00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World, my name's Theo Huston-Betts and today is an
00:04introductory episode to a new series that we'll be launching here on
00:08Manchester World. Basically there are a bunch of wonderful independent coffee
00:12shops right here in Manchester, all of them competing to be seen in what is a
00:16pretty crowded market. So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be going
00:20out to a few of them, essentially giving them a score out of ten. We won't be
00:23putting them in an order because we believe in supporting all independent
00:26coffee shops in this area. So basically I'm going to go into Idle Hands now,
00:30which is the one behind me. I'm going to go in, I'll get a coffee and I'll talk
00:34you through the exact concept. Can I do a flat white please if that's okay? And any
00:41of these cakes that you recommend in particular? The idea is, as we say, we want
00:45to be able to build up as many of the independent coffee shops in the city as
00:49we can because while places like Costa and Nero are great, there are tons of
00:53people really trying to kick-start their dreams by starting places like
00:57this and we want to be able to support them as best we can. We're going to be
01:00looking at two things from each coffee shop. First is a flat white. We feel like
01:04this is the right balance between being able to taste the actual coffee itself
01:07and being able to get a good idea of stuff like the artistry and the way that
01:11they use milk, I suppose, their creativity with milk. And then we're also
01:16going to be getting one of their signature cakes. So for example, here at
01:19Idle Hands we've got a flat white that I've managed to immediately spill half
01:23of down the table and one of their cakes. In this case, it's a black sesame
01:27banana cream pie which sounds fascinating and it was the last slice as
01:30well so clearly they're doing something right with it. Wow! If you ever have like
01:35the sesame snap bars, there's this really nice sort of texture aftertaste that
01:39comes with sesame and you do get that. It's not too sweet at all, it's creamy
01:44but the biscuit base really adds something. I would rate this really
01:47really highly. I think it's absolutely delightful. So I mean, again, we'll avoid
01:52giving a specific rating in this case but you might be looking at something
01:55sort of in the high eights, nines here for the overall offering. And so before I
01:59let you go and tuck into these for real, the final thing that we'll be talking
02:03about with each coffee shop is their own personal journey, their own personal
02:06story. So let's talk a little bit about Idle Hands. Now many people will know
02:10Idle Hands as a brunch spot because that is something that it does spectacularly
02:14well but it does have a real focus on coffee. It originally started in 2015
02:19with a pop-up shop on the Piccadilly station approach. It took them a good
02:22couple of months but eventually that they found themselves a permanent home
02:25in the northern quarter here on Dale Street. They've got a brilliant brunch
02:28menu, awesome coffee, cakes, wine and beer options, the really friendly atmosphere,
02:33homemade hash browns too which are crazy. It really is a wonderful space, a
02:37wonderful business built by people who really care about the stuff that they're
02:40putting out. So that's that. I mean the thing that we need help with really is
02:43coming up with a name so if you've got any suggestions please drop them in the
02:47comments below and yeah feel free to join us for the first episode where I
02:51learn a little bit more about coffee so hopefully I can be a bit more of a
02:54useful authority for you. So for Manchester World I'm Theo Heusenbeth
02:58we'll see you again soon.
Comments