The Caffeine Chronicles: Origin Coffee

At 3 pm on Easter Sunday the music was blaring from one of the bars on Rivington Street, in the heart of Shoreditch. But the scene was much more serene at Origin Coffee, just around the corner on Charlotte Road. Origin roast their coffee in deepest Cornwall — Helston, to be more exact. Charlotte Road is currently their only London outpost, although they are opening a second café at the British Library, just a hop, skip and an ambitious leap from my office.

Origin's shop front is very pared down: brown bricks and large windows that let in the light even on this relatively shaded side street. Inside, the décor is similarly minimalist: white walls, black lights and a sexy dark-wood coffee bar. Thoughtfully chosen framed art work and some monochrome illustrations add character. There are a couple of seats at the bar, a few more just opposite and some tables at the back. They have a downstairs too but it's for their barista training lab.

The brew bar sits just next to the gorgeous black espresso machine and on Sunday, there were a couple of espressos on offer and three filter coffees — one batch-brew and one pourover. I ordered the Ethiopian Nefas coffee brewed as a pourover. There were a few sandwiches and some Crosstown doughnuts on offer too, but I'd already had a filling brunch, so I just took a seat opposite the bar.

At £4.50, the pourover was one of the most expensive I have had in London but it was also among the best. The Nefas coffee has very delicate flavour notes, which include jasmine, bergamot and white peach, all of which came through beautifully, especially the bergamot. I don't always have a good memory for coffees past, but this reminded me of a lovely Ethiopian coffee I had at Little Collins in New York a few years ago. It was light, refreshing and just delightful.

After my brief respite at Origin, I headed back out into Shoreditch where the party was still going strong. I don't make it to Shoreditch that often so I'm really looking forward to Origin's new British Library café; there's always room for another great coffee bar in the King's Cross area!

Origin Coffee. 65 Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3PE (Tube: Old Street, or Shoreditch High Street Overground). Website. Twitter.

"What Goes Up Must Come Down" — Eddie the Eagle Review

Every underdog has his day — that could well be the tagline for Eddie the Eagle. Dexter Fletcher's new film about the life of the British ski-jumper Eddie Edwards never really surprises, but its charm and a strong central performance from Taron Egerton won me over nonetheless.

The film opens in 1973 when a young Eddie (Tom Costello Jr.) announces his lofty intentions of becoming an Olympian despite not being any good at sport. "Frankly, Eddie, you will never be Olympic material," his father (Keith Allen) tells him. His mother (Jo Hartley) is more supportive, though, and by the early 1980s, Eddie has become a moderately successful downhill skier. After narrowly missing out on a spot on the British squad for the 1984 Olympics, he decides to take up ski-jumping instead. "It's still skiing — it's just a bit higher," he says, with his characteristic optimism.

Qualifying for the Olympics as a British ski-jumper is much easier as there was no British team and thus no competitors, although Eddie still has to jump a minimum distance in a recognised competition. As such, he heads off to a German training facility to practice and train with some of the world's best jumpers, including the legendary Matti 'Flying Finn' Nykänen (Edvin Endre). Unusually, actually, it's the Scandinavians who are the baddies: they think he is a joke and try to scare him away from the facility — and the sauna.

Eddie soon realises that he faces some rather substantial stumbling blocks; notably, "how do you land?" He manages to land the 15-metre jump first time ("what a doddle!") but the 40-metre jump proves a more formidable challenge. Luckily, help is on hand in the form of Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a washed-up former ski-jumper turned alcoholic, who grudgingly agrees to become Eddie's coach, realising that it is the path of least resistance — and that the tenacious young jumper is likely to seriously injure himself without training. The Scandis dub the pair the 'sober fool' and the 'drunken coward' but the unlikely duo make a surprisingly good team and before long, Calgary 1988 is within Eddie's grasp. But even if he makes it to the Winter Olympics, will the world ever see him as anything more than a joke?

