# Best coffee places in London



## cjroebuck

Off the top of my head, places with nice coffee:

* Caravan in Exmouth Market

* Prufrock coffee, Farringdon

* The Pavilion, Victoria Park

* Monmouth coffee, London Bridge and various other outlets.

* Ozone coffee roasters, Leonard st near Old St roundabout.

Any others anyone wants to add to the list?

I still want to try out 'look mum no hands' and 'shoreditch grind' both near Old St.


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## jeebsy

Craft Coffee on Sclater Street. I enjoyed their espresso the most of anywhere in London.


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## jeebsy

Also: http://londonsbestcoffee.com/


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## cjroebuck

jeebsy said:


> Also: http://londonsbestcoffee.com/


That's a great link, thanks, I'm probably going to be buying some of those maps!

There's another one that came to my mind, it's quite new and is on bishopsgate.. http://libertyofnortonfolgate.co.uk/visit/


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## jeebsy

Lonf has been there for at least three years. What sort if coffee do you like? what flavours?


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## cjroebuck

Hard to describe, but I sort of know it when I see/taste it. I think a lot has to do with the texture/crema too. I almost always add sugar to it, however last week I was in Brooklyn and was sampling a few local espresso places, the espresso was so naturally sweet I decided it didn't need any extra sugar. I must confess I'm currently a Nespresso drinker at home, although that's about to change, so anything tastes better than what i'm used to. I'm sure my palette will develop more once I start grinding and brewing espresso myself. I will definitely check out Craft coffee if I haven't already, thanks for the tip.


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## Gordonac

I hear Federation coffee in Brixton market is good. Any others people know of in that area?


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## cjroebuck

I know a friend of a friend who is opening up 'On the green' in Islington, will be sure to check that out once it's up and running.


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## Phil104

Have you browsed this thread:

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?2812-London-Coffee-Map

Look Mum No Hands is consistently good, as is the Rapha cafe if you like a cycling theme, and I also like the Timber Yard in Covent Garden both for coffee and tea.


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## julesee

Workshop Coffee on Wigmore Street always a good one, especially when around Bond St / Selfridges


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## philwbass

You can do worse than head to Fitzrovia just north of Oxford Circus - within spitting distance you have 6 independent progressive coffeeshops - Mothers Milk (weekdays), Curators, Workshop, Kaffeine, Kin and Attendant - you could have a mini- coffee crawl.

If that's too close to the Christmas shopping melee, I recommend Store Street Espresso, Prufrock, Dose, the other Workshop locations, Department of Coffee's six locations (using great beans now), Notes and Craft Coffee. I'm sure I'm missing lots of great places - check London's Best Coffee


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## Grimley

I visited Fitzrovia back in November last year, tried two shops (Workshop & Kaffeine) I didn't enjoy the Workshop coffee for some strange reason. The fact it was pouring with rain outside at the time may have put me off.

I also tried Taylor St. Baristas in Bank, Prufrock & Monmouth Covent garden in July when I went into 'town' to see stage 3 of the Tour De France. All were good.


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## jamiemoyer22

I really love the coffee from Bloomsbury Coffee House. It was my favorite place to relax and unwind while sipping their perfect brewed coffee.


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## Lewis.

I love coffee workshop in Farringdon. Great coffee and food. In fact the best coffee I have tasted. Can never seem to get it to taste like that at home despite all my fancy gear (Mazzer mini and Gaggia classic)


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## inkydog

Notes Trafalgar Square.

Fernandez and Wells, Beak St.

Also really love Caravan in Exmouth Market as listed at the beginning of the thread. They do a fantastic brunch on the weekend, it's out of this world. I only discovered it recently.


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## goodq

I don't think Monmouth is any good anymore to be honest. I go there daily because it's the best around London Bridge and very close to my office. Their consistency is not great and I very frequently see large variations in espresso flow and they shots still end up being served.

