Search the Community

I am in London on Saturday. Is there anywhere to view a range of grinders in the flesh? I am not planning to upgrade next year so am willing to invest straight off - budget is flexible for something special, but definitely sub £1000. Bella Barista is a bit far from Brighton (and no-one seems to recommend anywhere down this way!).

Hi. I’m looking to do a home barista course at one of the London roasteries and wondered if anyone had done any and could make a recommendation. I’m looking at a course at Nude Espresso in Shoreditch at the moment. I actually live near High Wycombe so if anyone knows of any courses near there, even better. Thanks in advance.

I'm looking for advice on water treatment - I know the subject has been done to death, but I also know that there must be several forum members who have very similar circumstances and I'm interested in what has worked well for you. I'm about to have a kitchen extension done and would like to stop using bottled water to feed my machine. I have a Classic now, but of course with a bigger kitchen comes space for a bigger machine, so I will upgrade and am thinking of going with something plumbed in. London water being what is is, that will of course involve some sort of treatment to reduce the hardness - 278ppm according to Thames Water. I have a cheap TDS meter which read quite a bit higher (360ppm) but I reckon their results are more reliable. Taste is clearly just as important so I'll want to reduce the chlorine level in the water too. I will also have an instant boiling water tap, which again needs protection from scale, so it would make sense to have one system to feed both that and the coffee machine. I'm considering: A small Reverse Osmosis unit with reminerlization filter, maybe from Osmio BWT Bestmax Premium Or even this, which I know little about, but seems an expensive option https://www.uk-water-filters.co.uk/Whole_of_House_with_Scale_Reduction.html I like the simplicity of the Bestmax, but not sure that's a reason to choose it. So do any of my fellow London coffee drinkers have any recommendations? What has worked for you?

Mrs D is off to see an Orla Kiely exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum. So I am going to pop for a coffee or two to while away the hour or so that'll take before we meander to Matlby Street Market and then onwards to Brick Lane/Petticoat Lane......... Any specific suggestions... particularly for the 1st hour/2 (so near the F&T)... A quick search throws up: [email protected] and Hej Coffee The first one sounds a bit crass but (/and) looks pretty Hipster-ish and Hej might be worth a look.... Anyone got any comments or suggestions........

Hi all, good to be here. I'm a coffee roaster helping with a new roastery called Brew Coffee Plus in Streatham, South London currently. Started as a barista years ago so nice to be moving forwards in coffee. We are planning to do some experience days / courses / serve coffee on weekends at some point if anyone is in the area. I'm sure we can fit people in to visit also if you are keen as we tend to just roast 1-2 days a week currently. [email protected] is the place to go for that. Looking forward to some good reading/posting in the group soon. Best, m

As the title says really. I know it's a bit of long shot, but we're going to the Munch exhibition at The British Museum and was hoping to have a stop off somewhere between there and The Hawksmoor at Seven Dials.

So I'm maybe the outlier here: I live in Berlin but I spent a couple of years in London some years ago. Now I'll be back in London April 20 & 21st for a wedding but I have a whole day with nothing to do so I'm looking into doing a workshop or just visiting some coffee shops. Any recommendations?

I had planned on attending the Brighton festival so had ignored all the run up early bird codes etc for London. My other half has kindly decided to buy tickets for an England warm up at Twickenham on the day of Brighton so I now want to go to London. Have never done any of the coffee festivals and am keen to see what it's all about. Unfortunately, this late in the day, tickets are now £25 (I can only make the industry show on Friday, just wondering if any kind soul on here has a promo code to reduce this somewhat? TIA Jen

More on the edge of Covent Garden but what a find. Ordered a flat white under house blend espresso - dark tasting flat white with a hint of plum (sweet and not the normal sour taste). They also have a range of coffees you can take away - I was that impressed by the espresso blend I ordered 400g for around 10 quid. Easily to replicate the taste 18.5/36g 40 seconds (7 seconds starts to pour). You can have coffees served from standard machine espressos to halogen lamp pour overs. The hot chocolate (according to my better half) was out of this world -I took a taste and it was that rich spicy chocolate taste - not your bog standard sweet sugary stuff. Nice. Couple of pictures _DSF4625_FlatWhite by Mark Barnes, on Flickr _DSF4627_CoffeeBeansSign by Mark Barnes, on Flickr _DSF4585_CoffeeVendingMachines1 by Mark Barnes, on Flickr _DSF4594_CoffeeVendingMachines2 by Mark Barnes, on Flickr _DSF4606_CoffeeStaff by Mark Barnes, on Flickr _DSF4632_Coffeeshots1 by Mark Barnes, on Flickr

Hi:p Over the years I've had a bunch of electric machines (such as Krupp's Nova 2000 and other point and shoot automatics) but always carried a S/S stove top throughout those years. Grinding was always by hand as I never got round to researching it. Then a friend got the bug seriously and attempted to open a transportable coffee shop with no frills. Looking up answers to his questions is how I found this place and now a year or so of lurking I finally joined up. So i still have a couple of stove top pots, a french press and a turkish copper ibrik and I'm looking for a decent espresso machine now. I have a refurbished Compak K6 for my grinder (64 mm flat burrs) to be used exclusively for espresso and looking for some help to marry this up with a machine. I quite like the cheaper Quick Mills for their industrial look but the curves of the upper echelons of their's and others range are just as desirable! I drink espresso but gf/guests will expect milk based drinks and i'd quite to learn the skill. I have no fear of HX boilers or even well designed thermocoils/blocks.

