Manchester sure knows how to make a brew, whether it be tea or coffee. Proving just that, one of the city’s favourite independent coffee shops that is renowned for its spiralling queues (especially on a weekend), Federal, has been named the best and most popular coffee shop in the UK.
In a recent study, Federal, which has four spots across Greater Manchester, was also named one of the most popular in the world, in a ranking by Betway. The bookmakers measured the social media popularity of over 300 independent coffee shops, comparing the number of TikTok views, Instagram hashtags and Google search volume to determine which independent café is the world’s favourite.
Low and behold, the Manchester-born coffee spot topped the list for the UK’s most popular with almost 400,000 global searches per year and 1.1 million TikTok views. Betway’s research also ranks popular cafes in the world, and crowned Federal as the fourth most popular overall, with the seventh highest number of TikTok views in the entire ranking.
As well as Federal having great coffee, the best coffee shop in the UK has a wildly popular all day brunch menu which spans the gamut of Australian and New Zealand-inspired dishes, including classics like banana bread, avo and poached eggs on toast and eggs benedict. The incredible sounding halloumi and shrooms is served on sourdough toast with the signature Fed sauce, and the Turkish eggs come with a gorgeous mixture of whipped garlic yoghurt, hot chilli butter and za’atar all on the same delicious sourdough base.
The Antipodean-inspired coffee shop and brunch spot, boasts multiple locations across the region, with sites on Oxford Road, Deansgate, the Northern Quarter, Altrincham, and most recently at Club de Padel by Deansgate Square. Federal’s first café opened in the Northern Quarter in 2014, and queues still continue to snake from the door down the road, and weekends can see waits of up to an hour for a table.
Of course there’s the usual coffee options on offer at Federal, from mochas and cappuccinos to Americanos and macchiatos, with a selection of iced coffees, loose leaf teas and fresh cold pressed juices as well as the Aussie favourite Milo. If you fancy something a little more potent, Federal has a wide range of tipples on the menu, including cocktails, on two for £12 all day every day, beers, wines and prosecco.
Also making the top UK’s top ten of UK coffee shops was Northern Quarter favourite Ezra & Gil, coming in 10th place with over a quarter of a million TikTok views. In terms of global rankings, Onibus Coffee in Tokyo was named the most popular independent coffee shop in the world, while Federal came just below Panaderia Rosetta in Mexico and AMA Cafe in India.