Bristol’s best cafes & coffee shops

What student could exist without a regular coffee fix? I think I can safely assume that at some point within the last 24-hours or so you drank some of the great potion – be it hidden under 30 layers of cream, or served so thick and black it could be mistaken for a liquid tyre.

Of course in Bristol, as in all places, the best coffee is the one you find yourself drinking with friends on a rainy afternoon. Coffee unites us all, and also makes me the nervous wreck of a person I am today. But Bristol’s independent coffee shops are in a league of their own, so venture out and try these eight next time you need a pick-me-up.

Anna Cake Couture
7A Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton, BS8 4AA
www.thisisanna.co.uk
Not for those on a diet as you’ll be sitting next to the bakery where they whip up creations including spectacular wedding cake. Anna Cake Couture is as welcoming as it is stunning – a pastel dream of a coffee shop.

Boston Tea Party 
Various locations
www.bostonteaparty.co.uk
The location of my most successful coffee date…to date. BTP serve good quality coffee and are a Bristol stalwart through and through; the food is varied and generally above average for a chain of this type, but at a fairly high price. Take your mum.

The Crafty Egg
113 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RW
www.thecraftyegg.co.uk
They won’t flinch at you for ordering a Bloody Mary with your morning coffee, and they do a fantastic breakfast. It’s also a peaceful location for work, which, compared to the majority of the Stokes Croft coffee shops, is a rarity.

Spicer+Cole 
1 Queen Square Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4JA
9 Princess Victoria Street, Clifton Village, Bristol, BS8 4DX
16 The Promenade, St Andrews, Bristol, BS7 8DE
www.spicerandcole.co.uk
An all-round good coffee shop. The ambience is relaxing and the food is good, but most importantly the coffee is great. There should be more space afforded to old-school, high quality coffee houses like this.

Ashton Court’s Stable Cafe 
Ashton Court Estate, Long Ashton, Bristol, BS41 9JN
0117 963 9176
Purely in location terms, this is an absolute winner. The coffee is fine, the food is slightly outside a student’s budget, but you can stare at deer with impunity. It’s gorgeous and decadent.

The Arts House Cafe
108A Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RU
www.theartshousecafe.co.uk
Offers excellent vegan options, which for the espresso drinker may not mean much but if you’re drinking five coffees of an afternoon, let’s just say that not limiting dairy may come back to bite you. Arts House serve fabulous coffee and though it gets a bit stuffy inside, it’s trendy as hell.

The Street Cafe – S Block 
UWE Frenchay Campus
One of the fastest-running cafes around (and when you’re three minutes late on three hours sleep, this factor will become highly valued). They have also been making fantastic mini pizzas for under a fiver for almost two decades.

Source Cafes 
Various locations
UoB’s cafes include one in a converted shipping container in the gardens of the Hawthorns on Woodland Road, and offer well-balanced, healthy and sustainable food produced in ways that avoids damage to the planet and wildlife.