Although I had heard of Eddie the Eagle, I wasn't familiar with his story before I saw Fletcher's film — the real Eddie Edwards has also said that only about 10% is based on his life. Nevertheless, you know where the film is going right from the start. Even the music is predictable: the jolly synth-pop soundtrack builds up nicely throughout the film until of course Van Halen's Jump plays during the climax. None of this matters, though: we Brits love a good underdog story and Eddie the Eagle is an entertaining and uplifting film. No, you won't be using too many brain cells, but Egerton's Eddie is a sweet and plucky character whom you can't help but like. In this film, he reminded me a little of a young Matt Damon. The contrast between Egerton's cheerful Eddie and Jackman's dour Bronson works very well too and there's a great cameo from Christopher Walken.

All in all, Eddie the Eagle is a fun feel-good-film that probably isn't going to win any Olympic gold medals for film-making, but is a likeable and charming contestant.

Health Insurance, a Love Story — Alice & Oliver Review

Charles Bock's novel Alice & Oliver was, coincidentally, the second book I'd read in a row where one of the central characters — a young, New York woman in each case — is diagnosed with cancer early in the story. But although both Alice & Oliver and Kristopher Jansma's Why We Came to the City are powerful, beautifully written novels, they differ quite considerably in theme and scope. Why We Came to the City is a sweeping, epic tale, where New York City is one of the main characters, Alice & Oliver focuses on the relationship of the two titular characters. Bock's book is often moving and never maudlin, and although many of its 400-odd pages address the intricacies of US health insurance, it is done in an extremely engaging and tender way.

The novel opens in the early 1990s. Alice and Oliver Culvert are very happy together. They have a six-month-old daughter, Doe; Alice works in fashion, Oliver owns a small tech start-up. Life is good. But then Alice is taken ill on a Thanksgiving trip to Vermont and after a medical examination reveals some troubling results, including a dangerously low white blood cell count, she is rushed to hospital in Dartmouth and, eventually, diagnosed with leukaemia.

It is too risky at first for her to be allowed to return to Manhattan but even after she is discharged and allowed to return home, the challenges of dealing with a serious illness, at the same time as being a good mother and wife, are only just beginning. While Alice battles with cancer, Oliver must battle with the insurance company. They are insured, to some extent, but hospital stays and leukaemia treatments are expensive, and they could reach their limit within months, leaving the young couple personally liable for huge bills.

In the wrong hands, this story could easily become overwrought and mawkish, but Bock's Alice and Oliver are interesting and unique central characters. Their deep love for each other radiates from every page, and even on the darkest of occasions, Alice never loses her sense of humour. "Wait until you read the book I'm going to do," she says after losing three pounds post-chemo. "The Chemo Diet. Women will be lining up for chemotherapy." Not that Bock shies away from visceral descriptions of Alice's cancer-ravaged body either. She wants more than anything to survive—to be able to raise her daughter—but she wants Oliver to still find her attractive, and no matter how often she tells herself to "appreciate the now", it is difficult to avoid pursuing the past and pining for an already-lost future.

At times, Alice & Oliver is a little gruelling, but it is also compelling and compassionate. And although it is, technically, about a woman's battle with cancer, it is at its core, a warm and thoughtful love story about a couple who happen to be dealing with cancer.

Disclaimer: Alice & Oliver will be published by Random House in April 2016. I received a pre-release copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

South-East London Speciality Coffee Guide

It used to be that whenever I wanted to spend an afternoon checking out a new speciality coffee shop, I had to go to Soho, Shoreditch or Hackney, but the coffee scene in south-east London has blossomed over the past few years. I live in Bermondsey and it's a delight to have an abundance of great cafes within a 30-minute walk or a short bus ride. I've put together a map and guide to some of my favourite coffee shops in the area — this is far from comprehensive and, in the interests of concision, I limited myself to two cafes per neighbourhood.



Bermondsey
Hej
When Hej opened up in a cheery green building on Bermondsey Square in 2014, I was pleased to finally have a good coffee shop in my neighbourhood. With its Scandi-inspired décor and food menu, Hej is a great place to hang out with a good cup of coffee. They don't do hand-brewed filter coffee but the espresso drinks are really good and there is usually cold brew available in the summer. You can also buy gorgeous flowers from the stall just outside. 1 Bermondsey Square, London, SE1 3UN (Tube: Bermondsey or Borough). Website. Twitter.

