Red Roaster Coffee House

I’m not the kind of person that goes to coffee houses. I’m not much of a coffee drinker and if I do want one I can have one for 100^th of the price at home. This particular one if particularly close to my place so I have even less of a reason to go there. But, occasionally, in the interests of being sociable, I have ended up in Red Roaster. The paninis and ciabatas are very nice, in addition to being very reasonably priced.

A decent coffee, on a scale it’s maybe a bit above Starbucks and Costa. Not the delicious, locally roasted, hand selected bean coffee I was hoping for. The milk seems to be generally over frothed on the cappuccinos and the coffee seems to be over brewed, making it slightly more bitter. The cakes were absolutely delicious though and there is plenty of space to sit in.
It’s rather annoying not having a card machine though. A decent coffee, but I think the barristas don’t do justice to the beans.

Red Roaster is one of my favourite coffee houses in Brighton. Situated at the bottom of St James’ Street, on the way up to Kemp Town, it’s a great big space, perfect for meeting groups of friends.
You can also find the latest editions of local magazines, and it often plays host to poetry and small music nights.
It has a fantastic range of tea and juice, and the coffee is rich. If you fancy lunch, I highly recommend anything they offer with smoked salmon — I don’t know where they get their salmon from, but it’s delicious.
Note for lactose intolerants: They do THE BEST DAIRY FREE COFFEE CAKE I have ever experienced. There’s a lot of milk alternatives, and they always have at least one dairy free sweet on offer.

Has quickly become one of my favourite spots in Brighton, and is super handy to reach on my lunch break from work.
The high ceilings and open front window during the summer give a light and airy feel to the space. The noise is low: great for reading a book while sipping on your drink. They are dog friendly too :)
Recommend: The café bon bon! I cant find it anywhere else in Brighton since Naked shut down. Was delighted to re-​discover it here

Come here regularly. Mostly cos it stays open to 7pm. Coffee is usually spot on, the staff are some of the most helpful I’ve experienced. Cakes are good and not so good. Nice room, always a fight for the sofas! Downside is every c**t seems to think they’ve got the right to read your paper, (it pains them to go next door a fork out £1 for nice shiny copy). The staff seem to have no problem letting in people with extreme body odour, sort of borderline tramps, now forgive my inner eugenicist but shouldn’t we do something about these types… I don’t want them sat next to me when I’m eating anyway! Bad enough to make you get up and leave, really. If your lucky you won’t have some to**er sat next to you tapping away at his laptop either! The service can be exxcruciatingly slow, the room gets hot and smoky, the music is often dreary, shame, could be better.

After living in Brighton for 29 years I’m now in Essex so getting here is much more difficult. Grrr. My wallet isn’t suffering nearly so much though so a bit of a silver lining … I’ve kept hold of my loyalty card too!
When I did live in Brighton though this place often felt like a 2^nd home. It’s almost French with the small circular tables and plain wooden seats. There’s a lot of space in the room and the very high ceiling (look up for the amazing range of coffee equipment on show) is often used as a support for local artwork.
The coffee here is really excellent. Well, so is the tea (loose leaf — hurrah!) and the gorgeously thick hot chocolate. They roast their own beans, the staff clearly know their stuff and often draw lovely patterns in the top of your latte. The range of coffees is superb and there are loose beans to buy too if you want. Lots of lovely cakes and flapjacks too.
They also do snacks too — fresh panini and the like which I’ve always found to be zingy, tasty and fresh.
The other thing the place has in spades is a great feeling, vibe, call it what you will. Someone commented on here that it was not much good without WiFi and they would get more customers if they had it. The RR disagree and many times the queue stretching almost to the door would give the lie to a need for WiFi. What it means is that people chat to each other, meet, write, read and socialise and don’t spend their time staring at their mobiles (oh joy!). I’ve taken my iPad in to do some work/​play on the odd occasion but not often. There are papers to read and I’ve in fact made friends and ended up joining a cinema club through sharing space at a table with two people years back. They sometimes have poetry and music in the evening too.
So, all in all, one of the places that makes Brighton the gem it is.

Yeah awesome coffee, but NO WIFI?!
That kinda makes it a no-​go coffee house for me and I expect a few thousand other people in Brighton. Can’t meet clients there, can’t chill out and check my email there.
Do you want more business? Its a no brainer surely.