My favourite these days is Prufrock, they are by far the most up to date in today's coffee trends and always working to perfect their coffee. My second favourite is Kaffeine, Peter is an awesome gent and I love a place that has the owner working and you would never know he owns the place.

Both of the above are more towards the (sweet) light roasted type of espresso. Kaffeine more towards the traditional barista while the other more progressive in terms of coffee making (testing TDS every morning and RO water filtration systems etc). Both however brilliant in espresso taste.

Workshop is very good as well (love the food there)


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## Southpaw

Any recommendations around Waterloo / Southwark? I've just moved offices and it seems a bit of a coffee desert.

I tried Scooter cafe but it doesn't / didn't open until 8.30?!?


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## goodq

Southpaw said:


> Any recommendations around Waterloo / Southwark? I've just moved offices and it seems a bit of a coffee desert.
> 
> I tried Scooter cafe but it doesn't / didn't open until 8.30?!?


To be honest the only choices you have would be Scooter Cafe or Four Corners Cafe. I haven't been to either however I can say a few things:

Scooter Cafe is owned by a guy called Craig. He also owns Scooter Works scooter repair shop in Bermondsey. We spoke in length about coffee and roasting. Although its unfair to rate without having gone there myself lets just say I don't get the impression that the coffee there is made with "love" and if he makes coffee like he fixes bikes then I the attention to detail that we are all after is not going to be there.

Again I havent been to Four Corners Cafe but they do get their beans from Ozone Coffee roasters, although not my favourite, it does seem like they have "good taste". Otherwise you would have to walk to London Bridge and there you got Monmouth (not amazing but good) or the new place The Gentlemen Baristas (haven't been but I have been hearing good things and will visit them soon).


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## Southpaw

Four corners sounds good - walker the length of lower marsh, I can't believe I missed it.

I'd come to the conclusion after having the coffee delights of Fitzrovia to sample, scooter would have left me wanting.

I'll try both next time to be sure - cheers


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## philwbass

I would recommend *Love & Scandal* on Lower Marsh. Four Corners is comfier and has great tea and cake but Love & Scandal has better coffee (Alchemy).

Scooter Cafe has been more miss than hit for me the last few years.

*Gentlemen Baristas* on Union Street near Southwark Bridge is great.


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## Scotford

goodq said:


> I go there daily because it's the best around London Bridge


Not for looooong!!!


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## Scotford

I had an absolutely fantastic piccolo at the Craft stall at Maltby street market today. Notes beans, which I like anyway. Shame that they are only there once a week.


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## jeebsy

Scotford said:


> I had an absolutely fantastic piccolo at the Craft stall at Maltby street market today. Notes beans, which I like anyway. Shame that they are only there once a week.


They've got a shop in shoreditch I keep banging on about


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## Scotford

jeebsy said:


> They've got a shop in shoreditch I keep banging on about


That's pretty good too. I find that there is better nearby there though. I really enjoyed the filter I had at Bulldog Edition this morning. Shame it was blown away by Craft soon after.


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## jeebsy

Where's better round there?


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## jeebsy

After the essential mix love in I can sense a falling out coming up


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## Scotford

Personally, I prefer Taylor st Shoreditch to Craft. Shoreditch grind is really good too (although ALWAYS busy), Ozone, Allpress, Nude Hanbury st is well worth a walk, Department Norton Folgate is great these days, as is Brooklyn. All within a 5-10 minute walk of each other.


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## jeebsy

from that list you seem to prefer your beans more cooked than me. They're all good but craft rock the light roast better than anyone else round those parts


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## Scotford

Ooh, Brick Lane Coffee have a great vibe too.


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## Scotford

But yeah, I like things very much medium.

Craft are good, don't get me wrong, I just so happen to prefer things a bit different. Although Dept Norton Folgate, Bulldog Edition and Brooklyn are all on the city roasts and banging them out well!


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## jeebsy

Notes Bokasso at Craft is in my top three espresso ever.


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## Scotford

jeebsy said:


> Notes Bokasso at Craft is in my top three espresso ever.


