27 March 2014

The Caffeine Chronicles: New Row Coffee Review

"Purveyors of kick-ass coffee," reads the landing page of New Row Coffee's website. I'm partial to good coffee, as well as to the use of the word "purveyor," so I had to go and check out their cafĂ©, which is located on a quiet side street — New Row, funnily enough — between Leicester Square and Covent Garden.


New Row is tiny inside, with only a couple of small tables and a handful of bar stools for perching. There are a few seats outside too, which is great for sunny, if cool, days like last Sunday when I stopped by. As well as the usual La Marzocco espresso machine, they have a tiny brew bar for preparing V60 pourovers with a different coffee variety each day. They also serve a selection of cakes and pastries.




I ordered a pourover du jour, which was a DuKunde Kawa from Rwanda, and a pastel de nata, and grabbed a seat in the corner.


The coffee was very good: light and very slightly fruity, but with enough kick to keep me going through the rest of Sunday. The custard tart was delicious too. Interestingly, they also make their own almond milk each morning. I've been finding that I'm slightly sensitive to lactose for the past year or so, which is part of the reason I've been on such an Aeropress and pourover kick, and although I put almond milk on my granola, I'm not sure I'd like it in a macchiato. One day, I'll have to give it a whirl.



New Row Coffee also happens to be in a part of town that is heavy on coffee chains and not exactly over-run with great independent coffee shops, although there are a few other options nearby. The window seats are great for people-watching. Basically, it's a lovely place for a brief respite from the hustle and bustle of the West End, and serves really good coffee too. Thumbs up!

New Row Coffee. 24 New Row, London, WC2N 4LA (Tube: Leicester Square). Website. Twitter.

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