Nicest take away coffee in the Marble City?

fabbydabby

I have been through the mill in this town coffe-wise. I am utterly dependant on the stuff and ever since I gave up the smokes, coffee has been a major part of my life.

I used to be a staunch advocate of Tim Horton's cafinnated delights as purveyed by Eurospa in Newpark and Mr Angry on the Callan road. They do a half decent brew let me tell you, and are convienent for parking to boot.

I have also, upon whim and fancy, sampled the Kenyan and Columbian blends of Topaz service stations and I must say, it is utter utter 5hite. Their slogan is "That's Better". They should change it to "That's Bitter". Bitter as a divorcee and often burnt beyond recognition, Topaz know like none other, how to make coffee taste like raw sewage. they know how to charge for it too, might I add, the capitalist swine.

I have also tried that litle kiosk there beside the back entrance to Kytlers beer garden, and upon demanding 12 ounces of their finest brew, was rewarded with what can only be described as tepid chlorinated brown milky water that tasted like the by product of a beverly hills coffee enema. Enjoy it I did not.

Naturally these experiences rendered me more than a little concerned as I stood in the city centre this morning with a pile of sweaty change in my increasingly shaking hand. The withdrawel was kicking in and Mr Angry's was a mile away. AND I had no car. Where to go?

I happened upon Mugshot cafe on James's street (Up by "Quinnsworth, as my dad would say"), which is one of those anonnying franchises that mushroom and feed in places of noveau wealth. You know the type? They have 'hip' names for the bathrooms and serve overpriced food that ends in nini.

I braved entry to the place, crossed the owner's palm with silver and scored myself 12 hot ounces of ebony heaven. MAN was that coffee good. Strong without being bitter and laden down with flavour, I was thouroughly satisfied as I guzzled down every last drop. Without a doubt, the nicest coffee I have had in kilkenny. Period.

The only disconcerting thing about the experience I had is that the proprietor kept callin me 'my man' in that kind of cringe inducing trendy uncle at your 21st sort of way. But i don't care. It was worth it for the experience.

So yeah,I would recommend Mugshot for those seeking a tasty take away. But I have no intention of driving into james's street for a cuppa every single time though. Where else around can I pick up coffee of this standard?

Any other dependants care to enlighten me?

Ollchailin

Ok now I must start off by saying that I can't STAND coffee so sorry if I get this wrong, but I'm going out someone and related to a few others who totally live off on the stuff and in KK they like the coffee in The Ground Floor, the Gourmet Store, Marble City Tea Rooms and that Mocha Bagel place on William St.

Stephen

Mr. Angry's? Please elaborate

brettmirl

Zuni Express used to do great coffee. It's been replaced since by Mocha (or something), but not tried the coffee there yet.

Hortons Coffee in the Eurospar used to be good, but lately, it's not been great there. It tastes a bit chemically or something.

Topaz coffee is very hit and miss. Usually on the miss side unfortunately.

The Gourmet Store on High Street does good coffee, but I've not had one there in a while.

Alzar

Agree on Mugshot, cracking brew in there.
The coffee shop in the Loughboy SC is quite nice too. I like Kafe Katz beside the Ormonde & one or two of the coffee houses in McDonagh ain't too bad either.

I hate when they burn the bejaysus outta coffee though!

Al.

fabbydabby

Stephen wrote: »

Mr. Angry's? Please elaborate

His real name is Mr Cross.

Tea rooms coffee is eye poppingly strong and more often than not luke warm. Topaz coffee is never hit and miss. It is consistently feculent in disposition. If someone got 2girls1cup and turned it into a beverage, the result would be their coffee.

I must try the gourmet store, they do a bitchin' sandwitch. Though if I'm there I might as well pop up to mugshot.

Mick, I would say the problem with Hortons in Eurospar is the fetid stench from the council mains water.

spoonbadger

Would like to put a vote in for gloria jeans in macdonagh. Best coffee i've had as of yet in KK (although i do want to try out mugshot now ).

Bear in mind though that it also depends on whose making it in there. One particular latin-looking hippy fella is an absolute god!!. Gave me the greatest cup of joy i've ever experienced....

