New Series: Finding the best coffee in Manchester

National World - LocalTV

Hello and welcome to the introductory video for our new coffee series, in which we’ll be trying out some of the best small chains and independent coffee shops in Manchester to get to the bottom of where you should be going for your caffeine fix.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World, my name's Theo Huston-Betts and today is an

00:04introductory episode to a new series that we'll be launching here on

00:08Manchester World. Basically there are a bunch of wonderful independent coffee

00:12shops right here in Manchester, all of them competing to be seen in what is a

00:16pretty crowded market. So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be going

00:20out to a few of them, essentially giving them a score out of ten. We won't be

00:23putting them in an order because we believe in supporting all independent

00:26coffee shops in this area. So basically I'm going to go into Idle Hands now,

00:30which is the one behind me. I'm going to go in, I'll get a coffee and I'll talk

00:34you through the exact concept. Can I do a flat white please if that's okay? And any

00:41of these cakes that you recommend in particular? The idea is, as we say, we want

00:45to be able to build up as many of the independent coffee shops in the city as

00:49we can because while places like Costa and Nero are great, there are tons of

00:53people really trying to kick-start their dreams by starting places like

00:57this and we want to be able to support them as best we can. We're going to be

01:00looking at two things from each coffee shop. First is a flat white. We feel like

01:04this is the right balance between being able to taste the actual coffee itself

01:07and being able to get a good idea of stuff like the artistry and the way that

01:11they use milk, I suppose, their creativity with milk. And then we're also

01:16going to be getting one of their signature cakes. So for example, here at

01:19Idle Hands we've got a flat white that I've managed to immediately spill half

01:23of down the table and one of their cakes. In this case, it's a black sesame

01:27banana cream pie which sounds fascinating and it was the last slice as

01:30well so clearly they're doing something right with it. Wow! If you ever have like

01:35the sesame snap bars, there's this really nice sort of texture aftertaste that

01:39comes with sesame and you do get that. It's not too sweet at all, it's creamy

01:44but the biscuit base really adds something. I would rate this really

01:47really highly. I think it's absolutely delightful. So I mean, again, we'll avoid

01:52giving a specific rating in this case but you might be looking at something

01:55sort of in the high eights, nines here for the overall offering. And so before I

01:59let you go and tuck into these for real, the final thing that we'll be talking

02:03about with each coffee shop is their own personal journey, their own personal

02:06story. So let's talk a little bit about Idle Hands. Now many people will know

02:10Idle Hands as a brunch spot because that is something that it does spectacularly

02:14well but it does have a real focus on coffee. It originally started in 2015

02:19with a pop-up shop on the Piccadilly station approach. It took them a good

02:22couple of months but eventually that they found themselves a permanent home

02:25in the northern quarter here on Dale Street. They've got a brilliant brunch

02:28menu, awesome coffee, cakes, wine and beer options, the really friendly atmosphere,

02:33homemade hash browns too which are crazy. It really is a wonderful space, a

02:37wonderful business built by people who really care about the stuff that they're

02:40putting out. So that's that. I mean the thing that we need help with really is

02:43coming up with a name so if you've got any suggestions please drop them in the

02:47comments below and yeah feel free to join us for the first episode where I

02:51learn a little bit more about coffee so hopefully I can be a bit more of a

02:54useful authority for you. So for Manchester World I'm Theo Heusenbeth

02:58we'll see you again soon.

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