Coffee Club: Inverness Coffee Roasting Co.

Origin: Inverness Coffee Roasting Company
Coffee: Sumatra Mandheling, Indonesia
Price (per 250g): £8.70  (incl. delivery)

This one was one of my picks, faced with an enormous list of coffee roasters in the UK and being unsure what to plump for, I plumped for the thrill of obscurity over reviews, and picked the United Kingdom's most northerly roaster.

What turned up was dark.  Deep, dark and punchy.  Almost too much so.  David and I were OK with it.  Not the best, but not the worst either.  I slightly felt that it had too much in common with the likes of instant coffee, or the cheap stuff you get out of paper filters in American diners.  It just felt over cooked.

But the others hated it.  Jono described it thusly (and, for all the Cyber Nats out there desperate to take me to town for these comments, they are his precise words and I take no responsibility for that): "This coffee is Alex Salmond – Scottish, simplistic, aggressive and leaves a bitter aftertaste. It may, however, suit its target market... This coffee's journey from Scotland to England suggests we are not Better Together."

Emily simply described it as "soil" and refused to be drawn any further, other than to give it a measly 3 out of 10.

Score: 4/10

PS: One other small gripe: I ordered cafetiere ground, and got whole beans.  Bit of a pain, that.  Not cool.

Ketchup or Brown Sauce? it's a racial thing.

I remember during my time up in Scotland, in Edinburgh where I lived for five years, there was one question you had to take extreme care answering.  Late at night, in a chippy, ordering your post-pints munch, the server would put the question to you: "salt and sauce, pal?"

Any slight sign of hesitation, and you were sunk.  It was as simple as this: there's only one acceptable chip condiment in the 'burgh - Chippy Sauce, a sort of watered down vinegar sauce.  And, you know what, it wasn't too bad.

I understand that it's only an Edinburgh thing.  Other places are more broadminded about their condiment selections.

Leading some people to interpret a refusal to provide good old Tommy K as racial discrimination.

Literally.

No, really.  This man thinks it's a racial issue.  OMG.

Here's the full news story, at the Edinburgh Evening News.