Type and hit ENTER

Commonly used tags...

Brighton Festival Brighton Fringe Brighton Pride British Sea Power Cinecity Lewes Psychedelic Festival Locally Sourced Lost & Found Love Supreme Festival Mutations Festival Nick Cave Poets Vs MCs Politics Rag'n'Bone Man Record Store Day Save Our Venues Six Of The Best Source Virgins Streets Of Brighton Street Source Tattoos The Great Escape Tru Thoughts Unsung Heroes
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Advertise
Food

Best Independent Brighton Coffee Shops

Feb 12, 2013
-
Posted by SOURCE Writers

When there are so many great independent cafés in Brighton why would anyone bother with Starbucks – a company that resolutely refuses to support their own austerity-suffering customers by paying their fair share of tax? We can only assume that it’s option paralysis – people just don’t know where to start. So we asked Alex Evans, author of The Independent Coffee Book, a man who really knows his beans. Here are six recommendations from him, to see you straight. Just don’t ask for a Venti.

Coffee@33
Trafalgar St
Inspired by several of London’s premier cafés, with its pared back design and consistently great offerings, 33 was one of the very first cafés in Brighton to take on the mantle of speciality coffee purveyors and have shouldered that responsibility admirably ever since. Co-owner Taras is as friendly and knowledgeable a head barista as you’ll find and has recently added Blake by Has Bean as a guest espresso alongside the long standing Monmouth blend. This minimalist café rightly continues to crop up on the radar of those who know and love their coffee.

Ground
St. George’s Rd
A café built on its owners’ love of coffee, Ground serves up the best espresso and teas in the east of Brighton. For this reason it can get pretty busy at lunchtimes but fear not – the baristas here are amongst the best in the city and turn out drinks of a consistently high calibre. A tranquil space, good tunes, tasty sandwiches, fine teas and with a healthy ethos towards all of the coffee and produce they offer – it’s everything a café should be.

Small Batch Coffee Co.
Jubilee St
Currently the newest and most stylish of Small Batch’s growing number of locations, the Jubilee Street café – housed on the ground floor of My Hotel in the centre of the North Laine – is the first in the city to offer a syphon bar, so if you’re into the theatre and spectacle of brewed coffee then this is the place for you. Their coffee offering is changed regularly to showcase new micro-lots and single origins from around the world. Look out for a new Small Batch opening at Seven Dials very soon.

Marwood
Ship St
You won’t find another coffee shop like this anywhere. Marwood represents many of the more positive elements that Brighton is noted for, with a strong community feel and creative lean that has developed over the three years since it first opened its doors. The space is a mash-up of humourous, donated or found items which lend the café an ever-changing personal history that can’t be replicated. Now also serving a range of substantial breakfast and lunch options to go with the coffee and ‘life changing cake’, Marwood is as friendly and jovial a café as you’re ever likely to find.

Mr Wolfe
Montpelier Pl
Serving organic Monmouth espresso and a selection of some of the very best home-made cakes and savouries anywhere in the city, Mr Wolfe is a relative newcomer to Brighton’s coffee scene but you wouldn’t know it. Owners Travis and Kat are Melbournites with a keen eye for beautiful design and the finer details, skills which really shine through in this stylish, diminutive coffee shop. Away from the crowds of Churchill Square or the abysmal café chains on Western Road, this is a haven of calm that has fast become a must-visit for locals and coffee tourists alike.

Redroaster
St. James’s St
The incumbent Redroaster, now in its 13th year, is Brighton’s longest running speciality coffee shop and whilst it’s not the prettiest café space in the city, its popularity shows no sign of abating. This is due in no small part to the fine list of coffees on sale, often featuring Cup Of Excellence lots which are hand roasted at their roastery in Kemptown. A mainstay of the city’s café culture, Redroaster also carries the flag for Brighton’s growing number of fiercely independent coffee shops, having stared down the much maligned Starbucks across St. James’s street for some time. Long may it continue.

A new edition of the Independent Coffee Book: Brighton & Hove is coming very soon. See vespertinepress.co.uk for their full list of titles.

Words by Alex Evans
Photos by Victor Frankowski

More Six Of The Best: Click Here6best

Six Of The Best
Feb 12, 2013
Email
SOURCE Writers
Sometimes an article is a bit of a team effort, and those are tagged SOURCE Writers. If you’d like to be part of that team, hit the Contact link at the top and get your work on this website.
← PREVIOUS POST
Pere Ubu, Sat 13th April
NEXT POST →
Funeral For A Friend Review
Mailing List

Recent Posts
  • Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts Review
    Oct 21, 2025

    Expectations are high with a new Inspector Morse story on stage, sadly this is more a ghost of a Morse story, although die hard fans might enjoy it for the nostalgia.

  • The Lovely Eggs Interview
    Oct 15, 2025

    The Lovely Eggs tell us about their 20th anniversary, the new album and tour with Polite Bureax and some comedy legends supporting.

  • Ocean Film Festival Review 2025
    Oct 11, 2025

    A selection of beautifully shot short films covering diverse ocean lovers' passion for interacting with the sea.

  • Fractured Album Launch, Saturday 20th December
    Oct 10, 2025

    Fractured celebrate the release of their new album supported by Amelia And The Housewives.

  • 2:22 A Ghost Story Review
    Oct 7, 2025

    An evening of two couples having dinner together has never before been so gripping and enthralling, filled with tension, with the ultimate question: is their new house haunted or not?

  • Richard Hawley Review
    Oct 5, 2025

    As Coles Corner turns 20, Richard Hawley dazzled and delighted an up-for-it Worthing crowd with a 2 hour-plus set.

  • Brighton Psych Fest 2025 Review
    Sep 26, 2025

    The second Brighton Psych Fest was a beauty as we got down with Getdown Services as the evening sunlight glowed through the Concorde Stained Glass.

  • David Devant & His Spirit Wife, Friday 12th December
    Sep 23, 2025

    One of Brighton's greatest live bands returns for a pre-Xmas homecoming party.

Website developed in Brighton by Infobo
Copyright © Brighton Source 2009-2023
Best Independent Brighton Coffee Shops - Brighton Source