About

Hi, I'm Stu. I live in Ystrad Mynach (Cardiff is my home city) and I drink a LOT of cold coffee.

Most coffee reviews are written for a hot cup. Thing is, a coffee that's great hot can taste completely different cold, so every coffee here gets tried as cold brew or cold-pressed espresso.

I mostly try local Welsh roasters, plus a few from Yorkshire (thanks to a good mate up there) and the odd supermarket find that catches my eye.

Why Last Shift?

I live on the back of where Penallta Colliery used to be. It was the last deep mine in the Rhymney Valley, and on 1 November 1991 the last shift walked out behind a brass band. The headframes are still standing up the road, and Sultan the Pit Pony keeps an eye on the place too.

A cold coffee at the end of a shift felt like the right name.

How I test

Everything now goes through my Ninja Luxe Café Pro (ES701UK), which does both cold brew and cold-pressed espresso. Same machine, same settings, so the scores are fair.

The 2024 reviews were made the old way, with a Bodum or OXO cold brew maker and a Krups burr grinder. The details are on My Cold Brew Coffee Setup.

The score

Each coffee gets 1 to 5 beans. 5 beans is one I'd buy again and again, 1 bean is one I wouldn't finish.