# Coffee Crawl (Milk Bar, Fernandez & Wells, Kaffeine, Lantana, Beas of Bloomsbury)



## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Today I embarked on a coffee crawl around London with my wife as well as Chris Weaver and Ash Porter, to try a number of new establishments and show them what London has to offer.

Our itinerary was;

Milk Bar (Bateman Street)

Fernandez & Wells (Beak Street)

Kaffeine (Great Titchfield Street)

Lantana (Charlotte Place)

Beas of Bloomsbury (Theobald Street)

First up was Milk Bar, a regular haunt and a chance to grab brunch (their scrambled eggs and bacon was divine). The home made baked beans looked appetising too...

Milk Bar uses Squaremile coffee, ground with a Mazzer and extracted from a La Marzocco FB80 (in black)

Todays coffee (flat whites all round) was expertly crafted by Matt and served with a smile

Next we moved onto Fernandez & Wells in Beak Street (they have 2 coffee locations within a few minutes walk of each other). St Anne's court looked to be undergoing a refurb.

The beans are sourced from Monmouth and the team uses a Mazzer / Synesso combination to create their drinks. Delicate and simple is how I would describe this cafe. Sparse walls with no music are drowned out by the quality of the food (mouthwatering...) As we'd just had breakfast we settled for cookies (the Peanut Butter cookies got the thumbs up)

On a quest to see the city and try more coffee we headed to Kaffeine, a recently opened cafe, just north of Oxford Street.

Using an Anfim / Synesso combination we were served a great round of coffee, sourced from Squaremile. We were lucky enough to have the current UK Latte Art Champion, John Gordon, prepare our coffee as he is guest appearing this week. The food looked so inviting at Kaffeine, nicely laid out, and with plenty of space and seating we felt right at home. The service was top notch and a real credit to Peter and his team. Lots of smiley faces inside too.

This new cafe is a 'must visit' for any coffee crawl around London.

Lantana was on our list of places to visit so after finishing our drinks at Kaffeine we headed around the corner to Charlotte Place. Lantana was not at all what we expected, surpassing our expectations entirely. A table was prepared for us and we enjoyed our 4th coffee of the day. Lantana uses Monmouth beans, a Mazzer grinder and La Marzocco linea. Their bespoke printed takeaway cups are works of art in themselves.

With an hour or so to kill before Chris and Ash needed to catch their train we headed to Beas of Bloomsbury for a cupcake and a wind down.

No caffeine this time (although their coffee is top notch), we settled for something refreshing and cool and of course a cupcake. You just have to visit to see how beautiful their window display and cake stands are, stacked full of yummy delights. The lemon semolina cookies are just heaven (I had 2).

All in all a great day out, good company, good coffee and great hospitality everywhere we went.


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## Peter (Dec 17, 2008)

hey Glenn,

Just a quick note to say thanks for coming past Saturday with your wife, Chris and Ash, I am glad you enjoyed it.

If you are able to come past again, John Gordon is with us all this week 12 to 5, or our own barista's Shem and Catherine pour a great shot and latte art as well. I am very proud of them.

Stephen Leighton and Colin Harmon came past after you left and Gwilym came past today which is a real honour for me.

Hope to see you tomorrow night at UBFC and talk again .

Peter


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