Coffee. Banbury

January 2021

Having living in Melbourne for several years, the coffee bar was set high and I became a bit of a coffee snob.  This definitely has it's disadvantages as it makes finding a coffee that I really enjoy tricky.  I had sort of given up on finding one in Banbury, satisfying my cravings on visits to Oxford, London or in the nearby village of Great Tew at Quince and Clover (you can read all about that in a separate post).  One day I was cycling to the swimming pool early in the morning when I passed a coffee cart.  It was still closed at that time but I stored it in my 'to be tried at some point' part of my brain (although I must admit, I didn't have particularly high expectations) and then promptly forgot about it.  A few weeks later, an article popped up on my phone about it.  Reading that Harriet had worked as a barista in London for 12 years got me excited - it seemed she could be the one to make me a great flat white!

From her small cart, The Barrow, at the end of the High Street, Harriet serves coffee from New Ground, an Oxford roastery providing training and employment to ex-offenders, with perfectly steamed milk for a superb flat white.  She also uses Bare Bones (Glaswegian bean to bar chocolate makers) 70% Madagascar chocolate for her hot chocolate which is absolutely sublime - wonderfully dark, sweetened ever so slightly with notes of maple syrup.   If you're after a nibble, Harriet has a regularly changing flavour of brownie - think Twix and Toffee Crisp, lovely banana bread, and sausage rolls from Hook Norton butchers - take one home and pop it in your oven for a few minutes for flaky, buttery, meaty goodness.  And you'll always get a cheery welcome from Harriet who is upbeat, no matter the weather.

Find The Barrow near the corner of High Street and George Street in Banbury town centre.