...Went in a few days later and was served by one of the wimmins on the pay roll and was most unimpressed. I could see her rushing it, and paying no attention when she made up the shot of espresso and steamed the milk. You could taste it too,

itsonlyme

I always get the cuppa coffee in Spar and Esso in Irishtown. it is the cheapest in town. Well the petrol stations anyway..1.60 for a large cup. I was talking to the manager in there last week and he said that they will be changing the cooffe from Bewlys to Insomina Coffee in the next two weeks.

femur61

Ground Floor on High St has lovely coffee at a great price as well. While MugShot has great coffee but for the size of it, it is very expensive. In The Tea Rooms I just some hot water to dilute it when it is too strong.

brettmirl

Got a take-away coffee from Esquires on High St yesterday. Very nice indeed. Could have been a few degrees hotter, but tasted great.

fabbydabby

Tried the Topaz limited edition Guatemalan coffee yesterday. Rank is not the word.

(feculent is the word). Seriously, who the hell drinks this stuff? Kenyan, Colombian... it all tastes the same (like it was stored in a hot rectum).

Inncidentally I thought the coffee in mugshot was alright value, i have to say. I see a reference to the spar in irishtown above. They used to sell bewleys coffe and it was decent enough by service station standards. Insomnia coffee is quite nice, from what i remember, so I'll have to pay them a visit again.

Where's esquires?

brettmirl

fabbydabby wrote: »

Where's esquires?

On High St beside Uncle Sams.

kilkennymusic

Marble City Tea Rooms all the way. Try their white mocha with an extra shot (that should make it a triple shot), by far the nicest takeaway coffee going.

I'll avoid the Tim Hortons stuff in Spar on the callan road, same with the coffee machine in Texaco (Blackquarry). I saw the Insomnia banners are gone up in Spar down in Irishtown, may give it a shot next time I'm there.

brettmirl

Didn't realise the Tea Rooms did take away!

Did anyone try that place near the OK House. No idea what the name of it is, but when I passed there over the weekend they had a sign up saying all tea was €1 and all coffees were €1.50.

fabbydabby

Such value is certainly decent enough,but only worthwhile for a tasty beverage. I personally think it is worthwhile paying the extra few shillings and getting a nice cup. I don't know where your talking about. Is it that little kiosk place opposite james's street that regularly changes hands?

Spirishtown (spar in irishtown) may very well be my new watering hole. I'll try it in the next day or two and report back, although I can't taste much these days because I am afflicted with a bad cold whcih renders me unable to taste anything at all. Maybe I should pop back to Topaz in the interim?

I find the tea rooms coffee rather stong and also a little on the cold side, though i have never taken away from there and usually when I drink there is outside to facilitate my cigarette smoking other half. White mocha is a bit airy-fairy for my sophicticated pallete, though having said that I have never sampled it. i don't like white/ milky coffee though. Urgh.

Perhaps a change is in order?

fabbydabby

Was passing Spirishton on my way to 'work' (word used in its broadest possible sense) this morning, and was lured in by the prospect of a hot cup of insomnia.

but alas, it was not meant to be, as their coffee is still of the Bewleys variety. So I had a cup of that, and am polishing it off as I type (will not LITERALLY as I type, for that would require unbelieveable multitasking skillz, but it is fair to say that my typing is punctuated with regular sips of the black).

I must say, it isn't bad at all for service station fare. It's certainly going down on my list.

Sparks

spoonbadger wrote: »

Would like to put a vote in for gloria jeans in macdonagh. Best coffee i've had as of yet in KK (although i do want to try out mugshot now ).

Bear in mind though that it also depends on whose making it in there. One particular latin-looking hippy fella is an absolute god!!. Gave me the greatest cup of joy i've ever experienced....

+1 to that and the Cork lad (I'd say employee, but face it, if he's from Cork, 'lad' or 'fella' is the better word ) knows his stuff as well.

Costa (next door to GJs) is not bad, but really specialises in giant buckets of flavoured latte/cappachino - if that's what you want (and face it, sometimes even the most ardent purist wants some ), they're the place to go, but if you want something other than a giant mug of vianilla latte, GJs is the place to be going. And they'll grind beans for you there for your home brew.

Mocha's not too bad but GJs is better.

Past those, pretty much everywhere is bad to mediocre/average I'm afraid. But GJs is a nice shining beacon of coffee happiness, so who cares? Now, if they'd only extend their opening hours. It's not a city until you can get a decent cup of coffee at 2am dammit!

Walls

Sparks is pretty much working on laminating his list of coffee houses....

Sparks

Nonsense. If I laminated it, they'd get complacent...

Walls

Sparks wrote: »

Nonsense. If I laminated it, they'd get complacent...

:rolleyes:

fabbydabby

Heh.

OK so I have an update. I have since sampled some more of the coffees on offer in and around the town.

Firstly I would like to commend "Fresh" (I think it's called?) as they have 12oz coffee for only one-fiddy. And it's NICE. And caramel squares. And they are nice too. They are on high street opposite the arcade and are woth checking out. Take-away only though.

