Wake Up and Smell the Best Coffee in SW London and Surrey
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
For coffee lovers hankering after a delicious home brew, here are 9 of the finest local coffee roasteries delivering freshly roasted beans to our doorsteps
With many of us now WFH and homeschooling, we need a decent coffee to get us through! So we’ve rounded up a top list of the best coffee available from local roasteries. You’ll find tasting notes, origins of the coffee beans, organic, decaf and batch numbers. Discover the stories behind these small batch, award winning and independent coffee makers. Most importantly, they are delivering ground coffee to our doorsteps in south west London and Surrey, for you to enjoy at home.
9 of the best coffee roasts
1
Chimney Fire Coffee
Chimney Fire Coffee are so passionate about their coffee that they recommend the water temperature (96C, a minute off boiling) and the best time after roasting to brew (five days minimum, to allow the flavour to settle). And don’t be using hard London water, it can cause bitterness in your coffee and damages the taste. Such perfectionism won this Surrey Hills roastery a Time & Leisure Taste award. Start with their single origin Peruvian espresso roast, with flavours of chocolate, biscuit and blackberry.
2
Alchemy Coffee
Award-winning Alchemy Coffee supply the Dorchester, while SW19 cognoscenti can try to taste their unusual and delicate grounds at Coolangatta cafe. The roastery in Wimbledon’s Lyon Road proudly uses a vintage, pre-war roaster made by a German company called Probat, whose massively thick cast iron frame gives a very stable temperature – and sensational results. Famed for the best decaf going: its Colombia Huila with notes of caramel, raisin and almond. (from £11.75/250g)
3
Curious Roo
Putney’s popular Artisan cafe sources coffee from Curious Roo, an independent small batch roastery based in a converted warehouse in Chiswick. Founders Edwin and Magda learned the coffee trade in Uganda. Their Barn Door Blend mixes washed Colombian beans from Pitalito, Huila, with a natural Brazil from the Minas Gerais region, and tastes of dark chocolate and cherry with a bit of caramel. (from £9 / 250g)
4
Assembly Coffee
Brixton’s Assembly Coffee take an intellectual approach to their product, labelling their packets with the exact variety of coffee plant and the height above sea level it was grown. For example, the house espresso is yellow bourbon coffee from a single farm in the Sul de Minas region of Brazil, run by a lady called Priscila who inherited from her dad when she was 18 years old. Go, Priscila. (from £10 / 200g)
5
Beanberry Coffee
Beanberry Coffee reckons it was the first UK roastery to focus on organically grown coffee, because coffee-farming can be heavy on pesticide use. Kingston shoppers have been making a beeline for its coffee bar next door to the Bentalls Centre since 2016. Small batches are roasted on demand at its roastery in Woking, and orders are posted within 48 hours for freshness. Any coffee not sold within ten days of roasting is sold at a discount. (from £7.50 / 250g)
6
Capital Coffee
If you use a Nespresso machine, you’ll notice that Wimbledon roastery Capital Coffee sells its own capsules containing a blend of South American, African and Central American arabica. Customers report that they work well as an espresso or a lungo, and taste pretty fine in a latte or a cappuccino too. “I’m recommending them to everyone!” writes Laura M. At less than £15 for 80 capsules, it is a snip. (from £6.87 / 250g)
7
Surrey Hills Coffee
It’s useful that you can buy filter papers and old-style coffee drippers from Surrey Hills Coffee, as well as their blended and single origin coffee. Chris and Monika’s versatile Holmbury Hill blend is the one they serve in their cafe in Guildford, a delicious mix of Brazilian and Colombian arabicas. (from £5.95 / 250g, free local delivery)
8
The Black Cab Coffee Co
They will grind the beans to your specification at The Black Cab Coffee Co in Battersea’s Nine Elms Lane, depending whether you drink filter or espresso. Try the India Monsoon Malabar coffee, warm and rich with the taste of toffee. Oh yes, and they actually do have their own black cabs, which you can hire. (from £10 / 250g)
9
OVER THE RIVER
Chapter Coffee in Kensington believes that coffee is best enjoyed with a good book, and names its blends after famous authors. Sip the maple syrup and stone fruit flavours of its award-winning Golding as you read Lord Of The Flies, or sample the butterscotch, vanilla and lemon curd tang of Tolstoy as you lose yourself in Anna Karenina. Chapter’s signature blend, Shakespeare (naturally), has notes of milk chocolate and roasted nuts. (from £7.50/250g)
