Cafes / Reviews
Tincan Coffee Co. – cafe review
“A swan please, with four tears,” comes the demand, politely dispatched from the man who has just taken my order for a coffee, to the barista who stands ready and waiting to load the next espresso.
By the time I’ve chosen my bacon and egg sandwich with paprika mayonnaise, slice of quiche and pomegranate salad, the flat white is ready in front of me, a neat swan shape facing up in the foam with its four elongated tears rippling around the cup.
Tincan Coffee Co. is the latest cafe in Bristol to step up the game in terms of the quality and craftsmanship that goes into an everyday brew.
With all their coffee roasted by Clifton Coffee and a changing selections of seasonal blends as their house mug, it is bringing serious coffee drinking to North Street where they’ve opened their first bricks and mortar establishment.
Having formed in 2011 as a mobile coffee van in a converted classic 69 Citroen HY truck, the company took a big, grown-up step into their now-permanent site at the beginning April.
The paint had barely dried when we visited on a recent Thursday and a few additions were still outstanding – a mini shop to take away your own ground beans and festival-style lights to cover the terrace which juts out onto North Street.
The cafe has chosen a winning spot just over the road from the original Lounge, a trailblazer of the North Street eating and drinking scene which seems to be unable to stop growing from strength to strength.
Seats along a bench in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the road makes for perfect people watching while scoffing your lunch or basking in the house or guest coffee brew.
Out on the street a mother passes chasing her child who is escaping her grasp on a tricycle, a workman walks past on his phone and an elderly man stops in his tracks to cock his head and slowly take in the Tincan sign above the doorway.
My flat white (£2.40) is predictably well-made and the food is fresh and simple. The paprika twist on the mayonnaise inside the sandwich (£4.25) gives off a whiff before the first bite is taken and the bread is soft on the inside – albeit a little hard on the outside, perhaps from sitting on the counter a bit long.
The feta with red onions and roasted red pepper quiche (£3.50) comes in a pastry which flakes away nicely with a fork and the salad (£1.50) is simple with pomegranate pips bursting with sweetness and cold roasted cauliflower florets to counter.
Behind the window seats, the cafe has careful nods to the Tincan tradition, with corrugated iron sheets as a reference to the original truck, old van lamps hanging from the ceiling as lighting and Citroen chevrons built into the wooden walls of the snug area around the back.
The owners might have ditched their wheels (or scaled down their mobile business, more precisely), but their old ethos is alive and well in their permanent home, the latest welcome offering to slot into the North Street food and drink scene.
Tincan Coffee Co., 234 North St, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1JD
0117 963 3979
is needed now More than ever
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