London's best coffee
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By Charmaine Mok. Photography by Rob Greig.
Posted: Mon Feb 15 2010
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And the winner is...
Time to find the best cup of coffee in town. Richard Ehrlich is an award-winning food and drink writer and coffee connoisseur. Now he’s about to taste-test our top five. Over to you, Richard…
Monmouth
‘Monmouth is a champion of filter coffee, but for round two we tried an espresso. Perfect ‘tiger-tail’ crema, and precise roasting avoided the extreme bitterness of much espresso. Letdown: the coffee went tepid almost instantly. (Tip – store the cups on the warm machine.) So take note: Monmouth’s greatest glory is its range of filter coffees.’
Merito
‘It takes courage to make a coffee outdoors. The espresso on our second visit was good rather than spectacular, with an undefined and short-lived crema. But the real problem was the paper cup, which shared some of its flavour with the brew. Great espresso cannot be served in a paper cup – but a flat white (pictured), you can get away with.’Advertisement
Taylor St Baristas
‘TSB produces a brew that shows the bracingly assertive Union roasting style. My tiny espresso shot needed ample sugar to round out the bitterness; then it went down a treat. But the body (viscosity) was deficient and the crema slightly lacklustre. It worked better used in a flat white.’
Espresso Room
‘The currently ubiquitous Square Mile blend, but from a different machine to the one Prufrock uses, and therefore different results. It was served in a shot glass, which heightened the crema; and the extraction method made the coffee less berry-ish and more chocolatey, giving a shorter finish. Almost as dazzling as Prufrock – but not quite.’
London's best cup of coffee
Prufrock
‘Barista Gwilym Davies achieved perfection in the ‘Four Ms’ of espresso-making: miscela (blend), macinazione (grind), macchina (machine) and mano (the hand of the barista). The crema stood up proudly and the texture of the brew was creamy and berry-rich with an accent of bitterness. The flat white was another winner – though we don’t normally recommend the paper cup option, which can taint flavour. Not here!’
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133 comments
The Black Lab in Clapham Commo....Perfect eveytime. The best in London!
'TIna We Salute You' is a cracking little coffee shop in Dalston. Great coffee and cakes! Should be on the list!
Try the Coming Soon on 20 Goswell Road - hands down better than most. Super attentive to the process and no letdowns.
Holy cconise data batman. Lol!
I cannot believe The Bridge coffee house in Hoxton - along Kingsland Road - never made it into the list. Great coffee server by amazing staff! Its open when you need it, and has a great atmosphere!
http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/01/31/old-curiosity-caf e-the-bridge-in-shoreditch/
If you're in EC4, pop into Grace St. Paul's which is on Creed Lane. Phil makes a truly excellent cup of coffee, often using interesting and unique blends from both the UK and further afield.
'Euston Tap', in one iof the gatehouses outside Euston station, gets my vote for brilliant coffee, the barista (trained by Gwilym Davie, world barista champion) makes consistently excellent coffee. the best in this area of London.
Sea Island Coffee is near South Kensington and specialises in rare and exotic coffees like Jamaica Blue Mountain and Kopi Luwak. Their website is at www.seaislandcoffee.com
Ditto to on the Goodbench in Clapham... lucky for me they have just opened up a store in Brixton off coldhabour lane in the Arcade (next to rosies)!
Say no to starbucks
Vida e caffe in Golden Square Soho. Any South Africans will know what i'm talking about!
Amazing coffee, i'm a meia convert! And made by a Zulu! You don't get that anywhere else in London :-)
No 26 in Rathbone Place has the best flat white I have ever had!
Highly recommended!
Presumably the 'tea is the only beverage' drinkers consume only fine english fare too-cucumber sandwiches, game pie etc? None of that foreign muck?
Tea Tea Tea - less than impressed with the gullable lapping up of yet another Yank fad - I watch people going to work who become very aggressive once they have downed that brown sludge - Nice
TwoDays Coffee, St Michael's Hill, Bristol - we buy our freshly roasted beans here and grind them at home - makes yummy and aromatic, espresso, capuccino, latte.
Cafe:
Cafe Havana, Cotham Hill, Bristol - best coffee in town!
The Goodbench at Clapham Common.... amazing...and (unsurprisingly) staffed by Antipodean baristas who clearly know what they are doing.....