The ultimate uni essential

Son, daughter, grandchild, godchild, niece, nephew or a good friend off to university this September? Forget an A-Z, the most useful gift you could give them as they embark on their next adventure is an Indy Coffee Guide

There are few better ways to explore a new city than via its indie coffee shops. If you’re not familiar with the local scene, deciphering which cafes serve great coffee and healthy homemade food can be tricky. Thankfully, the Independent Coffee Guides are stuffed with top-notch cafe recommendations which have been hand-picked by an expert committee.

The small, easy-to-carry guides include full write-ups on all the venues with handy info on whether there’s Wifi, outside seating, disabled access and more. With generation Z trading in pubs for coffee shops as their hangout of choice, finding a great place to sip coffee, meet friends and knuckle down to some work is essential.

Which guide to choose?

If they’re off to Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Bristol, Bath, Exeter, Plymouth, Truro or Falmouth, you’ll need the South West and South Wales Guide.

If they’re off to Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, York, Durham, Lancaster, Liverpool, Sheffield or Bangor, you’ll need the North and North Wales Guide.

If they’re off to Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Aberdeen, Stirling or Dundee, you’ll need the Scottish Guide.

And if they’re off to Belfast, Dublin, Cork or Galway, you’ll need the Ireland Guide.

Buy your guide here.

In addition to the four Indy Coffee Guides, we also publish the Indy Cafe Cookbook which features easy to follow recipes using fresh and affordable ingredients. You can bundle a cookbook with a guide for any of the regions here.

Give the ultimate gift to anyone off to uni: a monthly subscription to the stonking Indy Coffee Box. Beautiful speciality beans from some of the UK’s best indie roasteries will be delivered to their door each month. Explore more here. We do gift boxes too!

Read our feature on some of the best cafes in the UK’s leading uni towns here.