Cup North 2015

I’m sure I still have a slight buzz on, having attended the 2nd annual “two day northern coffee party” Cup North at the weekend. I’d been invited along by the organisers to come and sample all sorts of caffeinated delicacies. I’m by no means a coffee expert so I was intrigued to see what kind of experience I’d take from it.

First of all, the venue is absolutely astonishing – I’d never come across the Victoria Warehouse before, which is located just next to Old Trafford. It’s an amazing space which you can hire out for all kinds of events.
It was an ideal setting for Cup North – such an unusual and large space, filled with some incredible artwork.

But anyway, I’m distracting myself – on with the coffee!
The first drop we tried was from Workshop Coffee, a London based company. We tried some of their Gachatha AA which we were told held a taste of tropical fruits, and to my astonishment it really did! What have I been missing out on all these years!
I’ll be honest, as someone who generally sticks to the freeze-dried instant stuff, I had no idea that there was so much variation in coffee. Attending something like Cup North completely opened my eyes to a whole new coffee bean-filled world.
We then ventured into trying a cold brew from Brew Lab Cold Brew who are based in Edinburgh. This again was a completely new concept to me. The coffee is never heated, it is brewed overnight, triple-filitered and creates an incredible smooth, sweet coffee – no sugar or sweeteners needed here.
We then moved on to try a swift espresso shot from Coopers – from a very impressive looking machine!
And then sampled an incredible blend from Casa Espresso  –  an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Gutiti which tasted of blueberries, a favourite of the day!
Having taking in a fair whack of coffee, we decided try a few samples of the delicious cakes on offer from Cakesmiths – they were very much in demand, but we managed to grab some flapjack and some bakewell tart – both were ridiculously good.

By this point we were getting a little jittery – so had one more cold brew coffee – this time from Yorkshire based Artemis, before calling it a day.
A special thanks to Cup North for inviting me along for the day, it was a brilliant afternoon and has really ignited my thirst for proper coffee. Get yourself down next time, even if you’re a coffee novice like me, it may kickstart something great!