i am feeling a little overwhelmed by all the work i have left to do before my maternity leave (two more weeks, eeeek!) so this morning i decided to not only treat myself to a very rare cup of real coffee, but to share some of my favorite coffee destinations in london with you, too. how i miss the days of unlimited caffeination, exploring and tasting my way through ALL OF THE COFFEE BARS. i can’t wait to get back to that after these past nine months.
before i say anything else about london’s coffee landscape, first download this LONDON COFFEE GUIDE APP. scroll through the dozens and dozens of coffee bars and roasteries, and realize that your next trip to this city you will be on a constant caffeine high. there really is no way to do it wrong in london – all of the places i’ve been serve excellent brews and concoctions, so it’s really up to you to decide what kind of vibe you’re feeling. the app is super handy, because it’ll let you search for places nearby. forget about making a list of to-do’s, just go to the nearest place whenever you’re feeling low on energy.
that said, here are some of the places i loved discovering last time i was in london // CARAVAN has a wonderful terrace and also serves cocktails and food, so if your company is getting a bit tired of your caffeine obsession, this place will avoid y’all getting into a fight over your 16th cup of joe. // MONOCLE CAFE is monocle cafe, you know? if you’re as big a fan of that magazine as i am, you’ll adore anything and everything these guys set out to do, including this cozy coffee bar. it helps that the place looks awesome, the coffee is really, really good and there are tons of monocles lying around to read. // THE GUARDIAN COFFEE brings out the journalism geek in me, and it’s conveniently located in BOXPARK, the pop-up mall in cool ‘hood shoreditch.
also, if you’re really serious about experiencing the best of london’s coffee culture, you better book your tickets to the next edition of the LONDON COFFEE FESTIVAL, like stat.
photos by stephanie duval and matthias rabaey for CONNECTIONS.