The Red Roaster is a great little independent coffee shop at the bottom of St James Street. They roast and grind coffee beans from around the world in-​house and produce a fine cuppa (so others have told me, I don’t like coffee myself!)
The do make a great cup of tea — this I can report from first-​hand experience! Loose leaf English breakfast and also a great cup of lemon and ginger. I hear good things about their rich, Italian hot chocolate which I will have to sample on my next visit.
Food is fresh, varied and great value for money. I have tried the panini’s which are served with a large side salad, and often drawl over the freshly baked cakes and pastries on the counter.
The staff are friendly and efficient, working quickly to serve the always present line of customers.
The café itself is large and spacious, with a glass ceiling letting in plenty of light even on the dreariest of days. The interior is decorated with antique coffee grinders and original local art work.
As well as being a great place for a cuppa, the Red Roaster also plays host to evening events such as poetry, music and tango lessons!

I’ve been going to Red Roaster since in opened back in the day Built on good ethical principals it sells the best coffee in Brighton, and the thick hot chocolate is the perfect way to hide from the rain and depressive overload of Tory Britain, especially when the piano is being played
The food is fresh but basic it’s a place for light lunches and sumptuous cake, not dinner. Staff are always friendly and the clientele is a Brighton mixture, but mainly free of the aspirational dot .com wannabes that frequent places such as the Hotel Du Vin. It’s human a place for the local community, artists, musicians, students, actors, journalists, anyone who likes good coffee and a place where it really doesn’t matter if you’re ultra-​Brighton cool or not

A decent, independent coffee house, popular with Brighton’s bohemian population (for which read students, arty types, gay/​les/​bi, etc).
The interior is airy and spacious, although most of the seating is in upright chairs at tables, and it can get very busy (see other posts here). There are a couple of sofas by the door and a few chairs and tables outside, although this part of St James Street is a fairly busy thoroughfare, and can sometimes feel a bit edgy (as can the rest of St James’s Street).
Staff have always been very nice to me, though service can be a little slow. I’m no coffee expert, but it seems up there with other fresh coffee chains, and the range of sandwiches, baguettes etc are decently priced — under £3 for a feta cheese & sun-​dried tomato baguette with a dressed side salad is pretty good for Brighton.

I’m not exactly a coffeeholic, but if I was this would definitely be one of the places I’d be frequenting. I have been there a few times to meet up with a friend who loves the place she claims they have the best coffee in town, and the coffee as well as their cakes are indeed very tasty. I believe that vegetarians as well as vegans can have a good time here too.
It’s a little bit on the scruffy side, and the café is always heaving with customers, but in a nice kind of way which creates a pleasant atmosphere. The staff seemed friendly enough too, only the long queues can be a bit exhilerating.

Sssshhh — be quiet. There are SERIOUS coffee drinkers in here, you know… have some respect!
Sorry, but that’s exactly how I feel when I enter Red Roaster. It’s almost like someone’s going to tap me on the shoulder and expose me to all the clientele for being a fake: ‘Over here — this one’s drinking tea! OUT!!!‘
So, to be fair, a lot of the hype passes me by. I do like a good coffee as much as the next person, but I just can’t get that excited about it. Nor can I bring myself to pay 3 quid for it.
That aside, Red Roaster is nice enough. It’s always packed, so the real connoisseurs must see something in it. Their cakes are lovely. It smells great. The choice of coffee is huge. And they do tea for heathens like me. Worth a go if you take your coffee very seriously — a bit OTT for lily livered Earl Greyers like moi…

Hooray, hooray, the month of May outdoor Lattes are served today… or something like that. All of which is a way of saying now that the inclement weather seems to be behind us (fingers crossed) the tables outside RedRoaster provide a decent place from which to take in the human comedy (and tragedy) that is St James’s Street.
Album of the week is currently the achingly hip MGMT’s ‘Congratulations’ and the photography features Anita Barratt’s chronicles of Brighton life.
All this and real coffee too…

Popped in here for a quick expresso before heading up St James.
I like the fact I didn’t have to ask for a glass of water to go with the expresso.
Even though it was busy, there still was room to sit down though shame someone doesn’t keep the tables clear — after all this a busy place.
However it is a great place for coffee.

