Coffee: Flat Caps Coffee, Haymarket, Newcastle

"Hidden gem" is a phrase often uttered about restaurants, cafes or pubs that are not widely known about, especially if they're inconspicuously located on a city centre street. Take Flat Caps Coffee for example, it could take some skill to find this coffee shop without prior knowledge as we used Google Maps to take us to the address, past a very busy Starbucks, but once there we found a new age gift shop selling crystals, oils and fairies with signs for a Thai massage also pointing towards the door. Hmm!

The coffee shop is located inside the gift shop and underneath it, down a spiral staircase to the right once you enter. The sign on the door for Flat Caps is almost as hidden as the sign for Bramble in Edinburgh.

Once downstairs, we picked our coffees - after a long journey from Glasgow we needed a caffeine boost!

We decided on an El Roble and Loma Linda. Now, I'm no coffee geek so I can't tell you about the velvety or the dried cranberry taste. I'm more about the "Is it bitter? Do I need a ton of sugar to make this bearable?" person. They sold food too but we didn't have any as we required liquid refreshment only!

The coffee here was robust and just what we needed. Served in a relaxed atmosphere with no-one rushing us. A perfect coffee in a quiet spot away from all the noise of the Haymarket shopping streets.

The decor is quirky but not achingly so, one side of the room looks like a brick basement with recess and the other looks like a wood-panelled shack by the sea, which just adds to that hidden haven feel.