Going to London tomorrow

Is it actually possible to find a good shot?

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Going to London tomorrow

Postby syscrusher » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:01 pm

Well a trio of Irish coffeeheads are heading over to London tomorrow. Planning on hitting up: Flat-White, Milk Bar, Sacred, Fernandez and Wells, Monmouth, before the evening tasting with Square Mile.

If we have time there are a couple of other spots we'll try to fit in also (Beas for example).

I know there are plenty of threads on London, and I think I've read most of them, but times change - is there anything blatantly obvious we should do that I may have overlooked?
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Postby smoocher » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:15 pm

if you're heading out east to square mile you could check out bitter sweet taste of love (that might not be their exact name)

http://toomuchcoffee.com/index.php?name ... pic&t=7105

this thread is your friend. my east london knowledge is poor so you're best off just whacking everything in google maps.
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Postby propofolpete » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:25 pm

Is Cafe Vergano (62 Charing Cross Rd) still worth a visit? Had a lovely big http://www.zuccariniltd.com/elektra_epoque_models.html on the bar. 8)
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Postby BillyT » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:21 pm

Thanks Ross,
Sys if this gets to you in time, pop in and see Flick at Taste of Bitter Love, not far from the roastery. This morning (when I checked) we were at around 16g, a good chance to compare the Autmn Blend as we're pulling slightly different shots to Flat White.
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Postby syscrusher » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:00 pm

Hey guys. Thanks for the suggestions. We got around Milk Bar, Monmouth, Sacred, Fernandez & Wells, and Flat White before we decided it was enough coffee (in lieu of the Square Mile Tasting).

Milk Bar and Flat White were the outstanding destinations for us. For me, their espresso was stunning, what a blend! Had some great flat whites, espressos and even an affogato. Great friendly staff. If I had to choose between the two I'd probably go for Milk Bar, as it was quieter.
Fernandez & Wells was quite good also, hard to find much fault in their espresso or milk drinks, food was really nice too. They use Monmouth's espresso blend as far as I could gather, but I think they did a better job with it.
Monmouth (Covent Garden) was a mixed bag, the espresso based stuff was decent (milk a little hot in latte), while the filter without wanting to be too unkind was heading towards undrinkable.
Sacred was very poor. Worst milk of the day by some distance. Espresso was thin with a weak crema (although there were some interesting flavours in there).
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Postby lukas » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:04 am

Monmouth is a double edged sword for me. I was there two times, had a cup of filtered both, and the first one seemed to be way too strength (I would guess brewed about 80g/litre) while the second one a tad bit overextracted (guess again, around 50g/litre). Their coffee is good, but they need standards ;)
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Postby Bombcup » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:16 am

Syscrusher, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the filter coffee at Monmouth. You know that if you don't like your drink, the staff in the shops genuinely would like you to tell them about it in case something went wrong in the preparation. They would be happy to replace it.

I'm sure the same applies to any other cafe which cares about it's coffee, I don't think anywhere has had a day when a sub-standard drink hasn't slipped through the net.
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Postby syscrusher » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:51 am

Yeah perhaps we should have. We ordered 3 different filters (one each), they were all fairly bad. It didn't seem to be an over / under extraction thing either - there was a genuinely "off" taste that was common to the 3.
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Postby robpow » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:06 am

syscrusher wrote:Sacred was very poor. Worst milk of the day by some distance. Espresso was thin with a weak crema (although there were some interesting flavours in there).
Ah, what a shame. Have had some great flat whites from there. In fact I can't ever remember getting a bad coffee at Sacred.

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Postby propofolpete » Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:26 pm

Milk bar is my fave at the moment. I always find the espresso wonderfully tasty and its never too busy (like Flat White). I should try Sacred but can't ever seem to find it! :oops:
Had some great flat whites, espressos and even an affogato.

Time to display my ignorance~ what is this affogato you speak of Sys?

(Neil Young ref. in your name by any chance?) 8)
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Gaggia. Aristarco. Grindenstien. Has beans. SQM.
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Postby Styles » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:50 pm

I wouldn't bother looking for Sacred... not worth the effort. I've had some nice filter shots at Monmouth, and some ones that missed the mark. One constant is that the staff care about what they're serving.

An affogato, literally translated as "drowned" or "suffocated", is icecream topped with espresso.
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Postby Steve » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:00 pm

Its strange as the best espresso I had in London last year was sacred, but I've yet to hear really good news about the place from anyone else.
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Postby charmon » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:22 pm

I was one of the trio "on tour" with sys and have to agree with him. The standard overall was great but its nice to be able to give out about the small things. As we landed (barely) in Dublin the next morning I couldnt help but feel nothing but overwhelming jealously that you guys have all those great cafes, roasters and meet-ups. We have to get our act together over this side of the pond. Well done London!
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Postby smoocher » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:43 pm

Steve wrote:Its strange as the best espresso I had in London last year was sacred, but I've yet to hear really good news about the place from anyone else.


they're on a bit of a mammoth expansion at the moment. they opened a little kiosk in kingly court in carnaby street about a month ago.
There is also a shop about to open or could even already be open down on Holloway Road and lastly they've got a large kiosk/ open seating area going in at Westfield as we speak.
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Postby Styles » Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:48 am

How do you find the coffee, Ross?
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