I just wanted to give an update to my previous review, and once again give praise to Red Roaster Coffee House.
The Brighton Marathon was last week, and I had trouble crossing the street. I was going to go to Starbucks, but that was blocked off by many (many!) marathon runners. I then considered going to Caffe Nero, but that road was also blocked by many (many!) marathon runners. I then wandered around and saw that Red Roaster had ample seating. I had a Double Americano and this delicious cheesecake with berries in it (can’t quite recall the name). They were both delicious. The only problem this time was the line-​up was tremendously long, and it took awhile to get to the front of the line. But this was because of the marathon. On other occasions, the line-​up moves along quickly, and you’ll be able to enjoy your coffee and cakes in a very pleasant atmosphere.

All I can say that the hot chocolate here is AMAZING! No joke, it’s how hot chocolate should be made everywhere! I come to red roaster on a regular basis to go to the legendary evening that is Floetics — a wonderfully creative evening of performances from poets, musicians and story telling, an open mic night filled with Brightonesque charm and talent. Red roaster coffee house lets Floetics hold this evening here once a month and the staff are always very friendly and put on a great service as it gets very busy.
This little coffee house is a small and welcoming, located at the enterance of Kemp town’s St James Street. There is a seating space to sit outside and is a very popular way absorb the quirky hustle and bustle of Kemp town during the summer months. Overall, this coffee house is not just about the coffee. It’s got such a laid-​back and cosmopolitan vibe going on — it pretty much defines Brighton in a nutshell.

Red Roaster is a classic of the Brighton coffee scene, and for good reason: they are renowned country-​wide for their real baristas (yes, Starbucks, barista isn’t just another word for employee, it’s actually a real job). Their coffee is amazing, as is their choice: loads of different beans, all hand-​roasted on the premises, offering a variety of different flavours (which they’re all too happy to advise you on). A great place for a great cup of coffee.
Unfortunately, once you get beyond the coffee, there is a lot wrong here. First of all, it suffers, as do most popular places in Brighton, from being too small. People cram into the rather large shop floor, and there are barely enough tables to seat them. The space hasn’t been used very well, there’s lot of spaces that could be occupied, and I reckon this was to retain the airy feel of the tall room: it doesn’t work, it just feels cramped. Outdoors is even worse, where the opposite (too many tables, not enough space) means that sitting is an uncomfortable mixture of getting up and sitting down all the time, as well as hearing everyone’s conversation.
Beyond that, the food is really good, but also overpriced. I’m happy to pay their coffee prices, but the food doesn’t deserve the high price tag. Still, if it all funds their numerous poetry, music and spoken word events (there are ²⁄₃ ongoing monthly nights), it’s worth it: these are really fun, always well done and much better than some of the much more pricey alternatives all over Brighton. In the end, Red Roaster is a great place for a coffee and a poetry evening, but not for daytime sitting: get a takeaway!

Ooo lots of hotties from Kemptown to oggle at, oodles of nice coffee beans, always a good citrus or berry tart and most of the time you can find a seat. Red roaster are obviously have it right as its always packed. The notice board is one of the most useful around, there is often a queue for coffee but the staff are super quick and it goes down fast, they change art on the walls every month or so and its always pretty nice stuff. What else do you need? Oh yeah, the odd event. Red Roaster has lots of interesting nights from live music to art presentations, never quite raw enough for me but right up a lot of peoples cultural alleyways, its the kind of stuff where you go yep, that’s definately culture.

Always packed, with good reason.
Until coming here, I was never much of a coffee house afficionado, and had only really experienced the dullness of the Starbucks and the like. However, I do like a good cup of coffee, and red roaster provides it.
It doesn’t look anything special, but that is partly why I like it — it’s there simply to provide good coffee, not to look slick. The atmosphere is very friendly, not just from staff, but the customers too. It’s almost a slightlly pubby atmosphere in that sense — somewhere to go for the enjoyment of being there, rather than simply the goods that they sell.

GENERAL NOTES
The best latte I’ve ever had. So damn good. I suppose it’s the beans?
MENU RECOMMENDATIONS
Get a latte and a smoke. It’ll be the best thing you do that day.
SERVICE NOTES
This place gets super busy but the line moves fast because people know what they want so don’t be the dickhead that slows everything down. Lots of little tables inside and out.
LOCATION NOTES
Located at the filthy mouth of boys town on St James.
HUMOUROUS STORY
Can you believe some people actually pay for laxatives?! Clearly they’ve never had a coffee and a cigarette.