Mocha on rose-inn street: AVOID. The coffee they supplied the other day was manky, it tasted like turnips. And they seem to think that it is reasonable in these days of welfare and sacrifice to charge €3 for a (slightly stale) chocolate muffin. €3! Well I have news for you, Mocha. No it bloody well isn't reasonable and if you are wondering why nobody is darkening the door of your crappy rip-off store you should visitsome of the other coffee places around. But not yer wan beside Kytlers in the courtyard, who charges €3 for a bloody bit of a flapjack. Eddie Hobbs would turn in his grave if he wasn't dead. Which he isn't. So why would he be in a grave?

Perhaps these capitalist purveyors of liquid ebony are in league to opress the little guy. Who knows? Anyway I'll kepp yiz posted (about the coffee not Eddie Hobbs)...

Walls

I could see Eddie Hobbs in a grave when he isn't dead. I mean, come on, it is Eddie Hobbs.

ECOLOGICAL

the best quailty sit in coffee is in Billy Byrnes ,John St
best quality bean mixture

fabbydabby

Billy Byrne's the pub?! Really?

Forgive my scepticism, it is just difficult to imagine a discerning aficianado of the black bean heading to Billy Byrnes pub for their daily fix.

And I have had the coffee in there before, with their delicious breakfast after a night on the tiles. But after a night on the tiles I might as well be drinking warmed-up bin juice for all I can taste, so maybe the delicate nuances and subtle flavours of Messrs Byrne's daily grind were lost on me.

Having said that, I am willing to give it another go. I'll be there for The Orb on Sunday, so I'll try it then and report back.

brettmirl

brettmirl wrote: »

Got a take-away coffee from Esquires on High St yesterday. Very nice indeed. Could have been a few degrees hotter, but tasted great.

I'm taking back what I said about the coffee in Esquires being nice.
Got one on Sunday and it was pure muck. They also got my sandwich order wrong. Plus, they use that reformed muck that's supposed to be chicken too.

fabbydabby

Esquire's is hit-and-miss alright, especially food-wise but I find their coffee tends to be really nice. Or at least it was the time I got it. The chocolate biscuit cake was stink though, and came with that syrupy stuff you get on ice cream cones(wtf?) and wafers (*wtf? wtf?) and seemed to be made from cooking chocolate. Rank.

The insomnia coffee in Spirishtown is mediocre at best, it's quite strong too. And insomnia coffee houses are total and utter shít.

Fresh is the winner for me, or at least it is until I find a replacement.

Nicest coffee and best value for breakfast in this town.

End of thread!

Ollchailin

Davidian_ie wrote: »

Nicest coffee and best value for breakfast in this town.

End of thread!

Oooh that place is lovely- I can't comment on the coffee because I think all coffee is disgusting (sorry!! I'm a tea only type of gal...) but if the rest of the fare on offer in Foodworks is anything to go by, I'm sure their coffee is worth a try!

brettmirl

Where's Foodworks?

fabbydabby

Foodworks is on the lane that links the Hebron Road Roundabout with John's Green. I think it's called Gas House Lane.

People have been raving about Foodworks but I fail to see it. The food is certainly tasty enough, but not AMAZING, and the menu hadn't changed an iota the last few times I was in there (though in fairness I havent been in in a couple of months now so maybe they got round to it since.

Their chips are listed on the menu as "hand cut fries" or something similar.

Presumably when they say "hand cut fries" they really mean "fries that were hand cut by machines in a mass-processing plant before being packaged, frozen, delivered, then cooked and over salted prior to serving."

I despise people loading their menus with faux high-end cheffing wanko-terminology such as jus and hand cut fries, especially when they turn around and serve you fuking frozen chips and gravy.

It is wankology of the highest order. I felt like telling the servant that I paid for hand cut fries, and that is what I expected to receive. But being Irish, I bitched at my companion instead and went home.

fabbydabby

By the way you can get a savage breakfast in Cafe1 in Irishtown for under 7 Europes and the coffee is quite nice too.

fabbydabby

Sampled the grind in that shop on the Dublin Road on the left about 100M after the roundabout, opposite the maxol garage.

They actually have 2 coffee machines in there. One is nice enough, grinds its own beans etc etc, but the Dowe Egberts one seems to have hot coffee on draught all day long and believe you me, the coffee from that machine tastes like ass. Really rank now, some of the worst coffee I have ever had. Consistently, not just once-off. A bit like Maxwell Housing Estate that's been burnt and boiled until all the flavour has gone.

