The Caffeine Chronicles: Ozone Review

The first part of my Shoreditch espresso bar double-whammy was my review of Shoreditch Grind. But the real reason I went to Old Street on Saturday was to check out a relatively new Kiwi coffee bar and cafe, Ozone Coffee Roasters, which sounded amazing. Not only do they roast their own coffee and provide advice on the more hardcore of brewing techniques, but they also do yummy-sounding breakfast, brunch and lunch. I had already eaten when I got there, but I had plenty of room for my second macchiato of the afternoon.

Ozone Coffee Roasters: check out those cakes!

Ozone is on Lenoard Street, a quiet street off City Road, the southern branch of the Old Street roundabout. If you're eating, you can sit at one of the tables, but I sat at one of the long benches in the window while I awaited my double mac. Unusually, the barista avoided latte art in favour of a perfect, smooth white cap to my coffee. There was, perhaps, slightly more milk than I like in my drink, but this was probably for the best, given that I was already on my third coffee of the day. The coffee itself tasted smooth and although I'm not good at picking out the flavour notes in coffee, this one seemed to be pretty complex.

An unusually unadorned macchiato

As well as the tempting food menus, Ozone also offers an even more tempting array of pâtisseries, which sit imploringly next to the till. I almost caved and bought a brownie but it was a hot afternoon and I wasn't very hungry. Ozone is a little quieter and a little less consciously hip than Shoreditch Grind, on a Saturday afternoon, anyway. It's also much less of a freelancer hangout--there wasn't a MacBook in sight. I plan to go back very soon to give brunch a try: the prawn and prosciutto papardelle sounds great, and the sourdough toast with minted mushy peas and extra-virgin olive oil makes a refreshingly different toast choice.

Ozone Coffee Roasters. 11 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4AQ (Tube: Old Street)