I'm visiting London and I thought I'd check out a few cafes. Today, I went to Prufrock and Monmouth at the suggestion of HH.

They had their house espresso and a visiting espresso on offer, so I ordered both along with a chocolate pastry.




The house espresso was a delicious medium roast. It was an all-around 9.5/10 with everything I want in a shot. The visiting espresso was a grassy light roast which is really not my thing. I'm sure it was fantastic, but I really prefer medium-dark espresso. I didn't get any pictures of Monmouth because the Borough market location was small and full of people and I didn't want to be unseemly in front of the Brits. Their default espresso was a nice medium roast, a 9/10 all-around.

I also went to Woodbourne Coffee House on the outskirts of Brighton.

It is a combination coffee shop / post office in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There were more people dropping off mail than ordering coffee. I went with a mocha and it was delicious.

Keystone Cafe has been open for 6 days and is the coziest coffee shop I have been to in London. I ordered an espresso, a single origin from "Coffee Story," a local roaster who works directly with farmers. It was one of the best espressos I've had from memory. The owner/barista did not have any retail bags he could sell me, but he gave me a couple ounces of beans to take home.

Redemption roasters trains prisoners barista skills and how to roast coffee. They then hire them as roasters and baristas. I tried both espressos on offer, The Yard and Ponder Feminino. I wasn't a fan of either. I don't know if its the Slayer, but these shots lacked the carbonation bite I'm used to from La Marzocco machines.

flyingtoaster wrote:I'm visiting London and I thought I'd check out a few cafes. Today, I went to Prufrock ... They had their house espresso and a visiting espresso on offer, so I ordered both along with a chocolate pastry. The house espresso was a delicious medium roast. It was an all-around 9.5/10 with everything I want in a shot.

The house espresso at Prufrock is Red Brick from James Hoffmann's Square Mile roasters.

Prufrock is part of Square Mile Coffee now.

Gentleman Baristas near the Borough Market has a delicious natural processed roast called "Racer." It immediately hit me with fruit flavor. I brought a bag home to the US in my carry-on and pulled one of the best shots I've had on my Europiccola today. When a roast is over a month old, there is typically no give in the puck. However, despite having a roast date of Feb 7, the grounds were fluffy and the puck compressed nicely when tamped. Some shots taste great in the shop, but not on my Europiccola. Racer was so good that I am considering ordering a 1 kg bag and paying 32 GBP for shipping.

The service at Gentleman Baristas was mixed. There was a girl taking orders and a guy pulling shots. When I asked the girl if they had a fresher roast than Feb 7, she made every effort to find one. The gentleman, however, looked pissed off because I had the audacity to ask for a fresher roast and he shook his head in disappointment. I understand the concept of FIFO, but I thought this was rude and a bit off-brand for #wellmanneredcoffee.