Monmouth
The Bermondsey branch of this popular London roaster isn't the biggest location or the most famous, and it's only open on Saturdays from 9–1.30 pm, but it's probably my most visited coffee spot in London, and the queues are much shorter than at Covent Garden and Borough. They serve espresso-based drinks and pourovers, which are always excellent, and they also sell coffee beans. There are no seats but you can perch at the bar underneath the awning. Arch 3 Spa North (bet. Dockley Road and Spa Road), London, SE16 (Tube: Bermondsey). Website.

Borough
Gentlemen Baristas
Possibly the most dapper coffee shop in all of London, The Gentlemen Baristas is a cosy venue on Union Street. The gents themselves — Henry and Edward — and their staff are very friendly and they serve great Aeropress- and Chemex-brewed coffee as well as espresso drinks. 63 Union Street, London, SE1 1SG (Tube: Borough). Website. Twitter.

Brockley
Browns of Brockley
Browns has been serving delicious coffee and food to the denizens of Brockley since 2009. Their coffee is from Square Mile (filter and espresso drinks are available) and the cakes are excellent. There is also a lovely relaxed atmosphere, especially at the weekend. 5 Coulgate Street, London, SE4 2RW (Brockley Overground). Website. Twitter.

Camberwell
Daily Goods
Camberwell has a booming speciality coffee scene and it was hard to pick just two cafes, but Daily Goods with its always well-brewed coffee had to make the cut. They serve Workshop coffee in a bustling, artsy cafe on Camberwell Church Street. Don't miss the avo toast! 36 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8QZ (Denmark Hill Overground). Website. Twitter.

Fowlds
Fowlds, located on the western side of Burgess Park, gets a bonus point for its cute cat and another for being the only cafe–upholsterers hybrid in London (possibly the world), but doesn't need either. It is tiny, with a few small tables inside and a few more out front when the weather is clement. The coffee is from Square Mile and the baristas make a mean macchiato. They sell delicious fresh bread and serve sandwiches and cakes too. 3 Addington Square, London, SE5 7JZ (Tube: Kennington). Facebook. Twitter.

Deptford
London Velo
There aren't quite as many options for good coffee in Deptford as in some of the other south-east London neighbourhoods, but London Velo will serve both your caffeine and cycling needs. The cafe and bike shop is located on Deptford High Street and serve great Union coffee (espresso drinks and V60 pourovers), as well as bagels from Brick Lane. 18 Deptford High Street, Deptford, London, SE8 4AF (Deptford Bridge DLR, or Deptford rail). Website. Twitter.

Forest Hill
St David Coffee House
The most southern, although not quite the most eastern, coffee shop in this list, St David is worth the trek from central London to leafy Forest Hill. The cafe is cosy and cheerful — more shabby chic than minimalist — with friendly staff and great cakes and brunch. The coffee, from Square Mile, is also good and Aeropress and V60 brew methods are both available. St David Coffee House. 5 David Road, London, SE23 3EP (Forest Hill Overground). Twitter.

Peckham
Old Spike Roastery
Coffee with a conscience! This petite Peckham roaster and coffee shop was set up to support local homeless people by providing jobs, training and housing. They serve coffee and beans and sell doughnuts from Crosstown — you can walk off your treat on the nearby Peckham Rye Park. Old Spike's coffee is also served in Camberwell-based Lumberjack. 54 Peckham Rye, London, SE15 4JR (Peckham Rye Overground). Website. Twitter.

Small White Elephant
A block south of Peckham Rye station, this cosy cafe feels like a particularly colourful, comfortable living room. The coffee is from Alchemy and each cup is made with love. They serve V60-brewed pourovers and the wonderfully named 'Al Pacino' (an almond-milk cappuccino, of course), among other drinks. The cakes are particularly good too. 28 Choumert Road, London, SE15 4SE (Peckham Rye Overground). Website. Twitter.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Daisy Green

After hearing Brian, of Brian's Coffee Spot, sing the praises of Beany Green, I have been wanting to pay a visit to the Aussie-inspired mini-empire. There are four Beany Greens around London, but none of them are in my regular stomping grounds. But their relative — parent, I believe — Daisy Green, which is just a couple of blocks from both Marble Arch and Selfridges was in just the right neck of the woods when I was in need of a coffee break while shopping in Marylebone on Sunday afternoon.

