Coffee Culture

You don’t have to go far these days to find a coffee shop. Go to any city or town and you are likely to find at least one Starbuck’s or Costa, pumping out the same drinks day after day.

One of the joys of giving up alcohol is finding new and exciting drinks to entertain my taste buds. Walking along the street the other day I passed a new coffee shop, Cinderbox Coffee, which struck my attention. The good thing about independent shops is that you usually get something different from the Grande Mocha Chocó Latte Frappacino’s of other establishments and Cinderbox didn’t disappoint.

Owned and run by Karen Rowe, Cinderbox Coffee is the newest independent coffee shop in Chester. The vision behind Karen’s concept was to bring a little bit of continental luxury to the people of Chester and Cheshire.

Prior to opening Cinderbox Coffee, Karen owned and ran the Dublin Packet and Ye Olde Kings Head in Chester and has developed a real love for serving the local Cestrians. After seeing the effect of alcohol on her customers, with a few of her regulars dying from alcohol related illness, it turned her off working in the licensed trade and set her on a plan to run a business which has less of an impact of people's lives and was more socially acceptable, hence the coffee shop.

The first thing I noticed as I entered the shop was the modern feel. Dark wood, vibrant colours, modern artwork and comfortable chairs gave the feeling of a place where you would like to relax. There’s even a book swap to pass your time.

I met with Chris, Karen’s partner, who talked to me about the shop and the challenges they face against the global chains.

“The vision for Cinderbox was to make a coffee shop which has an independent feel. Somewhere people could relax whilst enjoying really good coffee. In order to get the perfect coffee blend we tried 30 different coffee types and eventually came up with an Italian coffee blend, strong but not bitter”. “The main challenge of facing chains is building a customer base but we feel with the relaxed setting and great quality food and drink you won’t find a better coffee shop in Chester”.

I like Cinderbox. Not only for being independent, but for being different, for giving customers a choice. And their hot chocolate is really good too!