Devon Coffee – The worst coffee shop in Exeter

It was a good frangipane, but that’s it.

A number of people have said that Devon Coffee does the best coffee in Exeter, but that the service is terrible.

After my last article about coffee and food, I thought that I would go along and see what the fuss is about.

I actually managed to walk right past the place the first time. It’s nestled in between two other shops, and I walked around the A-board that they have out on the pavement, completely failing to actually read it. Which is a bit odd for me.

The restaurant itself is very small, no more than two or three paces wide, and the interior tries hard to be … well, retro and hip I suppose you could call it.

They have a good choice of coffees, which I was expecting, so I went for a Colombian filter coffee and the frangipane pictured, and then wandered to the back of the restaurant to site in a small alcove that was both snug and out of sight. Perfect for a meeting of spies, or drug dealers, any nefarious types to be honest.

I then sat. And sat. And sat. Now, I might have been spoilt by the ability of other coffee-based establishments, but good God did the coffee take a long time to come. It felt as if they’d actually got onto a plane to Colombia, bought a plantation, planted coffee beans, waited for the harvest and then flown back. I’d actually started on the frangipane because I was bored of waiting, and I never usually eat any form of cake without a hot beverage.

When the coffee came it was hot, and dark, just the way I like it. I took a sip, swallowed and licked my lips. I have hard a lot of bad coffee in my day, but two stand out. The first was in a Five Star hotel in Exeter. The grinds from what looked like three servings of coffee had been left in the bottom of the cafetiere I was served.

The second was this coffee, fuck me was it bad, it was so bitter I shuddered. So bitter that the sugar in my cake couldn’t clear it. I licked my lips again and I was h it for the second time with the bitterness. It coated my entire mouth.

I took another sip, thinking that maybe I’d got a particularly concentrated hit of coffee from the lip of the mug. Nope, it was still utterly shit.

Devon Coffee had lived up to the reputation of poor service (being made to wait that long is poor in my mind), and completely failed to live up to the reputation of having the best coffee in Exeter.

If I ever have to go out for a coffee with my worst enemy, I’ll take them there.

I currently believe that if you want good service, good food and amazing coffee, you need to go here.