Everyone knows Oxford for their famous university and quaint English town vibe. It is full of lots of tourists in the summer with its classic buildings and historical sights, not to mention an abundance of English language schools, which attract a lot of people from all over the World to study during the summer.
Early last month we went over to Oxford to attend our sons’ graduation and what a joyous occasion it was, especially as our son had said he didn’t want to go to university many years back. But as you know, whenever I visit any new city, I’m literally sniffing around for specialty coffee. When I brought our son over three years ago to help him settle in, I searched and found two, so I wasn’t too worried about finding good coffee this time.
Colombia Coffee Roasters
After having the graduation lunch, I was in need of good coffee, so off we went just across the road from the posh Ivy restaurant and into the covered market, where I found Colombia Coffee Roasters – hailed as the best coffee in Oxford, located at the Covered Market.
It looks like a typical British coffee shop with lots of buns, pastries and gadgets including coffee bags all over the place. As it was late afternoon on an unusually hot and rather sunny and warm day for Oxford, I knew I had to have black coffee, and so I opted for an Americano as it was almost time for them to close.
My family soon found me and ordered coffee, cappuccino and more.
The two female baristi were pleasant, helpful, patient and knowledgeable as my family quizzed them about the cakes and other sweet treats – this was after we had already had dessert – smile.
I bought a bag of their Oxford Espresso Blend to take back to Dubai, sat down and enjoyed my cuppa coffee.
Society café
The next day, just before we left, we were in the city centre again (every English city has one except London which is far too big) and I recall another coffee shop that I visited when I first brought our son here three years ago to start university and so off we went to Society Café on St Michaels Street.
A trendy spot that gives vibes of those in the know, know that this is where the best coffee is at. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, I stopped here for my specialty coffee fix and the coffee was good. This time, it seemed better perhaps because people, were more relaxed. As I hadn’t had milk-based espresso for a few days. I opted for a flat white, which was well prepared with good latte art too using their La Marzocco KB90.
They had an array of British specialty coffee roasters like Assembly, Origins, Kiss the Hippo and Obadiah.
After my delectable coffee, I chatted with the barista, who had just graduated from our son’s university too from the same business school. I bought a Kenyan bag of coffee from Assembly – and my mum kindly bought me the Guatemala natural from Obadiah (Scottish coffee roasters). We hung out for a while and then went off to catch the coach back to London.
Coffeesmiths
Another coffee shop worth noting is Coffeesmiths at 14-15 Golden Cross, which I visited in 2020 but I didn’t get the change to try their coffee this time on their beautiful La Marzocco KB90 (popular in Oxford I guess) but I recommend them too.
Last I checked they also used coffee from Origin.