Daisy Green is in the heart of Portman Village, on the corner of Seymour Street and New Quebec Street — it's actually just a five-minute walk from my old flat, so it was nice to re-visit my former neighbourhood. There are a couple of deckchairs outside, ten or so seats in the cafe's sunny ground floor and further seating in the whimsically decorated basement. I arrived just at the sunniest point of Sunday afternoon and although it was gorgeous to sit in such a bright, sunlit cafe, the combination of the sun's rays, large mirror and white walls led to some challenging photography. Not that I'm complaining.

Mid-afternoon, Daisy Green was still bustling but the staff were all remarkably unflustered, and friendly to boot. I had already eaten so wasn't able to sample the Aussie brunch menu — I'll have to come back for the broccoli and corn fritters and for the shakshouka (both £9) another time. Instead, I ordered a piccolo (£2.50) and a slice of banana bread (£2.50) and took a seat at one of the bar stools that surround the ground-floor cafe.

With its vases of colourful flowers and flower-inspired décor, Daisy Green is one of the prettiest cafes in London. I also liked the way the neon pink and green of the bags of coffee beans — from The Roasting Party — matched the flowers. The weather was nice enough to sit outside but I settled for people-watching near the window instead.

My coffee was good — a rich, chocolatey piccolo — and came in one of the loveliest, and most colourful cups I've ever used. The banana bread arrived slightly afterwards; I had it toasted, as recommended by the barista, and it was so good that I could easily have managed a second slice.

My visit to Daisy Green has persuaded me to check out some of the Beany Greens. The Broadgate Circus location is the most local to me so I'll have to make time to stop by next time I'm in Liverpool Street.

Daisy Green. 20 Seymour Street, London, W1H 7HX (Tube: Marble Arch). Website. Twitter. Open: M–F: 7–6, S–S: 9–5.

Après Moi le Déluge — Disorder Review

This week's Odeon Screen Unseen promised "something surprising, something stunning, something special" and it didn't really deliver on any of those things. That said, Alice Winocour's Disorder (entitled Maryland in its French release) is a compelling piece of cinema that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Matthias Schoenaerts stars as Vincent, a soldier who fought in Afghanistan and has been put on leave for medical reasons: he has PTSD and some hearing loss. His friend Denis (Paul Hamy) gets him a security job at a fancy party at the luxurious Côte d'Azur mansion of a wealthy Lebanese businessman. Some suspicious characters attend the party, and Vincent overhears threatening behaviour and complex political machinations.

Later, Vincent returns to the estate ('Maryland') for another job: looking after the businessman's German wife Jessie (Diane Kruger) and their son Ali (Zaïd Errougui-Demonsant) while he is abroad. Jessie and Ali just want to relax and go to the beach, but Vincent feels as though they are constantly being threatened. He checks and rechecks the security cameras and almost runs the car off the road when he thinks he is being followed. Jessie isn't impressed and it is not clear to the audience how much of this threat is real and how much Vincent has imagined or overestimated.

Winocour makes the audience feel every modicum of Vincent's tension and conflict — aided by a strong performance from the ever-excellent Schoenaerts. Discordant noises and high-pitched feedback dominate the soundtrack, adding to the discomfort. Towards the end, the film becomes a little home-invasion-by-numbers and the ending is weaker than it should have been. If you are looking for a plot-heavy thriller, Disorder isn't it, but the film is a thoughtful, dark and meticulously executed character study. Kruger and the supporting cast are fine but it is really the Matthias Schoenaerts show as he allows us to gradually get to know the troubled, complicated Vincent. I have a feeling that this film might get a Hollywood remake that will probably end up making unexceptional Saturday-night-TV fodder, which would be a waste.

To clarify my point at the beginning of this review, Disorder wasn't surprising because I had scoured Twitter and the interwebs to try to establish which film would be shown; it wasn't stunning, although you could argue that Vincent is stunned; and it wasn't special for me because it wasn't quite up there with the outstanding films usually selected for Screen Unseen. Nonetheless, I have no complaints about the film choice.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Mouse Tail Coffee

I have enjoyed coffee from Mouse Tail's coffee vans outside the Canada Water and Peckham libraries on numerous occasions, so I was very pleased when I heard that they had opened up a café in my local library, the John Harvard Library on Borough High Street. In an effort to cut weekend procrastination and crack on with some writing and holiday planning, I have spent a couple of Sunday afternoons hanging out in Mouse Tail's John Harvard base.

