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Super pleasant surprise at Costa in Wantage – review
I posted previously that our local Costa is not my favorite place simply because it is not clean (at least not up to my standards of cleanness – and here I mainly refer to the state of tables). It’s interesting to see though that my personal relationship with this brand and place changed recently due to a pretty good product. I was really pleasantly surprised to try their new coffee drink – Cortado:
Welcome Cortado, the brilliant new drink that’s set to change the way you enjoy coffee. Made with one shot of pure Mocha Italia espresso and a smooth layer of milk; it’s the short way to enjoy a long lasting coffee lift.
See I am not much of a cappuccino fan. I like my coffee black and strong. I only ask for milk in my coffee when I feel that my stomach simply cannot take more black coffee. It’s sad and I wish more coffee places in the UK had the habit of providing clear water next to black coffee. I remember that in Budapest with on-going supply of crystal clean water next to my short black cuppa I would never have problems of this kind. Thus I am really happy that Costa’s Cortado has a perfect ratio of milk to coffee. It is delicious and I do not remember when was the last time I used the term for any coffee drink containing milk;)
Saying that I need to check with the local branch one fact – on the site they state that it contains one shot of espresso, but I clearly remember being told there were two shots in my drink….
In any case I really enjoyed my Cortado at Costa in Wantage and I think I might just go back to have another one and take another picture of pretty latte art;)
My Rating:
- aroma: 8/10
- acidity: 7/10
- body: 9/10
- flavour/aftertaste 8/10
- overall rating: 5 stars
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What would your first blog post be?
I should probably introduce myself and explain why I am here.
My name is Sylwia Presley and I am…well, let’s see…a geek, a social media consultant, a mother, an occasional writer and poet, a photographer, a citizen journalist and activist blogger…event organiser and probably many more. I write about it all over at SylwiaPresley.com, but here I would like to focus on my major passion and one of my dreams: coffee.
I do not know much about coffee, you see. I have to be honest. I am very ignorant when it comes to many things, including some of the things I am passionate about. Thus I thought it would be nice to dedicate more time to studies of one of my passions. There is also a less rational reason behind the origins of this blog – a part of me fell in love with Mexico and still looks for a tangible reason to go back there for longer than a month. Over the last few years my dream has come to a new form: I figured that maybe – only maybe – I could actually one day have a tiny fair trade coffee plantation in Mexico. It probably sounds crazy though the more I discuss the matter with my friends, the more serious the prospect becomes. So why not try to navigate at least a bit of my life towards one of my dreams?
You see, I believe that if we invest a little bit of interest and open up to new narratives, we might just experience few little miracles. At least I have when it comes to blogging, so I decided to start a new story, a new journey if you like – towards one of my dreams and towards learning more about this bevarage we consume on a daily basis. I can only hope that my investigation will be interesting enough for some of you to join in. Let’s begin!
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Magic of charity shops
Inspired by @coffenvanilla’s link to a moss terrarium gallery I used my lunch today for tour around the local charity shops. I wanted to find a nice flat glass bowl for a plant I have ready but I could not buy moon sand so I did not create a mini zen garden…yet;) I did however come across a sweet set of two Bulgarian folk cups – perfect for my newly received coffee press! I paid £3.50 for the set of two and a tiny milk jug. Love them!
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When someone makes you a cup of coffee – ActionAid UK Blogger Tea Party
I start to realise that I will post on this blog not more than few times a week because there is so much I need to DO to be able to share my experiences with you – I simply do not have time to sit down. I am taking notes on paper, on my phone, on photos…
Like this one above. It was taken on Thursday in a blogger event organised by ActionAid UK in London. I was asked to join (mainly mummy) bloggers and present my top blogging tips, which even though felt a bit awkward went pretty well. We had a great discussion about the notion of paid or unpaid blog reviews, trusted voice and the need to tell stories. I am really happy to see that other bloggers nodded when I asked if their blogging changes their lives – if anything, My Little Coffee Blog is changing me immensely!
It was really good to learn about the work with child sponsorship, women issues and community development from people who were there, on the ground. This charity is doing great work not only on the ground but also in building the relationships between donors and kids. I could not stop but wonder if one day I could actually travel to few locations of their work and blog about the work their doing. I would love to dig into the topic of coffee production and fair trade. Actually, I think that the seed of going to at least one ActionAid UK location is already planted in my head…
I was privileged to meet many wonderful bloggers who proved to be really creative when it comes to suggestions on how social media can help the ActionAid UK’s cause. So good to sit in one room with similarly minded people!
It was good to see so many ActionAid UK employees actually joining us at the Tea Party. I left with a memory of something extremely simple, but really humane and kind – one of the ActionAid UK girls made me a coffee. As opposed to the tea placed on the table one had to ask for a cup of coffee to be made for them – which also meant that each cup was fresh;) It’s the fact that someone bothered to do it for me…the idea of preparing a drink for someone else…it is something I would like to investigate more. Coffee is so embedded in our every day lives that I am sure that we have many small stories of really emotional moments with coffee. If you do – let me know! I would love to hear them!