I've got to say that Notes as a roaster features fairly highly in my top espresso shots ever too.


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## Scotford

Shame that Craft is closed until 10 on Sundays. Sat in Allpress at the mo and going for brunch at White Mulberries in a while.


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## jeebsy

White Mulberries was right beside my old work. Didn't know they were doing brunch (was just sandwiches when i were a lad)


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## Mrboots2u

Notes looks interesting might try some of their coffee out soon ( roasted )


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## jeebsy

Mrboots2u said:


> Notes looks interesting might try some of their coffee out soon ( roasted )


The Pantanal sounds reet good


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## Scotford

Yeah Jeebs, its a bit limited but too nice a place to go and sit with a few pastries, especially with the sun out today! I'm not sold 100% on the coffee but its better than the average.

Gonna go and lie down INA darkened room in a while as I've already had 5 double shots and a brewed!


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## Scotford

jeebsy said:


> The Pantanal sounds reet good


Well now you mention it:










Aeropressed at Craft, no less!

Dry, fruity and very clean. Enjoyed this.


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## adaml.king

Caravan Cofeee is a great location and they have some of the best desserts that are brought in from the bakery next door. The coffee drinks are okay but it's kinda like getting Dunkin Doughnuts coffee at the Starbucks price.


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## goodq

Scotford said:


> Not for looooong!!!


Hmmm, I heard there is a new place opening in 2 London Bridge. Is this one the one your hinting to?


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## liana

I love Milkbar in Soho, Workshop Coffee and also Vagabond in Finsbury Park


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## Mawsy

Prufrock for me still. Consistently awesome coffee, great advice and on my way to work!


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## urpert

Scotford said:


> I've got to say that Notes as a roaster features fairly highly in my top espresso shots ever too.


Agreed - it seems very easy to get decent results with their beans.


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com

Federation in Brixton market was very good when i popped in there a few weeks back. It's busy but in a good way and the coffee was top notch. Can't actually remember who the roaster was, which is a bit annoying!


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## Flibster

I'm going to add a new shop in here. Got to try it for the first time errr... yesterday now.

Silhoutte on Bayford Street, London.

Only been open for 3 weeks, but the espresso I have was beautifully orangey sharp, but the pourover was the star. Ethiopian Negosho from James was superb. Was actually the best coffee I had all day.


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## Drewster

Off the the Smoke tomorrow - Likely to be Greenwich Market and the surrounds.

Can you mob advise of any places to try?

If I don't do Greenwich it'll probably be Spitalfields/Brick Lane/Petticoat Lane - So a fair choice there!


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## jeebsy

If you end up east then Craft Coffee and Bulldog (if you like coffee that tastes of stuff it's not supposed to, like daffodils and Fearne Cotton's socks). Might be worth installing the London's best coffee app as there's loads of new places opened since i left


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## Nod

I second jeebsy's recommendation for craft coffee... My last trip was delicious....


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## jeebsy

I'm a bit of a broken record when it comes to London recommendations but Craft Coffee is by far the bestest


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## urpert

Flat Cap cart in Strutton Ground is a rare oasis in the coffee desert of SW1. They sell Notes beans at bargain-ish prices too.


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## urpert

There's a guy in Greenwich Market sometimes with a Piaggio cart, apparently nameless, who makes a seriously good long black


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## Drewster

jeebsy said:


> I'm a bit of a broken record when it comes to London recommendations but Craft Coffee is by far the bestest


It was 

I actually tried out 3 places today:

Got to Greenwich late morning and was pretty desperate for coffee and food so the nearest place we saw that looked OK-ish was actually a coffee/brunchy place that was part of the Picturehouse (Sort of a Cinema/Theatre/Art place).

I had a Flatwhite, Mrs D had a tea and we both ordered a Cheese and Onion Toasty... and I sneakily added a couple of Portugese Custard Tarts.

The Toasties were very nice. Fresh real bread with a nice green salad with a light dressing - spot on!

