A coffee field trip to London

London. Coffee. Really?

Three weeks ago, I was in London and had a great time checking out new cafes and also meeting some wonderful folks in the business.
In this trip, I saw knowledge, skill and kindness in the people who works really hard in building their businesses. And no matter how small or big the operation is, one main feature remains constant. Passion.

There are different business models. I met Joe O'Hara of Ristretto, whose main focus is mobile coffee services and recently started roasting his own brand of coffee. He is very geeky about machines yet a very grounded business man. His facility is also a training ground for Barista wannabe. I wish to mirror his model of business, consulting, roasting and training all in one. And Joe has hospitality.

Then I met Miles & Chris of Caravan, newly opened restaurant with their own in-house roasting facility in the basement, next to the kitchen. I love the space, the food is great and especially, they took the time to show me around and discussed coffees in length. I appreciated the time they took to hang out with me when I know there is much work to be done running a business. Time is very precious. Best is, Miles helped me with a feature drink recipe I am excited to test it out.
While at Caravan, I didn't realized till much later, the Barista, who has been making me coffees over coffees, is the second place UK Barista Champion Neil Le Bihan of Coffee Exchange. And he has a coffee cart. Yes, a coffee cart. This got me thinking about starting a cart at Dundas Square during Summer or Harbourfront or anywhere I can move around. How Brilliant is that? (this is my idea, all mine! No stealing, but I stole from Neil).

Of course when in London, I have to return to Monmouth and I went to the cafe at Covent Garden. Monmouth is always busy and what I like about them is, despite all the newly start up cafes and roasters, they persistently shun media coverage and also shun the hype coffee competition. Yet, they are never less attractive to the public who bought up pounds after pounds of their beans.

Dose is my accidental find while I was rushing to eat my butcher breakfast (washed down with a Guinness) at Smithfield market. This tightly space cafe has some great ideas regarding menu display and the only cafe that is similar to Toronto coffee scene- hype. Serving coffee using Aeropress and James Philips is also the second place winner in the South East Barista heat. Very accomplished and a lot of coffee terminology which is lost on the consumers. Aropress after espresso after coffee blend and single origin got me all wired up and off I went to Norwich.

My first stop in Norwich is to Little Red Roaster, maybe the first specialty coffee shop in that area?
I promised Kate and Darren a visit when they were in Toronto visiting me. They have a small 2 kg roaster at the cafe which is a conversation piece and the cafe is nothing but charm. Very pretty.

What have I learned? There is a variety of operation models and also everyone supports local roasters. Three of the businesses here roast their own coffees. Nothing is from outside the country. Everything is of high quality.
All the coffee owners love coffee and knows about coffees and is constantly pursuing the art of coffee in the most simple form. Nothing extravagant, nothing complicated, nothing that is lost to consumers. They make me want to drink more coffees (which I happily indulged). And the roasters are all buying some of the best green beans. They walk the talk.

Simple, unadulterated, great products and diverse. That's how I wish Toronto coffee scene to be like.