Coffee – Part Two

I recently went on another coffee orientated trip to London, this time it wasn’t just myself and Rick, but also with friends Richard Teasdale (owner of Coffee Aroma in Lincoln) and Adam Rhoades. Rick’s sister Roz also joined us on our coffee tour. We went to attend Caffé Culture and witness the finals of the World Barista Championships, but we took a day beforehand to hop between seven coffee shops we had never visited, so I am going to do some more short, personal reviews of them; with lots of photos.

Beas of Bloomsbury

This place is lovely, the staff are lovely and the food and cakes are insanely good. I mean, I didn’t have any because I have issues with food but they looked good, and the people in our party that ate said it was superb. The coffee wasn’t so great for me. I had a macchiato and it wasn’t strong enough, and bizarrely, it was in a cappuccino style cup (half full). That said, they were using Square Mile coffee, and it wasn’t awful by a long stretch, I guess I am comparing it to some of the other coffees I had that day which were amazing. After all, Beas doesn’t boast to be a coffee shop before anything else.

I’d fully recommend this place, definately pay a visit if you are hungry more than in need of a caffeine fix.

The Espresso Room

Just a short walk from Beas, The Espresso Room is also situated in Bloomsbury. A super cute little coffee shop with friendly staff who really know how to make good espresso and serve a variety of coffees from Square Mile and Hasbean. There isn’t a lot of seating but we managed to sit down for ten minutes whilst drinking our coffees. This place is perfect to grab a coffee on the go too.

Taylor St Baristas

This is quite an upmarket coffee house, but not in a pretentious way, it was still a welcoming environment and the seating arrangements mean that on a busy day you end up chatting away to strangers who are sharing a table with you.

It was really nicely decorated, pretty large for a coffee shop, big tall ceiling and the staff have a massive area behind the counter where everyone can see what they are getting up to.

Taylor St uses coffee from Union Hand-Roasted, so I opted for a for a filter to try out the taste. It wasn’t the best I’ve had and it wasn’t made in a Chemex which is my favourite method, but it was very good nonetheless.

I really like these words on the Taylor St website, so very true:

The first time you have a really good coffee can be a bit of a curse. With one sip, your expectations are radically transformed. All other coffee is ruined for you.

Penny University

If you follow me on twitter you might have saw that Shoreditch based Penny University kind of pissed me off a bit. Now that I have calmed down, here is my account of things.

There were five of us, we really wanted to try a coffee from this highly acclaimed coffee shop, we turned up and the person who dealt with us didn’t do so in a way that made us feel welcome. As soon as we walked in he told us (in a very vague and unconvincing way) that there were too many in our party for them to serve us, as they already had people sat inside and on the benches outside. He said we could try again in a few hours. I can’t even describe the way he chose to articulate all of this. We all walked out with confused faces asking each other what had just happened.

On reflection, I realise that this shop provides a very unique service, one which we were intrigued about to begin with (they only make filter coffee and refuse to serve milk or sugar – sounds awesome). I understand that they want to take time to make sure each coffee they make is to the highest of standards, they are sacrificing having loads of customers (and more money), for quality, and that is fantastic. But honestly, we were not asked if we wanted to split up and be served in two seperate sittings, or wait outside until the people inside were finished. If you are a coffee shop that only has six seats and provides a very particular service then you should know how to manage the people that come in wanting to try the experience out.

Really wanted to have a coffee here too – Shame!

Maybe I need to become a Shoreditch hipster…

Prufrock

This place is difficult to spot, we actually walked right past it the first time. Situated in the front of a boutique which sells expensive looking clothing, there is just a bar and a few seats outside, but holy fucking wow, you really need to try this place out.

Prufrock is owned by Gwiliym Davies (World Barista Champion 2009), but we were served by Mattias Björklund (Swedish Champion 2009). The espresso I had was hands down the best coffee I drank that day, and that is all I will say. Here are some photos of my espresso being made:

Taste Of Bitter Love

Based on Hackney Road, Taste of Bitter Love boasts, and I quote, “really really good food and coffee”. They are serving coffee from Square Mile roasters, somewhere which I will be ordering coffee from for home brew in addition to buying from Hasbean.

I was exhausted and my feet were covered in blisters so I took a seat outside the coffee shop and didn’t even order anything. But I had a sip of Rick’s flat white and it was outstanding. Everyone liked this place, and it was really quaint and cosy inside, and it had a cool sign…

Kaffeine

This place was very impressive. Located on Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia (near Oxford Street), Kaffeine is a really inviting and spacious coffee shop. We met a few of the Barista’s and the owner and they were all really passionate about what they do. They are also using Square Mile coffee, and my latte was the best milky coffee I had all day. Really, really nice. Infact, I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoy latte’s in Coffee Aroma, and that is saying something.

The interior was awesome, there is a big naked brick wall behind the counter, and the seating at the far end resembles a swedish sauna room. Very modern but still cosy.

This place is so easy to get to, I’d advise anyone visiting central London to try it out.

Monmouth (again!)

So that is the seven coffee shops we had on our itinerary. I thought I would also say a few words about Monmouth in Covent Garden again though, as myself and Rick had a coffee there before we met up with the others. It was a perfect start to the day, Covent Garden is gorgeous, Monmouth Street is particularly nice to sit on, even if it is on the curb, and the Monmouth shop in Covent Garden just has so much character. Again, it is really central so if you are visiting London, this is one you can easily swing by.

So there we have it, seven more coffee shops visited. I could never get bored of this activity. I am sure there will be more in the future, perhaps in different countries too. Myself and Rick travel around the UK a fair bit and whenever we hit a new place we check up for independent coffee houses on the Cosy Coffee Shops website, and try them out. I’d advise you do the same, especially if you usually just drink in chains. It will change your life. Thanks for reading coffee lovers.