rest of UK visit: square mile and monmouth coffee

delayed blog of course...but better late than never!  ahem...

we had a few more coffee highlights ahead of us when we planned to use the remainder of our time in London.  all this was made possible by our dear friends, matt & charlotte, who made our visit so easy, relaxing and wonderful it was inevitably all the more difficult to leave!

back to business.  first up was monmouth coffee, which roasts and sells a good selection of bean.  The setup at their site in Borough Market was fantastic.  A wonderful wooded-out store with boxes of beans stashed right at the front for shoppers to see as they ambled by...

Running up the side of the bar was a pour-over station, which is a great way for customers to sample whatever coffee tingled their curiousity.

At the back of the bar, they were banging out espresso like there was no tomorrow with a girl on milk having fun with latte art.  The queue, unsurprisingly, went out the store, round the corner and down the block.  I have heard from friends that their espresso is pretty good but julie and i were disappointed with its lack of depth and bitterness - an over-extracted shot.  However, these guys are doing volume we can only dream of and I can only imagine the challenge of trying to keep consistent quality when you are burning through that amount of bean every day.

moving on, we were fortunate enough to spend some time with James Hoffman, 2007 World Barista Champion.  bizarrely, he's actually related to a good friend of mine, Libbie, who had the horrible job of once working for me at Redwood Publishing.  Last April, James and a couple of equally high skilled coffee friends set up a new roastery: Square Mile.  We didn't actually sample much of his product as his enthusiasm centred on the product we had just shipped over from Transcend! (our roaster).  after a lovely drink made by James via the chemex we talked a shop.  it's interesting to chat to someone who is also tackling their first year of business.  I was fascinated to learn of Squre Mile's dedication to choosing clients who will only adhere to his strict standards in preparing and making coffee a particular way.  Too many cafes/ bars/ restaurants and hotels do not have the education or respect for coffee-making.  Why take so much time and effort to find fantastic green bean; roast it perfectly only for someone to completely ruin it when they make the drink?

I know this is one thing Transcend is very serious about too.  Much of it is not about having the right machines - it's about having the right attitude.  Transcend Coffee has been patient as we at haven built our customer base and allowing us time to find the funding to get better grinders, better brew systems and better tools.  But we always wanted to make great coffee.  It's been one of the most fascinating journeys in my life that I honestly think will never end.

Other snaps from our travels...

under the bridge lights aglowing

the bench at square mile

barista at work: Red Roaster, Brighton

coffee@33, brighton (hopefully I'll catch them open next time)

fernandez & wells, London