UKC

After the tragic loss of a lot of the good cafes in North Wales I thought all hope was lost for a good brew. Turns out there's a hidden gem, Rumdoodles in Llanberis. Coffee is exceptionally brewed and probably one of the best I've had in the UK (3 times tested). On the outside it looks like a little knick-knack shop but the owner has a lot of character and can make an excellent coffee. So if you're on the high street stop in, say hi and have one of his coffees.

Great climbing-related name too!

Will they provide champagne if you are suffering from lassitude?

Rumdoodles is good.  Caffi Caban, perhaps, is better.

What happened to them?

Both of them, I think, sell Heartland coffee, which is roasted in Conwy. It's very nice.

Over the road from Rumdoodles, Melyn is also nice.

As for cafes that have closed - Pete's and Eric's never served good coffee anyway, and Siabod recently reopened.

Halcyon days for caffeination in Eryri!

Real climbers drink tea anyway.😀

Pete’s served it by the pint and I never heard anyone tell Eric that his coffee was rubbish.😃

On top of your other recommendations, which I agree with, Pantri is good as well  and there must be others out there. It's much easier these days to serve good coffee.... I never used to drink it much as it varied from ordinary to disgusting... tea was a much safer choice and the pre and post climbing pint of tea was a wonderful development I first discovered in Snowdonia.

Some other local roasters (and heartland)

https://www.heartland.coffee/

https://pobladocoffi.co.uk/

https://www.dragonroastery.co.uk/

The Alpine Coffee Shop in Bettws y Coed is excellent, and has proper vegan and vegetarian food options. A really nice place to hang out waiting for the rain to stop

https://www.alpinecoffeeshop.co.uk/

This is another place that always has vegan and veggie options... shame it's not obvious from their website. Coffee is good as well.

https://bryncir.com/

I would also add the following based in the Conwy valley

https://coffieryri.cymru/en/home/

This has a somewhat different meaning in parts of Scotland!

Not just Scotland 

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=roaster

But maybe it's best we stick to what is a usefully informative thread.

That looks good for the journey to and from Porth Ysgo bouldering, will check it out

Make a thermos and your own butties/cakes. Put the money you save in your pension and retire early!

+1 for Poblado. Haven't tried the others.

I have saved and retired early on my pension but I've always been happy to support reasonable value quality local business and the jobs they provide and the communities they enhance. A thermos and butties have their place, but that's on a break on a long day in the hills.

A rainy day allowed me to perform a qualified comparison. Rumdoodles coffee was indeed amazing, whilst Becws Melyn cappuccino was overheated and not the best I've ever had. Which saddens me, as I quite like Becws Melyn otherwise! Nice cakes and pleasant design.

The Caffi Caban "Llanberis" always did good coffee, but they do have strage opening hours.

All solid recommendations above, and if you ever get drawn into Bangor then Blue Sky is excellent! 

Noting this thread down. Thank you. 

Eric's 'coffee' was awful, cheapest cash and carry instant 

Will that make it so I can buy a house too? 

Coffee aside, do they have good knives?

CB.

In reply to camstoppa:

“Frothy coffee” when he stirred it with extra vigour 😂

If you are ever in Llanberis, we'll buy you a coffee for your UKC contributions on behalf of lower grade climbers.

They have lots of knives, opinel ones, which I've heard are good.

Hmmm, bit too fancy. Plain old cafe table knife is fine thanks.

Agreed. Rumdoodles makes the best coffee in Llanberis by far, and possibly surrounding area too. 
Great shop too. 

ye much loved by my offspring for there top hot chocolate and browsing. Big up Rumdoodles

Not sure if that's damn by faint praise but thank you! 

I've ruminated on the change of drinking habits of climbers over my climbing career. In my formative climbing years of the late 80s and 90s, most climbers seemed to drink tea in cafes such as Pete's, Eric's, Stoney and Grindleford, usually by the pint. Whereas now coffee does appear to be more prevalent - together with pretentious discussion on the best coffee, roasts and so on😉. As a tea drinker, part of me thinks this is just another example of the moral decline of the country and modern climbers, but to be honest it's more that coffee used to be shit!

There was a time when you could only get 'Camp' coffee which was truly awful. There was a picture of a Highland piper on the bottle design. There was no instant in those days, just this thick viscous brown syrup which was meant to be real coffee. Not sure what our American cousins thought of that, though my American relatives couldn't get over our 'hot beer'.

Nescafe was invented in 1938.

Unfortunately I'd argue that tea is often shit these days (as a tea drinker!). The same place will seem to bang on about how much effort they put into their coffee but then you just get a naff teabag, overpriced...

+1 for rumdoodles. very good coffee (heartland) in llanberis. melyn is also the same and also uses heartland.

theres hive in holyhead that is run by the 'cuffedincoffee' roastery and they make really good coffee (and have a few cafes on anglesey where its roasted.

in penrhyn near tremadog i had a good coffee at the eating gorilla (again heartland!) and providero in llandudno also use the same coffee. the heartland roastery is just round the corner behind the train station. theres a theme developing here,,,

i can massively reccomend the cuffedincoffee 1kg bags for unbeatable value. i think theyre £22 a bag for the house (dark/rich) blend AND the decaf one! this equates to about £5 a bag which you just cant find these days anymore. the coffee is roasted in holyhead and the guy knows what hes doing, im about 8kg in now and can attest to the quality. rich, dark, strong; very similar to heartland really..

i didnt know about dragon?!?

ive personally visited all the roasteries in the north wales area and cuffedin was the last one i found, but it looks like dragon needs testing now!

Yes, don't get me started. And the time it takes these 'baristas' to make all these coffees while all I'm waiting for is for them to dump a tea bag in a mug, pour in boiling water and hand it to me so I can leave it to stew to my taste - and let me decide how much milk to add (after it's brewed and tea bag is out). And no, that doesn't cost the same as a coffee to produce - I've done most of the work myself. Rant, rant, rant.

I think I'd better have a mug of tea to calm down.

If you buy it from a coffee shop especially.

Has the Capel Curig one reopened? 

Assuming you mean Caffi Siabod, it has reopened with new owners. I went there after a walk recently for soup, coffee, and cake. It was all good. The interior could do with a bit of livening up, but as it’s only recently opened again that’s understandable. 

I'm another fan of Heartland's coffee. Whenever we spend a weekend on the Orme, we go to Providero in Llandudno which is another Heartland cafe. The staff are very passionate about coffee and every espresso that I have had there has been very good.

It's about as far from a Pete's Eats style cafe as you can get, think modern speciality coffee shop. They also have a cycle shop/ cycle hire next door in a tie in with local cycle shops, and they have a yoga studio upstairs.

Heartland tend to roast a little bit darker than my preference, but I usually really enjoy their lighter, fruitier beans.

Last time I was there, I picked up a bag of a central American natural that was one of my favourite beans I've had. 

Sadly, I can't remember what the beans were. Looking at the tasting notes in Heartland's shop, it might have been this one, or it might not still be available

https://www.heartland.coffee/product/el-salvador-los-nogales-natural/290?cp...

Try Poblado then, lighter than heartland and if you take your own container to the roastery in nantlle it’s very cheap to buy. They also have a nice cafe there at the roastery. Good crew that run the place 

Yes but do any of these coffee shops bring you tea in bed, like Eric used to when you stayed in his barn?