We have been at it again, yep we are still drinking too much coffee, but we have recently found some places worth mentioning and some places worth mentioning because they are so bad!
Let’s start off with a couple of ‘Avoid this’ places!
St. John’s Bakery, Neal’s Yard.
While wandering around Covent Garden the other day we tried to find a little, indy, Coffee Shop and we came across two, the first was St. John’s in the lovely courtyard of Neal’s Yard, the yard is a lot more trendy than it used to be, when Vegan was an oddity and the whole space was filled with weird shops and cafés, but in the corner is a little bakers and the coffee prices looked good and the cups OK. But when we asked for an Oat Mocha, we soon discovered it wasn’t as pleasing as it seemed. The response we got was.
Barista: “We don’t have Oat Milk”
Ash: “Ok, so what do you have instead?”
Barista; “Proper milk, we don’t do other stuff”.
Ash: “So what about Lactose intolerant or vegan?”
Barista: “Don’t drink!”
The answers came abruptly and extremely condescendingly, so we just left. We will mark it as a Don’t bother or Never to Return on the Coffee Map. But if you want Diary milk and want to try it, do tell us what you thought.
The second failure if the day is an odd one really. White Pine in Rathbone Place is a cool place, full of stuff to look at and lovely staff. We found this branch not realising they were the same and they’re not, this place has two entrances and is long and narrow and has a peculiar smell! But we stood and checked out the board as we waited to be served.
A barista asked if we ordered a Flat White and when we said no, she just ignored us and continued to ignore us for more than five minutes. She just stood there, wiping cups. We tried to get her attention but she was outrightly pretending we weren’t there. It was odd, but we left without drinks or being seen (literally).
Ironically we ended up in Rathbone Place (to go to the new Sokollab and attempt to try the coffee there but it was closed once again) So instead we went into the White Pine and that’s when we realised the two were the same, the same menu board, the same prices. But not the same attitude. We confirmed that the Covent Garden branch was the same and when we told them of the service they apologised and were as shocked as we were.
Krave Desserts – Northwood Hills
In returning to the CMHoL we headed north, to Northwood Hills the other week and we looked up the best coffee in the area and found Krave Desserts, an Ice Cream Parlour and Cake shop, but it was said to be the best, so we made a bee-line for it.
A standard Climbing Moss order (black Americano & Oat Mocha) were acquired and we walked.
The Americano tasted like Vending Machine Coffee, a bit powdery and a bit watery. The Mocha was tepid at best and not so great.
Perk Coffee & Cake – Carpenter’s Park
Possible the furthest north coffee shop so far on this blog and what a coffee WOW!!
Drawn in by the sign for Lasagne Burger (How? What? Why?????) we thought why not
We stopped at the only coffee shop in the area and ordered the usual and walked. The clientele were old, we mean ooooooooooollld and weird. The staff was a woman who seemed overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but at no point whelmed!
The Mocha was a Latte, there was no Chocolate in it and it tasted odd, the only way to drink it was in one large gulp and then shudder. but it was the Americano that took the biscuit. It was soo sweet, she asked if we wanted sugar in it and we said, ‘A little’ and she somehow managed to pour half a bag in the cup. I mean look at the black Americano its yellow/orange how does that happen?
Ash has a sweet tooth, but could not have drunk that (he doesn’t take sugar in tea or coffee) and Bob was cringing at the sweetness.
Wenzel’s was one of those last ditch attempts to get coffee after 4pm on a Sunday no less! It’s one step up from Gregs – Cheap and no frills. Pretty much we know that the coffee is literally out of a vending machine having watch her input the program and let the machine work its magic. The coffee was ok…nothing amazing. The Mocha had the barest hint of Chocolate and the Americano was a little weak but it was drinkable.
Climbing Moss 