Saturday, October 18, 2008

Coffee: A serious matter...

My top places for coffee...

A bit London-centric, but then, I live in London, I haven't been to NZ yet, and the coffee in Buenos Aires is terrible...

1. Abraco Coffee, New York WEBSITE
Go in to this tiny pit stop for a cawfee made lovingly by Jamie the LA hippie/coffeemeister who knows his beans and his jazzzz...
Felt instantly part of the village with the welcome received and the pastries and snacks are tastily moorish. Jamie, we miss you lots!

2. Monmouth Coffee, London WEBSITE
This is the original Monmouth Coffee on Monmouth St in Covent Garden. A little shop, now it's bigger than Jamie's place but the service is excellent, look for the bearded guy with specs (sorry don't know your name) or one of the girls working at the back. Another warm welcome and a mobile free zone : )
I prefer this one to the Borough Market version, both have awkward seating but Borough Market can just be too full on with people, tourists and pigeons plopping in your cappuccino.

3. TomTom, London WEBSITE
Another friendly welcome from the lads in TomTom, a newly opened coffee version, sister to the cigar store. Haven't tried the pastries because quite frankly £2.20 for a croissant is painful. The coffee is lovely and there's a big communal table. Note, I prefer the sugar in this place to Monmouth's unrefined cane sugar which is a bit sickly.

4. Flat White, London WEBSITE
I never believed that Antipodeans had the low down on good coffee until a Kiwi put me in my place with a visit to Flat White. If you can put up with the Soho crowd, it's a bit of a hustle and bustle buzzing (not with caffeine but work energy) place. Sister branch Milk Bar (on nearby Bateman Street) has opened recently, nice but the smell of pee from the alley across the road is not the most ideal environment for sipping your piccolo "al fresco"

2 comments:

kran said...

Oh dear, someone hasn't been to Climpson!

Dan said...

I don't actually like the monmouth coffee that much - it makes really crap espresso. Much too bitter. Not a fan, espresso done properly shouldn't be bitter at all.. most coffee shop espresso is so bitter it makes me dump a whole load of sugar into it just so I can get it down with gurning!