Saturday 13 October 2012

A.M.T - not winning me over

Out for a walk with the family today, passing through Balham we stopped in at the new commuter coffee shop, A.M.T.

A.M.T is quite a familiar site at train stations around London. It was not a surprise to see them occupy the newly refurbished space in the Balham train station concourse. I'm generally happy to go to an A.M.T for a coffee, they've served me well in the past, particularly when I used to have to commute through East Croydon I was quite a regular visitor.

The Balham branch, like most A.M.T's is very much just a takeaway spot, no seats. There were a few croissants and other snacks but this is very much for the commuter coffee crowd.

Our order was a regular cappuccino and a regular white americano (which they just call 'coffee').

We were quite disappointed.

The cappuccino just had no kick, a fatal failure. It also wasn't that hot.

On the plus side the milk was thick and creamy, in fact if there was some coffee flavour it could have been quite good. But it wasn't.

The white coffee had no kick either, it tasted quite watery.



Not much more to say really, this is a commuter coffee shop with little to offer other than the coffee, so they should make sure the coffee they do is better than what we had today. Maybe they do better on weekdays when they presumably get the bulk of their business.

There are now a number of coffee shops in close proximity to the station, Puccino's inside the rail station, Camden Coffee House, the cart on the corner, Trinity stores, Lavish Habit, all very much on the commuter route to station. My concern is that A.M.T because of their location and brand name, will do well at the expense of other coffee providers. Although, to be honest, most of the others are doing better coffee, so hopefully they hold on to their customers.

Scores

CoffeeHot: 7/13Aroma: 5/13Flavour: 5/13Texture: 10/13Presentation: 9/13 

GeneralService: 9/13Food: n/a/13Atmosphere: 6/13

Overall 6/13 - go to one of the many other alternatives.

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