OK, the last trip included Taste of Bitter Love Present, Nude Espresso and Climpson and Sons. All were fabulous and I’ve been back to each several times.

There were a couple of other Eastern places I’ve been recommending for a while on my map that I’d not tried myself so I had to make another trip.

I started off on the train to Dalston walking past the Vortex to reach Tina We Salute You. I had a good macchiato in what was a friendly, relaxed cafe set in a residential area. They made good use of Square Mile beans and had what looked a good range of food. There was a large communal table. Getting directions from the staff at Tina, I walked over to the Wilton Way Cafe which is set in quiet residential streets, hidden away in Hackney. It has a very funky, contemporary vibe and makes a decent flat white which I enjoyed with some avocado toast. They use Climpson and Sons beans.

I tried to ignore a local music store selling melodicas (I’d love a melodica) and jumped on a 38 bus heading to Dalston Junction in order to change bus and head to Shoreditch. I completely forgot to get off at Shoreditch though and by the time I got off I was at King Henry’s Walk again and I couldn’t resist a second visit to Tina We Salute You where I had a first class Flat White.

Feeling pretty caffeinated I took a train from Dalston to Shoreditch on the fancy new overground.

I had to get to Shoreditch for a final visit to Penny University before they close up this Friday. It has been the ultimate London Coffee experience, no milk, no sugar, no espresso, just coffee. Tobias Cockerill made me a fabulous Kenyan Tegu woodneck. It was a lovely drink, the flavour improving considerably as it cooled. Very fruity tasting.

http://youngandfoodish.com/coffee/penny-u-a-london-shrine-to-filter-coffee/

https://philwbass.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/london-goes-to-the-dark-side/

Got a bite to eat before heading down to Taylor St Baristas at New Street opposite Liverpool Street station. Amazingly, my first ever visit though I’d been to their Richmond place a few times. The flat white at New St was good though, well worth the wait. It was my fifth and last coffee of the day.

So now I only have one more place to visit on Gwilym’s disloyalty card: Pitch 42 on Whitecross Market

http://www.jimseven.com/2009/12/17/gwilyms-disloyalty-card/

I love the statement on Taylor Street’s site:

“The first time you have a really good coffee can be a bit of a curse. With one sip, your expectations are radically transformed. All other coffee is ruined for you.

Coffee shops that used to prop up every corner of every city block soon reveal themselves to be mere pretenders: the blind serving the blind. Purveyors of limp and burnt and watery coffee.

With one sip, your coffee options dwindle to a precious few: a mere handful of skilled baristas capable of meeting your newly enlightened needs.

Yours is a wretched plight, indeed.

For those who inhabit this lonely world, we welcome you to our humble little corner of the web: a place where real coffee lovers can gather around and share and console and learn from each other.

And for those who’ve happened across this site by accident – who’ve read the above and recognised none of it – we respectfully ask you to leave us in peace and return to”where you came from.