It’s been a while since we have done a coffee round-up and though we have mostly been visiting our usual shops, we have found a handful of new discoveries, including a Smoothie place.
First up is a viral location that’s been popping up all over social media. This little space is inside the Ivories workspace near Ciro’s Coffee on Essex Road, close to the train station.
A small office unit split into two – one side is an office and the one side is a counter with a small kitchen behind it and one very welcoming owner.
The menu has a total of 5 options, it does change seasonally and when they come up with new ideas. We browsed the menu, checking for allergies and preferences, which narrowed down our selection vastly.
We went for Around the World for Bob and Miss You, Tira for Ash. It’s worth noting that after we had made up our minds, we were told the drink could be customized to take out any ingredients that we couldn’t tolerate – which we really liked!
There isn’t much to do or see in the complex, other than listen to a Flute lesson coming from one of the other units above.
The drinks were good, Bob actually found something with Matcha she liked and Ash was safe with his oats-and-chocolate-flavored drink.
We rated this 4 stars, only for the lack of variety at the time, but depending on the menu, it could end up being a 5.
13th Floor Coffee – Upper Street
Another of the Church-based chain of little mobile coffee vans. This one parked outside of St Mary’s on Upper Street, N1.
Mildly better than the last attempt at a 13th Floor in Stoke Newington, but not by much.
The Coffee was not undrinkable but was very bland and watery. We did go for iced coffee, but it was still flavorless.
The Staff member was also really strange about anyone asking for any variations on a normal drink (eg. oat milk or lack of sugar etc.) Asking multiple questions about why you would want something different and when we took some photos, you would think we were asking for her bank information.
Swash & Jones Coffee – Barnard Park
We had been eyeing this place for months, but every time we are in the area it’s been after 3 pm, so it’s been shut. This week we got there at 2.55 pm and just made it before she closed up. She was friendly and accommodating, but a little frazzled as the electronics seemed to be playing up at the time.
She made the two iced oat mochas in paper cups rather than the standard clear plastic cups, not that it made a difference, it was just a bit strange drinking a cold drink from a ‘hot’ cup.
The coffees were pretty good, the chocolate was all on the top, then it went into stages of flavor rather than a nice blend, but it still wasn’t bad.
Copains – Upper Street
Almost opposite the churchyard mentioned above, in what used to be Sweaty Betty. Now it is a rather fancy, all-grey interior bakery selling rather expensive cakes and sandwiches. We simply went to grab a coffee when we said large, we were surprised when we were presented with an almost mega cup.
It took FOREVER to fill these two cups and we opted to take them to the churchyard rather than sit in the awkward outward-facing benches that everyone seems to hate sitting in (going by facial expressions), plus screaming, obnoxious middle-class children.
We sat and sipped our drinks and suddenly.. Wow… This was truly one of the worst coffees we have had in a long time – maybe the worst of this year. It’s such a shame it was a massive cup of hot water and froth with no flavor or coffee to be tasted.
So, a small selection of places we have been – have you been to any of them? What was your opinion?
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