Grabbing a cup of high quality coffee every morning on the way to work is not an easy job. Once I came to a conclusion with a friend that the best place to drink coffee outside of Italy is…Australia. Luckily, London seems an appealing place to a lot of Australians and their Cafes. The following comments do not only cover Cafes with Australian origin though, the idea is to review independent but high quality coffee shops in London:
Lantana:
lantanacafe.co.uk 13 Charlotte Place, London W1T 1SN
Opened by a former lawyer from Melbourne, the tiny place was voted the Best New Café by Timeout in 2009. By living around the corner, I have been a regular since then. But it gets more and more difficult to secure a seat during weekends and queuing for 30 minutes before having coffee and food is just painful. What's awesome there? coffee latte, Flat white, Soya Flat White (they have the highest quality soya milk coffee), an intensive list of brunch : the baked egg with Chorizo and Portobello mushrooms is irresistible…Mind they are super busy during weekends, baristas and waitresses can be very moody...
Fernandez & Wells
www.fernandezandwells.com
A beautifully decorated Café with great branding quietly sits next to Soho. Together with a wine bar, it provides a perfect space to sip coffee and read paper even when all the tables are full. What's awesome there? Coffee Stumpy - a shorter and stronger version of Flat White; freshly made sandwiches with a good selection of Charcuterie. Apart from the main shop on Beak Street, they also have a coffee-to-go stand off Wardour Street.
Kaffeine
www.kaffeine.co.uk
All the independent coffee shops in London start to have similar faces now - sleek and simple painting with a black banner. I can name a few to you. I have nothing against it if it offers good coffees. Here comes Kaffeine - nothing too outstanding, but for the coffee on the list, they are reliable.
Taylor St Barista
Another independent coffee shop with anAustralian origin stands in the buzz of the city. A tiny coffee shop which only accommodates an L-shaped pastry counter and a coffee bar probably is the only proper coffee shop around my office. It would take me 10 more minutes on the way if I really want to grab a cup of real coffee in the morning. This hasn't taken into account the queueing time, I am afraid. Piccolo, the shorter version of coffee latte, has a very strong flavour and real taste. The shop also offers different type of salads and sandwiches for lunch for those who want a healthy diet.
As I said, a lot of independent shops tend to have similar faces and interiors recently. Maybe it will get boring one day but it always makes one feel safe when there is a good coffee shop around the corner:
Tapped and Packed
on both Rathbone Place and Tottenham Court Road
I've tried the Rathbone Place branch. I have to say although it is only a thrown stone away, their soya latte can't be compared with Lantana.
Fixed 126
126 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3PJ
Store Street Espresso
40 Store Street
London WC1E 7DB
Don't get me wrong, I still like pure Italian coffee. The problem is that there are even fewer places for real Italian coffee in London or maybe I just dont know them? The places I like so far:
Princi
Tom's Deli
The place I still have to explore:
Sensory Lab
Enjoy your coffee!
www.trisori.com
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