It’s been a busy month so this month’s news is necessarily brief.

London’s Best Coffee

Derek and the team have worked hard on this one and it’s great to see London’s Best Coffee app in website form. Not only are all the cafe reviews here with some great new photos but also news stories most days. I’m proud to be a part of this team.

Craving Coffee

Matt and Rachel Ho have opened this superb space in Tottenham featuring local roasters Weanie Beans and great food sourced from local producers. It’s a friendly cafe and well worth a visit.

Mission E2
Opened by the Sager and Wilde team, it’s a restaurant come bar but also presenting quality coffee from Square Mile.

Hubbard and Bell
Another restaurant/cafe with a strong coffee offering (Origin and other roasters) set in the new Hoxton Hotel in Holborn, which also features the Holborn Grind.

Hatch coffee in Bermondsey, after many rebrands is now Tremors, Drew’s coffee no doubt still superb. David Robson has parted company with Sharps Cafe and, it remains to be seen how that site will develop although it remains open and operated by Sharps Barbers.

Fields Cafe
Fields has opened in Clapham Common, featuring superb roasters Workshop and Koppi and no doubt, food delights along the lines of the offer of their big sister cafe, M1LK.

Saint Espresso

Saint Espresso, the second venture from the owner of Camden’s Leyas, has upped the coffee offer at Angel and is indeed a cafe design worth a visit with coffees on offer from Square Mile, Notes and range of roasters. There is also an impressive tea library.

The Commune at Goodhood
Square Mile and guest roasters feature here along with a range of food at this cafe inside a clothing store in Curtain Road. Expect great things.

Along with visits from top roaster, Scott Rao, James Hoffmann’s book ‘A World Atlas of Atlas‘ has been published and is an essential purchase. Composed of three sections, an introduction to coffee, a brewing guide and an atlas it seems a great read for those keen to develop their coffee related learning though I’ve only had time to flick the pages as of yet.

October promises the opening of a new cafe from one of the original London speciality indies in Whitechapel. Additionally we look forward to the opening of Story Coffee in St John’s Hill and numerous other planned coffeeshops in many parts of London.

September also saw my birthday and a special birthday gig at Notes Covent Garden featuring a great atmosphere and a couple of bands. I should offer huge thanks to the Notes staff who did a great job of hospitality on the occasion.

photo by Jon Bergdahl

This special T-shirt was designed especially for my birthday – yes it refers to me and the otter is my favourite animal. There are a small batch available to buy for £25 in high quality, ethically produced cotton available from artist Tim Shaw’s site or by contacting me. Artwork by Tim Shaw, concept by Cally Arts.

Phil Wain created the original London Coffee googlemap and writes for Caffeine Magazine and London’s Best Coffee App and website. His jazz trio plays regularly at Notes Covent Garden.