We take our coffee seriously and with a dash of milk.
We get up, we get ready and we all find ways to get through the day. We find happiness in chaos and balance within variables. Some find solace in privacy and silence and some escape through the company of others. Enter coffee shops, the place where both can retreat and the one constant is good coffee. In the modern world we guzzle oil and coffee in similar amounts and depending on where you go, those two might end up akin to one another.
Part of our daily grind is checking out the hottest coffee spots in Liverpool and would you believe it, we’ve had 4 open right under our nose in the last couple of months as well as Liverpool’s first speciality coffee roasters.
We decided to catch up with them so they can introduce themselves to you.
MUSTER CUSTOM HOUSE
The Oxford Dictionary will tell you that ‘muster’ is a verb which can be defined as “collecting or assembling”, which is the inspiration for Liverpool’s newest coffee shop. Nestled nicely into Argyle Street is ‘Muster Custom House’, a lovely new coffee shop ran by a couple with a warm atmosphere and good cup of coffee. Look out for the old school jukebox in the corner equipped with golden oldies.
We caught up with Steven, one of the guys behind it:
“Muster is a joint venture between myself and my partner. I didn’t want Joanne’s talent to go unnoticed and wasted working for a generic brand. The decision to open Muster came 2 years ago, on the proviso that things were done ‘proper’. I’m a great believer in function over form, and this has been the main focus whilst building the shop.”
Address: Argyle Street, L1 5BL
MY FLAT WHITE
How do you like your eggs in the morning? Well if the answer was “dippy”, you’ve come to the right place. Situated on Fenwick Street, My Flat White offers hard workers a respite from the humdrum of the high street and chaotic offices. It’s a quaint and modest space covered in a rich mahogany and despite being surrounded by commercial businesses, there has been no osmosis as this coffee shop.
Here’s what they had to say:
“It’s got a little family feel in here and we hope people get onto that. There’s nothing pretentious about it. There’s no do’s or don’ts.”
Picture by Faye Louise Graham
Address: 44 Fenwick Street, L2 7NB
ROAST COFFEE
Roast is a unique, independent coffeehouse that serves up a variety of brews and delicious breakfasts and brunches in the great tradition of NYC with a twist of this great city of ours thrown in for good measure. Think of it as Merseyside meets Manhattan on Crosby Road.
We caught up with the lovely owners behind it:
“Roast celebrates this love of food and drink by placing it in a unique space that celebrates simplicity and community, all wrapped up in the spirt of rock n roll. We will play host to bearded, skinny jeaned hipsters mingling with young’uns and their parents who’ve found a grown up place for families; and everyone in-between, whilst encouraging coming together through resurrected Baskethouse nights or the Roast Book Club.”
Address: 33 Crosby Road North, L22 0LF
ROOT COFFEE
Root Coffee are the new kids on the block in the ever-growing and effervescent Liverpool independent scene. Only one month old, each day they rise and grind to create a progressive coffee shop with an emphasis on developing the general public’s understanding and appreciation for speciality coffee.
We caught up with the gang behind it:
“While we hope discerning coffee drinkers will enjoy what we do, our primary aim is to further the public’s appreciation for speciality coffee, so we’re hoping to attract the widest possible spectrum of customers. Do pop in for a brew soon.”
Address: 52 Hanover St, L1 4AF
NEIGHBOURHOOD COFFEE
If you haven’t heard of Neighbourhood Coffee yet we don’t know where you’e bean. Not to be confused with the amazing Woolton coffee shop, Chris and Ed are Liverpool’s first speciality coffee roasters and are on a mission to get people as excited about coffee as they are. You will now find their coffee in Host, Pen Factory, Delifonseca, Epicured, Camp & Furnace, Coffee & Fandisha, The Egg, Baltic Social, just to name a few.
Here’s what the chaps behind it had to say:
“Since we were involved in the chain that moves coffee from a fruit growing on a tree, to a roasted bean that’s ground and drunk, we were in a position to link the producers and consumers – to build a little network or neighbourhood of people around amazing coffee. Part of the mission is to do some tangible good at the places we buy coffee – we helped fund the construction of a new children’s nursery on a coffee estate called Mondul in Northern Tanzania and hope to do a lot more in the future.”
Photo by Ian MacMichael