I used to frequent this establishment, owing to its (relatively) nice coffee and proximity to my workplace, but it is so hit and miss these days with the 2 coffee machines - any time I go in the nice one is being serviced or filled or something - that I just bite the bullet and head up to Eurospar and drink of Tim Horton like a bucket.

seankk

I know I'm coming to this late and that I am biased as I have a very strong connection with Mugshot café but just wanted to let you know that Mugshot is definitely not part of a chain. Most people comment on the friendly service and the compliments here about the quality of the coffee are common. Aoghán behind the counter is a very friendly open guy but all commments are logged and taken note of. There's a great new snug at the back now for up to ten people to meet and have a craic and Mugshot has had free wifi for some time. Any further comments here are very welcome agus tá fáilte roimh dhaoine i Mugshot aon uair.

Lord ButterSlip

fabbydabby wrote: »

By the way you can get a savage breakfast in Cafe1 in Irishtown for under 7 Europes and the coffee is quite nice too.

Where is Cafe1?

roller66

i see mugshot has also added free internet access -nice touch

femur61

Lord ButterSlip wrote: »

Where is Cafe1?

Cafe one is across from FAS offices.

Had coffee in newly refurbished Design Centre downstairs today, I think it can be officially called a 'Tourist Trap' at e3.05 for a coffee. I thought the Vat went down on these items.Was in Dublin during the week and a lot of Centra shops now selling coffee for 1 euro.Mind boggles.

Captain Havoc

Davidian_ie wrote: »

Had coffee in newly refurbished Design Centre downstairs today, I think it can be officially called a 'Tourist Trap' at e3.05 for a coffee. I thought the Vat went down on these items.Was in Dublin during the week and a lot of Centra shops now selling coffee for 1 euro.Mind boggles.

In fairness you're not comparing like for like, it would cost a centra a lot less than a restaurant to serve coffee.

highgiant1985

since this thread has been bumped I may as well join in rather than start a new one.

I've heard that Cafe one is after closing unfortantly. Not sure if any thing is opening up in its place.

kenn0

Hey all

in Town hit Wongs for a take away coffee and plenty of other delights from around the world. 1.50 I think for an americano

Out for a drive/cycle hit Freshco large coffee from the machine on the left. Bargain at 1.80 for a Large Lavazza

fabbydabby

in Town hit Wongs for a take away coffee and plenty of other delights from around the world. 1.50 I think for an americano

I never thought of going there. I must try that.

Freshco large coffee from the machine on the left.

The Freshco machine on the left exudes delightful frothy caffeinated nectar of the gods. The one on the right spews forth foul brown stinking slurry directly from the crotch of Lucifer himself.

Newcomers to Freshco find themselves faced with an ecclesiastical decision every time they go there for a coffee. Left or right... good or bad. It's like that allegory about the fork in the road.

Anyone been into the new Mug Shot coffee shop at Ayrfield Medical Park?

femur61

Yeah same overpriced coffee as other place. I have stopped going to mugshot, a cup of coffee is €2.75, not even a mug. Too overpriced.

foxcoverteddy

Is it good we rip off tourists? Surely someone should say "that's too much"
Where is the tourist board?
No one mentions Dawes in the High St, a bit touristy but I alway's enjoy the coffee, Latte actually.
There seems to be two definitions of coffee, absolute heaven or down right crap.
Now go to a garden centre and enjoy a coffee amongst the flowers and tree's, last time I did the woman behind the counter tried to tell me the cold coffee was the way it should be taken, never been back since.
I like tea.:D:D:D

Threadhead

Dores is an absolute overpriced garbage hole. All his tack looks good for tourists, it's the only merit of the place.

Mugshot is nice but waaay too steep.

Wongs is also great for lunch, coffees' etc. No frills, just the basics and at a great price.

Mocha does a fine coffee but again, tis a bit steep.

Autosport

Tea Rooms do a gorgeous Hot chocolate

Mugatuu

+1 on the Tea Rooms! Love the coffee in there! Also really like Mocha! Bit more expensive but worth it! :cool:

fabbydabby

I find the tea rooms coffee a bit bitter tasting myself.

cabrwab

Were exactly are the tea rooms?

I love the coffee from the little tea and coffee shop around the corner from xtra-vision, think the street is called st.Kierans st, was closed a couple of saturdays ago i hope its not gone.

fabbydabby

Tea Rooms is a misnomer, there's only one room and it's opposite Kyteler's on Kieran St.

They also serve a selection of hot and cold beverages other than tea.

Sparks

They have an upstairs section as well, hence the "rooms" bit, or so I thought...