question is:-
Were our expectations too high?
When I saw the sign for a Coffee House, I was expecting, let's be honest, the smell of coffee beans, a choice of coffee blends, a choice of coffee options. The option of purchasing some coffee beans/ground coffee like you'd find in Maher's in Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork.
Again, maybe I was spoilt. At one time I worked in Marlboro St., Cork, for a stockbroker. As the absolute junior, one of my jobs was to get the takeaway cups of coffee for Miss White & Miss Egan in Maher's which was just across the road at the time. I had rarely drank freshly ground coffee until then, but Maher's set the standard for me. I have learned that ground coffee doesn't work well with my arthritis so while I'll have an occasional cup, it is not for me regularly.
You could smell the coffee on the street outside Maher's and it was populated by lots of gents in suits, it seemed to me. It took a while for me to get the confidence to start tasting the different coffee blends on offer but before long, I was drinking one blend in the morning and something completely different in the afternoon.
Maybe I'm a coffee snob, but calling a place a 'Coffee House' when it plainly isn't struck me as a bit of false advertising. Great place, but a lot of work needed to turn it into a true Coffee House. I'll probably call again during 2019 and see if there's been an improvement. Very disappointed.
Can anyone recommend a good place for coffee between Rosscarbery & Dingle (I'm planning to go to Dingle Food Festival & Blas na hÉireann); in Cork? Anywhere else in Ireland? What do you recommend?
Until next time
Avril
No photos this time because I'm on a bit of a rant:
Hubby & I like our coffee. He's all Americano & I like Cappuccino. We like full-bodied strong but not bitter coffee. I make a pot of filtered coffee most mornings when I'm at home and just have it with a drop of milk. I've tried black, but it just doesn't work for me.
Always on the lookout for places that serve good coffee, we were on our way home from Kerry recently. We stopped at one hotel, where the receptionist didn't even look up from her computer screen and the bar was closed. I suggested we could get a cup and sit to read the paper in the foyer where the furniture looked really comfy, but Hubby was having none of it. He had previous experience of being served the coffee from a coffee jug and it was super weak in his opinion.
Retreating to our vehicle, we continued on our merry, or not so merry, way. Before long, I spied a simple sign, 'Coffee House'. That was all the encouragement we needed and we parked - ready and eager for a good cup of coffee. We were made feel very welcome. Hubby asked for an Americano and a Cappuccino! 'Sorry, we serve coffee only in the filter pots!' We compromised and asked for strong coffee for two. The ambience was lovely and time had been taken to colour co-ordinate the furnishings but a Coffee House it is not. There was a choice of home baking but as we weren't long after a good breakfast, we declined.
So my question is:-
Were our expectations too high?
When I saw the sign for a Coffee House, I was expecting, let's be honest, the smell of coffee beans, a choice of coffee blends, a choice of coffee options. The option of purchasing some coffee beans/ground coffee like you'd find in Maher's in Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork.
Again, maybe I was spoilt. At one time I worked in Marlboro St., Cork, for a stockbroker. As the absolute junior, one of my jobs was to get the takeaway cups of coffee for Miss White & Miss Egan in Maher's which was just across the road at the time. I had rarely drank freshly ground coffee until then, but Maher's set the standard for me. I have learned that ground coffee doesn't work well with my arthritis so while I'll have an occasional cup, it is not for me regularly.
You could smell the coffee on the street outside Maher's and it was populated by lots of gents in suits, it seemed to me. It took a while for me to get the confidence to start tasting the different coffee blends on offer but before long, I was drinking one blend in the morning and something completely different in the afternoon.
Maybe I'm a coffee snob, but calling a place a 'Coffee House' when it plainly isn't struck me as a bit of false advertising. Great place, but a lot of work needed to turn it into a true Coffee House. I'll probably call again during 2019 and see if there's been an improvement. Very disappointed.
Can anyone recommend a good place for coffee between Rosscarbery & Dingle (I'm planning to go to Dingle Food Festival & Blas na hÉireann); in Cork? Anywhere else in Ireland? What do you recommend?
Until next time
Avril
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