The Missing Bean - Turl Street

14 Turl St, Oxford OX1 3DQ
https://www.themissingbean.co.uk/

The dreaming spires of Oxford. A city dominated by the long looming shadow of its prestigious university, and just the thought of it tires me. I give no credence to its supposed ability to generate the next leaders of tomorrow, given that the ones of today are so fucking useless. The architecture is beautiful but I find it tinged with a sense of sadness and resentment that only the elite get to view them on the regular. I’ve been wandering in and out of the alleys and markets of the centre, trying to get a sense of space. I’ve not visited Oxford often and I’m trying to break down the barriers of my mental dislike of the place but I’m tired and in no mood to play tourist. I need coffee quickly to calm me.
Fortunately, just down a side street off the main drag, you can totter along to The Missing Bean - a speciality coffee shop that serves a house blend from their own roastery and a rotating wheel of single origin coffees.  Inside, the serving area is a glass box of freshly baked goods and bagels from their own bakery, whilst cold drinks galore line up at the front of the serving bar.  
There are so many things I want to sink my teeth into but I am vegan limited here (perhaps it is just the hour and I have missed all the best bits) and so I order an oat flat white and sit outside. Here, the street seating juts out into the road and is surrounded by plant life as you share tables in whatever sunshine you can grab. Here you sit beneath those very spires the city is famed for and you can look about you in all of its ancient glory and perhaps forgive some of its imperious essence. Rich and sweet, I dozily lap at my creamy coffee and become a little more accepting of the, admittedly, impressive surroundings.