#specialty-coffee

#specialty-coffee

Beneath a ring of suspended greenery that catches light from front windows, lounge seating invites lingering, while a standing-height counter accommodates European-style quick sips. Further inside, leather banquette seating lines walls lit by modern vertical sconces. Floor tiling shifts from calm patterns to busier designs as it approaches the 30-foot bar fronted with ice-grey artificial quartz. Permanently parked on a cobblestone patio in the back is a green Jeep Willys, another nod to coffee's agricultural origins.

Federal's ever-inventive serves may have coffee purists spluttering into their pour-overs, but they've been a rip-roaring success, with queues forming at weekends. First opened in the Northern Quarter in 2014 by New Zealander Jon Perry and Portuguese-born Claudio Ribeiro, Federal is an affable, warm hug of a café, which has since opened outposts on Deansgate, Oxford Road and, as of 2025, Leeds.

Athens Coffee Holding & Roasting Company opened its first cafe alongside its roastery last month, courtesy of the team behind popular local shop Sips Espresso Café. The cozy new cafe occupies a fully remodeled 1,000-square-foot 1930s house that was part of a residential area for workers at a nearby denim factory. Guests can now sit in jute coffee-sack-upholstered chairs inside the historic home or on the front porch, while the commercial roastery and baking kitchen operate in adjoining rooms.

Overall, what drives improved coffee flavor is relatively unknown, with likely many complex factors being involved,

Specialty coffee and craft beer, two beverage birds of a feather, are flocking together in Kelowna, British Columbia, with Red Bird Roasting opening inside the Vice and Virtue Brewing building. The new roastery cafe is just down the block from Red Bird Brewing, which acquired Vice and Virtue earlier this year and hatched the coffee plans in an unused portion of the V&V brewery. Occupying approximately 1,000 square feet, the coffee shop and roastery opened last month.

"These materials strike a balance between modern and earthy, aligning with our values as a local roaster that prioritizes both quality and approachability," Shawn Clouse told Daily Coffee News.

A coffee cupping is not just a casual sip; it's an involved ritual that allows for a clear picture of the drink's taste, body, and nuances.