The Custard tarts were really good... brought back fond memories of a little cafe in Lisbon where I used to pickup a few on my daily stroll to fetch back for Mrs D and the Drewster-ettes (I did also sneak a quick stand-up espresso when doing this).

My flattie was actually very nice, an attempt at artwork on top.. The foam was a little too foamy/bubbly but all in all a nice coffee...

Well worth visiting if you are nearby and want a bite as well as a coffee.......

Having finished in Greenwich we made our way to Brick Lane.... and after a while in various Vintage shops and avoiding Nude (which I found very disappointing last time) I thought I'd look for Craft as Jeebsy had mentioned it ....

Typed into phone/nav and even better than I hoped - I was about 100 yards away!!!

When I got there I was a little worried as it appeared almost closed ie Brick Lane was as usual very busy but... So I checked the door and it was open but eerily empty.... Oh well here now....

Ordered a Flat White and a Hot Chocolate and picked a couple of stools...

I love the Art Work on the walls.... Pencil/Line drawings of..... a Chemex, a "Cona" Syphon setup and a few others....

The actual place is very minimalist as well (some sandwiches and stuff on the counter and coffee-nalia on shelves).

Mrs D spotted the EK on the counter (I say spotted - obviously it's pretty hard to hide it!) and said.... NO! You are not getting one of them!!!!

Anyway the Flattie and Chochie arrived... both with little rosetta things on top.... and not a bubble in sight... Smooth as silk looked... well I'd like to say like the CFUK Latte Art competition but to be honest they didn't.... they really looked spot on!!

And they tasted every bit as good! Jeebsy (and others) you are stars!! After my disappointment with Nude I was a little apprehensive (Mrs D would never let me live down 2 failures) but now I have a "go to" when I next pop down!

We wandered off and had a bite in Trumans and then back to Spitalfields to browse... We then had a bit of a wait for Drewster-ette to finish what she was doing (in Shadwell) and I remembered Glenn had mentioned Peleton Coffee last time I asked about Spitalfiields... So off we went...

Another Flat White that was very drinkable.... the beans were a little dark for me but it was still a very decent coffee also proper smooth milk... I certainly preferred Craft but I will visit Peleton again (much better than my experience at Nude)....

(Literally) just got back home and made myself another Flattie using the Smoky Barn LSOL... and it was also very nice.... The milk tbh was nothing to write home about and I don't even think about "art" at the moment but another nice coffee (I have only done a couple of espressos with it as well).

All in all a pretty good coffee day 

PS Just remembered that Mrs D spotted the EK in Peleton and said "It looks better in White"...... So maybe it's not totally out of the question... although I didn't mention the price ;-)


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## jeebsy

Glad you liked it - do you know what beans they had on?


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## Drewster

jeebsy said:


> Glad you liked it - do you know what beans they had on?


Sorry mate - didn't look or ask.....


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## AussieEx

A couple of weeks ago it was Notes (their roaster of choice, I think) - a Colombian as 'standard' and a Burundi as 'special'. Both very good.


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## jeebsy

The constantly changing menu was one of the things i liked most about Craft, got to try a good variety of stuff there.


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## DoubleShot

jeebsy

Did you used to just work in the big smoke or live there too?


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## jeebsy

Economic migrant - lived/worked there for six years.


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## hotmetal

Ah, Strutton Ground. Best place to buy Loakes if you're into good shoes. Somehow I've been past flat cap loads of times but never stopped as I'm usually on a mission to get back to work and will have been to the pizza shop at the other end on the corner, where I will have had a pizza and a cappuccino. The coffee in there is OK but not 'speciality'. You do often see Italians come in, order a spro, down it in one and "ciao" so it can't be all bad!


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## urpert

Just want to put in a vote for FCB at Denmark Hill station. I think they have a few other branches at stations in Surrey too. Normally 2 interesting guest espressos and drip too.

(The pub next door also highly recommended.)


