On a recent day before work, I decided to venture past my beloved Tamper Coffee to check out a new coffee venue further down the road. Located near the ring road, deep in the heart of Sheffield's Cultural Industries Quarter in the midst of vintage light-industry buildings, I found Frazer's Coffee Roasters. This roaster has been around for at least a decade, over which time I've seen signs in various cafes saying that they feature Frazer's coffee. But the coffee shop itself is relatively new.

When I walked in I found myself in the front shop, where I ordered my cortado at the counter. And then I headed through the rear door and into the vast roomy seating area. The decor is a very pleasing hodgepodge of materials with a spacious slapped-together feeling. The ceiling is composed of burlap coffee sacks, the walls are mostly vintage painted brick, and the tables and chairs are constructed of retro wood and metal tubing. The original wood flooring has been varnished, and the windows to the rear of the room offer a view into the actual roastery.

I seated myself at what to me was the most appealing part of the room: the long ledge by the windows. I was instantly drawn to the big comfy bar stool chairs, constructed of the same retro metal tubing as the tables, with invitingly upholstered seats. As a fan of creatively resined tabletops and bars, I instantly fell in love with the window ledge when I noticed, sandwiched between the lengthwise slabs of random wood planks, a centre row of what at first glance from a distance had looked like laminated pebbles, but which are actually resined coffee beans. What a cool, cool touch.

My cortado, topped with a heart-shaped rosette, was served in a red cup with white interior, so since I've always had a preference above all others for the colour red, this immediately pleased me. The coffee itself is a bit too smooth for my particular tastes, but it's decent as well as very freshly roasted and ground. As it sipped it I felt so content as I gazed out the old windows onto a yard occupied by a scattering of parked vehicles and a large pile of wooden pallets. And way beyond the warehouse on the other side, I had a view of nearby brick buildings as well as taller edifices along the ring road.

The only company I had on this late Thursday morning was a group of women who were obviously having some sort of creative design meeting, and another woman who was working away on her laptop. The barista was very friendly, and the cafe also offers pastries and a small selection of sandwiches and pizzas. From my shotgun view out front past the shop and through the entrance I had a view of a colourful mural painted on the back of the building across the road. Most of the buildings in this neighbourhood are left over from the Duke of Norfolk's 18th century estate which became a centre of Sheffield's cutlery and tool making industries, and today these buildings house a number of artists' studios and artisans' warehouses. So it's not surprising at all to see public wall art everywhere. The actual building that Frazer's is in was used in the early 20th Century to repair the local fire service's horse-drawn carriages and stagecoaches. It also at various points housed two different cutlery works as well as the Ellis Willis & Beckett auctioneers. So there's some real history between these walls.

The equipment used in Frazer's on-site roastery is built with Sheffield steel, and the beans are all sourced directly from the farmers. Over the past decade, owner Frazer Habershorn has travelled around the world to meet the actual coffee farmers to not only taste the different beans but also to learn about the production methods. As a result, the coffee is ethically sourced.

As always, I'm very happy to see another coffee cafe appear in Sheffield, and this seems like a welcome addition to its neighbourhood. I will probably keep preferring the coffee at Tamper up the road; but whenever I'm feeling like taking some time out to sit and enjoy a cup and possibly a sandwich in an appealingly antique environment, I will stop in here.