Ground Coffee House

Perfect espresso, great juices and nice pastry. Low key, pleasant to hang out in, and very conductive to long conversations.

I don’t know what they do to the coffee here, maybe it’s powered by voodoo or something, but if you can get better in Brighton, or elsewhere, you’re a better person than me.
Just superb.
And it’s got wifi and powerpoints, and great food and cheery staff. Thumbs up all round from this coffee drinker.

I had afternoon tea here on a quiet Saturday. Coffee and tea were excellent. The selection of cakes was modest but the quality was high. It’s a cosy, nicely situated café, marred mostly by prominent and unnecessary piped music. I like to talk and read in cafes, not suffer a stranger’s choice of music. This is why it’s only three stars for me. The extremely obtrusive music makes conversation hard. What’s wrong with letting conversation, the sounds of pages turning, and clink of coffee mugs create the ambience?

I have been back to Ground a couple of times since my last review and the helpful feedback from the owner — and yes, I have to admit that they have a fine selection of teas that I somehow managed to miss on my first visit!
I tend to go early in the morning when I visit Ground (it’s a major plus that they open so early in the day), and I’m a bit of a traditionalist at this hour, sticking to the English Breakfast. Consequently, I can’t comment on the other teas but they appear to have a fine selection of loose leaf blends that I would like to experiment with in the future.
The tea is served in a trendy little pot and a timer is set so you know when your tea has reached the perfect brew strength. The waitress will then shout out that you are good to pour and you can help yourself.
The staff here are always really friendly, my only complaint would be that the seating isn’t conducive to a long, relaxing stay with a book.
But on the whole, the fantastic tea menu (which completely passed me by on my first visit!) deserves the increase in star rating.

In my opinion this is by far best coffee shop in Brighton and definitely does the best coffee, the cappuccinos are heavenly, along with those raspberry brownies! Yum. Yum. YUM!
It’s a relaxing, friendly atmosphere with lovely (complementary) staff and it always feels a bit of a treat for me to go there, especially when I occasionally have Nick Cave wander past me for his caffeine fix
:-).
Love to go with people for a natter or on my own on a lazy saturday, with a book, or to just people watch and daydream.
Try the apple and mint juice, it’s lush!

Ground is a groovy-​looking, little corner coffee shop up in Kemptown. This place gets packed on a Sunday afternoon even when the weather outside isn’t frightful, so it was a bit tough to find a place to sit.
After ordering, the bf and I wound up parking our big, bulky selves along a narrow, back counter space in an adjacent, quite small, rectangular room that I’d quickly coined the «laptop library». I think my po-​po was almost accidentally backin’ up against someone’s MacBook Pro. At some point during our stay, I noticed this. So, Mac-​dude was either too polite, or too English to tell me to move my goods away from his. Hehe.
My perch was directly in front of an open window-​ahhhh-​so I was able to gaze out at the nearby street and buildings while gulls were crying somewhere off in the distance. The gulls were a very nice touch.
What to say about the flat whites? Oh, I don’t know. I hate to sound like a «hater», but the bevvies were quite milky with only the slightest hint of espresso to them. Resplendent with fab-​o foam art, they looked every bit the part flat white, but didn’t really taste like them.
What’s great about Ground is that the service was spot-​on friendly and efficient. I’d be keen on going back and ordering a drip coffee and a snack, and, hopefully, snagging a seat by the window, or, if it’s nice out, a seat on the bench out front.

Without a doubt, these boys deliver the best coffee in Brighton. They really know their stuff as far as the varieties go and aim to give you the kind of service that wouldn’t be out of place in a New York coffee house. Yet they are also unobtrusive. I could sit here nursing one cappuccino for 40 minutes with my Sunday paper and feel very at home.
I’ve had a pastry or two but I haven’t tried any of their food yet although I’ve heard very god reports. Ground opens at 7am and offers WIFI too so I know more than one person who makes this their morning staple before work. Supreme.

And the award for my new morning hang-​out goes to… Ground.
The reasons:
Damn good coffee
Damn good, soft-​baked cookies
Damn good toasted ciabattas
Damn good bagels with cream cheese
Damn good music
(Last weekend it was Sigur Ros and Boards of Canada, this morning Bonnie Prince Billy and Smog)
Damn friendly staff
& damn good magazines to flick through.

The best coffee in Brighton, period!
— Great coffee, each one being individually crafted to perfection
— Great atmosphere
— Great music you never knew existed
— Delicious looking food (I haven’t tried it yet)
— Independently owned
— Need I say more?
WARNING: Once you have tasted coffee this good, there is no going back. «But ignorance is bliss» I hear you cry? You don’t know bliss until you’ve had a real cup of coffee.
Welcome to the new revolution!