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## chrism2671

Workshop coffee on clerkenwell road is fantastic. It used to be called st Ali, and for the longest time the coffee sucked and was just expensive. Now, though still expensive, the coffee is wonderful, particularly the espresso. Their cult of done espresso is sweet, fruity and acidic, and full of zest. I'm yet to find a more interesting espresso in london. I buy the beans too and pull them in my gaggia, although I can never get quite as good results as they do.


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## FullBloomCoffee

hands down the best coffee I have had in London is from "Mothers Milk", they are on little portland street in the Fitzrovia area.

its a very small place run by 2 friends, they always laugh and joke that they are average and that most people go to them out of pity, but everyone who knows anything about good coffee in London knows them, I've even been ordered to go there by the likes of Workshop and Kaffeine barista's which says something.

Their menu consists of 3 items: Espresso, Milk and Filter all for a flat £3 and they don't serve sugar, but the coffee is fantastic!!

if anyones interested they are the only place in the UK to use JB Kaffee beans.

give them a visit, I guarantee you won't be disappointed


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## dsc

Will hit them up on Monday if I have enough time. Thanks for the heads up BA.

Regards,

Tom


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## Scotford

Drewster said:


> Sorry mate - didn't look or ask.....


Its been Notes Colombian as #1 and Burundi as #2 for a few weeks now, one of the filters has been a Honduras for a while too, again, from Notes.


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## chrism2671

The beauty of Workshop coffee is that they roast their own, and it's noticeably sweeter than any of the square mile places.

Incidentally, if anyone knows where I can get very fruity/sweet beans, please let me know.


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## AussieEx

Strangely enough my feeling was the opposite. Only been to Workshop once, though, so it could have been a duff shot.

And if you want a super fruity espresso, it's pretty hard to go past Square Mile's 'Sweetshop'...


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## jeebsy

Best shot of cult of done I had was from craft coffee back when the ek was a rarity


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## urpert

Workshop (if you like them) now have a branch on Holborn Viaduct too, which is much less busy - the baristas there are very friendly.

Dose in Long Lane, around the corner, is a particular favourite of mine. They get great things out of Square Mile Sweetshop.


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## urpert

And finally I have to put a word in for Fee and Brown in Beckenham - pretty rare to find a coffee shop that wouldn't be out of place in Soho (serving their own Caravan blend) out in the wilds of Zone 4. They know me so well that I occasionally get shots on the house...


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## inkydog

Going to try Lil's Cafe in Rupert St, Soho today. Anyone else been there?


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## inkydog

Ok, I'm here. Nice chilled atmosphere but only a few choices of coffee ( espresso, cap, latte, not a specialist coffee joint. Should have gone to Notes ; )


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## Scotford

If in Soho get to Soho Radio, Speakeasy or Soho Grind.


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## Scotford

Or Curators near Workshop Fitzrovia


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## Zimmerman

Tap Coffee, Wardour Street, Soho and Taylor St., Bank are my two favourites.


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## AussieEx

I was disappointed with the New St branch of Taylor St Baristas, to be honest, which is a shame as it's definitely handy to Liverpool St Station.

Lovely tulip in my flat white, but the taste didn't appeal. Piccolo was not great either. Slightly put off by the fact that they offered a flat white in small/medium/large too...


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## bluedonkey

I like Allpress , though consistency isn't strong sometimes an amazing flat white other times a bit meh.


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## Scotford

Had a coffee in Alpress this morning as it goes. Never had a problem with consistency there but never been blown away either.


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## AussieEx

Their coffee is used quite widely downunder. Usually solid but unremarkable


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## Nopapercup

Just saw londonsbestcoffee site which was recommended by jeebsy. Great site and the app looks good, will have to try it when I'm back in London.

As there are no recommendations in Battersea, here are mine. Roastery on Wandsworth Rd SW8. They roast on site and the espresso is very good. On St John's Hill SW11 Story Coffee. It's a few doors down from Birdhouse which is better known but as an espresso drinker I prefer Story.


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