12 Of The Capital’s Best Coffee Shops
Attendant
Each of Attendant’s trio of cafes tells a story. Our favourite is its original Fitzrovia location. A former Victorian toilet, the space has been lovingly transformed into one of the capital’s top speciality coffee spots – picture original tiles, bottle seat seating and porcelain details. The team's own seasonal espresso blend comes direct from the Attendant Roastery through its shiny La Marzocco Linea GB5, a V60 Drip or an Aeropress – the choice is yours. Seasonal home-style breakfast, brunch and lunch menus are served daily until 4pm, and the roastery’s beans are available to buy by the bag to replicate the experience at home.
27A Foley Street, Fitzrovia, W1W 6DY; 75 Leather Lane, Clerkenwell, EC1N 7TJ; and 74 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3JL
Visit The-Attendant.com
Brunswick East
Owned, built and designed by a coffee-obsessed Aussie team, this coffee shop is very much an independent endeavour. Serving up speciality coffee from roasters Alchemy and a rotation of guest filters, your coffee fix is in some very safe hands indeed. Meanwhile the kitchen serves up seasonal, local and organic food seven days a week: the team bakes its own cakes, cookies, brownies, slices and everything in between, while neighbours The Dusty Knuckle, provide a selection of sourdough. The coffee shop is also home to Ceramics274 – very dangerous for anyone who loves handcrafted ceramic wares.
Gillett Street, Dalston, N16 8JH
Visit BrunswickEast.london
Buhler & Co
This bright neighborhood spot in Walthamstow brings together myriad local suppliers to create a top-notch place to relax with a coffee: SL favourite Climpson & Sons supplies the coffee, milk comes from The Estate Dairy, Seven Seeded bakes its bread, sodas come from Square Roots, Chegworth Valley and Moju drop of their juices, and Howling Hops is stocked in the beer fridge. Food across the board has a global influence (think everything from bao to tacos), and its walls are host to ever-changing exhibitions.
8 Chingford Road, Walthamstow, E17 4PJ
Visit BuhlerAndCo.com
Daily Goods
This south London speciality coffee shop in the centre of Camberwell draws you in with its floor-to-ceiling beautifully etched window sign – incidentally the countertop seating here offers the best views for people watching while you take in an americano. Filled with art, this coffee shop offers light dishes, baked goods and a selection of well-made coffees to enjoy in the cafe or take away with you. On a sunny day, make sure to sun your face and sip a cold brew on the bench outside.
36 Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell, SE5 8QZ
E5 Bakehouse
E5 Bakehouse is an east London artisan bakery and coffee shop, with a focus on sourdough. Using organic, locally-sourced ingredients, the team serves daily-baked breads, fresh lunches, homemade cakes (the bakewell tart is to die for) and coffee from its own roast house. Inspired? Once a week, the head bakers share their knowledge and expertise in a weekly bread course – make sure to book ahead. At the end of 2017, the team launched the E5 Roasthouse, where they roast their own coffee for both sites – working alongside the Refugee Council to provide training for refugees.
395 Mentmore Terrace, London Fields, E8 3PH
Visit E5Bakehouse.com
Elan Café
This duo of millennial pink coffee shops are an Instagrammer’s dream. Decorated with cherry blossom year-round, these chic cafes in Mayfair and Knightsbridge offer a contemporary aesthetic and a Mediterranean menu. Our favourite of the two is the Knightsbridge edition – just around the corner from the V&A, it makes the perfect museum pick-me-up. Try their single origin cold brew coffee infused with pure nitrogen, or if you want a real kick, ask for the red espresso rooibus. Another plus? The team recycles its coffee by-products into an earth-friendly range of scrubs and masks for face, body and hair.
48 Park Lane, Mayfair, W1K 1PR and 239 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, SW3 2EP
Visit ElanCafe.co.uk
Jacob The Angel
From the team behind The Palomar, The Barbary and Evelyn’s Table comes Jacob The Angel, an independent coffee house and bakery in Covent Garden’s Neal’s Yard. Named after a man from Lebanon called Jacob, who opened the very first coffee shop in England in 1651, everything in the cafe is made from scratch each morning, from bread and cakes to pastries, sandwiches and towering platters of salads. Given the group’s commitment to incredible Middle Eastern food, it makes sense the coffee shop is well-known for its delicious Sabich (Iraqi stuffed pitta breads). We like to follow one of these with a coconut cream pie and a coffee, which comes from Square Mile Coffee Roastery.
16a Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DP
Visit JacobTheAngel.co.uk
Kaffeine
Inspired by the prominent coffee culture in Australia and New Zealand, Kaffeine is an independently owned cafe and espresso bar with two locations in Fitzrovia. Its sleek Titchmark Street site opened in 2009, while its 2015 Eastcastle Street launch is an updated, larger version of the original – all the better for lingering. Like the look of the specialist skills the baristas have on show? The team holds courses that teach everything from latte art skills to pouring the perfect brew.
66 Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia, W1W 7QJ and 15 Eastcastle Street, Fitzrovia, W1T 3AY
Visit Kaffeine.co.uk
The Monocle Café
A design-conscious café on Chiltern Street, The Monocle Cafe is run by the team behind the lifestyle and culture magazine of the same name. Naturally, this is a great spot to pick up the latest issue of the magazine, but it also offers global cuisine, impeccable coffee and minimalist interiors. Within, you’ll find a selection of the on-trend products and art collaborations (as found in Monocle Shops) plus delicious Allpress coffee, Italian wine and a fresh new lunch menu. Away from the team’s impeccable flat whites, we’re a fan of its Swedish buns and the shrimp katsu sandwich.
18 Chiltern Street, Marylebone, W1U 7QA
Visit Café.Monocle.com
Nordic Bakery
Nordic Bakery is a beautiful Scandinavian-style café serving simple, yet delicious Nordic baked goods. All dishes are based on genuine Nordic recipes and ingredients: among the highlights are the team’s selection of open rye bread sandwiches (we like brie and lingonberry), traditional cinnamon buns and chokladboll (chocolate mocha ball rolled in coconut), all served with excellent (and strong) coffee.
14a Golden Square, Soho, W1F 9JG
Visit NordicBakery.com
Origin Coffee
With three coffee shops across London, Origin Coffee is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to caffeinating the capital. Origin's flagship shop in Shoreditch hosts a range of monthly ‘featured’ coffees: downstairs, its training team teaches industry-accredited SCA courses to provide a deeper understanding about specialty coffee and brewing techniques. What we like best about its Hammersmith shop at The Aircraft Factory is its courtyard and abundance of natural light. Its final spot is a stylish espresso bar within the British Library. Created by Hart Miller Design, the space was influenced by the library’s interior core materials, creating a bright and inviting space to sip on a mocha.
65 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3PE; The British Library, 96 Euston Road, Euston, NW1 2DB; and 100 Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, W6 0LE
Visit OriginCoffee.co.uk
Store St Espresso
Serving delicious artisan coffee, Store Street Espresso is one of SL’s most-visited coffee shops in central London. With an excellent selection of sandwiches and pastries (the kitchen’s pastel de natas are some of the city’s best), as well as consistently delicious coffee, Store Street Espresso offers a modernist, laptop-friendly spot where anyone from students to dogs are welcome. Just a short walk from Tottenham Court Road, the British Museum and a number of universities, Store Street Espresso is popular with students, tourists and local residents, creating a lively and cosmopolitan atmosphere.
40 Store Street, Fitzrovia, WC1E 7DB
Visit StoreStEspresso.co.uk
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