Hi Everyone, At the moment I'm considering getting a KVDW Speedster for home use, after being enamoured with the Spirits they have in coffeeshops. 1) Is there anywhere around London that one could go and try out the Speedster or have the coffee from it? 2) I was thinking of matching it up with an EK43. Any thoughts related to that? Thank you, Raman

I'm curious as to where people think is the most exciting city/area for coffee. Berlin seems really interesting and packed full of roasters/cafes and I'm really keen to go, but there's plenty of other fantastic roasters and cafes around the world. I thought Dublin was really cool, and I always enjoy a visit to London. Plenty of Scandi countries look promising too. Perhaps some folks who are better traveled than I could impart their thoughts, I'd be keen to hear them! TLDR: If you could visit one place to drink at some of the best cafes, where would you go?

I am considering a trip down to London, maybe a day trip, maybe a weekend. I want to do a bit of a pointless coffee tour, drink some great coffee and see a bit of the city. Any suggestions for cafes or coffee related venues that are worth a visit?

I have NO 211 EK43 LE. It's a home use grinder so hardly used. Owned it for about a year and a half. Sincet its not my only grinder I estimate max 20KG went through the grinder. My coffee routine is only on the weekends (I know I am crazy!) Regular cleaning of the burrs. The grinder is in London (Kensington). Unfortunately its collection only. I am offering this because I am moving and I won't use it. I am leaving on Wednesday so if it goes it goes otherwise I'll keep it. I want 2,500 for it.

As per Glenn's suggestion here's a new thread for the autumn / winter season London Meet Up, shout out to @jlarkin, @hotmetal, @Hibbsy, @MediumRoastSteam from the old thread and happy to see anyone new interested I'm free most weekends and I do understand it might be hard to pick a date which works for all, but lets try anyway I'll kick it off with: who's available in Sept (weekends, probably best to opt for Saturdays as some places might be shut on Sundays)? T.

Looks like you can now get your selfie on your coffee ! Available now in London's tea terrace :coffee: http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/20/tea-terrace-london-now-serving-selfieccinos-7173558/ Edited to add link

Gaggia Classic in great condition for sale. 2006 model pre-philips i.e. larger solenoid / higher wattage Usual mods done (OPV adjusted, rancillio Silvia steam arm installed with a twist!) I found the Rancilio steam tip itself was still not good enough for microfoam so I fit an additional attachment mounted onto the steam wand which I have used on other machines with excellent results. You get a smaller diameter hole making it dead easy to make your microfoam with the added bonus of it now also being a no-burn easy to clean situation. It is also completely removable if you for some reason do not get on with it, unlikely.. which leaves you with the standard Silvia arm. Had been descaled before putting it away, however it has been run on filtered and bottled water. Haven't used it for 2 years now as I have other toys and I'm not allowed any more kitchen surface real estate.. You will get in addition to the standard portafilter (not to be split), A botomless portafilter + a tripple basket A knockbox A tamper A blind disk Enough Cafiza and Citric acid for a lifetime Looking for £150 collection from London, can arrange to deliver myself within London on a weekend if within North Circular boundaries. Although not keen on posting, I will at the buyers risk post with ParcelForce for an extra £15. Will pack extremely well, I promise.

Hi, I'm looking for places in W8 London or central, even east if needed that have espresso made with the EK43, I've been reading/hearing tons about it and how different it is but I'd like to try it myself! Also, any recommendations on good cafes that put tons of emphasis on their espresso? I'm learning the ropes (thanks to the forum) on how to get good coffee, I'm using a double boiler and Mazzer SJ but I really want to get the good stuff to be able to compare it in taste to what I am getting at home. Thanks!

For all you South Londoners, these dudes just opened their doors about 2 months ago. It's a sweet spot, brewing up Brixton-based 'Assembly' coffee as espresso and filter - as well as snacks and a heap of other locally-produced goodies. Great guys doing greater things for the community. Drop in and say hi!

If you'd be traveling tonight and wanna bring some fresh local beans on a budget to a friend that really likes espressos and ristrettos which roaster would you recommend? I know there are tons of threads on the topic, but wanna read some updated and variated feedback ...

Hi all, Just wanted to share a great experience I had at a barista training school in Whitechapel in London called Barist Bar Bar. I did the whole day, which included the 'basic barista course' and then in the afternoon I did a latte art course. It really suited me as a coffee enthusiast with probably beginner/intermediate knowledge - I didn't realise how much I didn't know! Both of the courses were invaluable and my latte art is coming along quite well! Will post a photo of my best attempt below. Gina who runs the place is amazing, really lovely and friendly and explains stuff so well - she obviously has a tonne of experience in the field and that really shows in her teaching. The classes are quite small (less than 10 people) so you get a good chance to make lots of coffees. I really can't recommend this place high enough, it would suit anyone really, especially someone who is a beginner/intermediate. Rory

You can view the page at https://coffeeforums.co.uk/content.php?460-New-map-of-the-Capital’s-queueless-cafes-and-restaurants-reveals-Londoners-north-of-the-river-no-longer-wish-to-wait-in-line

COuld be agood starters setup for someone. I know nothing about the grinder though and doesn't look that great. Nevertheless £50 classic with jug and tamper. https://www.gumtree.com/p/coffee-machines/gaggia-classic-coffee-machine-and-sunbeam-bean-grinder-the-complete-setup/1235670411

Hi, Could anyone give me any recommendations for good Fracino engineers in the London area? I'm based in East London and have a commercial setup (Contempo dual fuel semi-automatic machine in a Piaggio Ape). Thanks, Caroline Perky Coffee http://perkycoffee.co.uk

Not a part of London I spend a lot of time in but I spotted this place and liked the look of it after a morning of terrible meeting coffee. I had a delicious Ethiopian brew on the advice of the crazy (in a good way) person on the till. I'm now adding brew to my options. Really delicious. Nice ACME cups too.