The café occupies a bright and airy section of the library close to the Borough High Street entrance. There are long wooden communal tables, as well as smaller tables with comfier chairs. On both visits, Mouse Tail was heaving, with barely any free seats; it is a good place for lingering with a book or a laptop and has given the library a great buzzy vibe.

Mouse Tail's coffee vans generally only serve espresso-based drinks but the Borough café also serves single-origin pourovers (£3), brewed through the V60. The first time I visited, I tried a Kenyan coffee brewed as a pourover, which was fruity and refreshing — just what I needed to get me through a busy afternoon's coffee blogging. It was also really nice to see the barista introducing customers who weren't familiar with pourovers to the V60 technique. Welcome to the dark side!

The following week, I ordered a macchiato (£2), which was smooth and chocolatey with a hint of fruitiness, and which had a very good latte art heart. Mouse Tail's name comes from a term used by baristas to describe a perfectly extracted stream of espresso, and their espresso shots are rather good. The current espresso blend combines varieties from Brazil and El Salvador and I liked it a lot.

As well as the coffee menu, Mouse Tail also serves cakes, breakfast, brunch and lunch. The brunch menu looked great and was very reasonably priced so I'll have to go back to try it some time. The Borough branch is open 8–6 during the week, 9–4 on Saturdays and 9–3 on Sundays (the library itself is open a little longer so you can stay to finish your drink). They also have a small coffee bar on the Whitechapel Road, and the two vans are based at Canada Water and West India Quay, at present.

Mouse Tail Coffee. 211 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1JA (Tube: Borough). Website. Twitter.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Lumberjack

Over the past few years, Camberwell has jumped to the forefront of the south-east London speciality coffee scene. With the arrival of Daily Goods and The Pigeon Hole, Camberwell Church Street alone has become a hotspot for fine coffee — and now Lumberjack makes three. The new cafe opened up a few weeks ago at number 70, just across the road from The Pigeon Hole.

Lumberjack's USP is its focus on what it terms the three Cs: coffee, craftsmanship and community, all of which were in rich supply when I stopped by for coffee a couple of weeks ago. Huge glass windows adorn the shopfront, which let in a lot of light, even on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Inside, the café is light and airy with plenty of locally sourced wooden furniture (from London Reclaimed). There are a handful of seats near the coffee bar in the front room, and a few more small tables in the back room. The downstairs isn't quite finished but will be opening soon.

The coffee is from Peckham roaster Old Spike, another local favourite of mine, and there is a pourover bar for V60-brewed coffee as well as the usual espresso-based drinks. The coffee bar was garnished with some gorgeous looking cakes — the Jaffa cake looked particularly epic — but I had just eaten brunch at Honest Burgers and was too full for cake. Instead, I ordered a pourover (£2.30) and took a seat at one of the tables in the front room.

My coffee came in a gorgeous ceramic mug, which is produced by a local artist, whose wares are on sale at Lumberjack. They would make wonderful gifts — or gifts to self! The V60 itself was very well brewed: the fruitier notes of the Ethiopian variety came through very well. I wanted to try the espresso too, so I also ordered a macchiato (£2), which was also very good — the cup it came in wasn't quite as unique as the mug, but I could never be disappointed with Acme crockery.

There was a steady stream of customers while I was there — both locals and passersby — and it's nice to see that Lumberjack's little community is already taking off. They are Kickstarter funded and reinvest all of their profits back into supporting the training, support and career development of young people aged 16–25. The staff are very friendly too and it's a really lovely place to hang out with a good cup of coffee and a slice of cake. Stop by, and soak up Camberwell's flourishing coffee scene.

Lumberjack. 70 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8QZ (Denmark Hill Overground). Website. Twitter.

Rarely Pure and Never Simple — Truth Review

James Vanderbilt's Truth is the best movie about superscripts that you will see all year. But although it is a good movie, it isn't the best movie this year about a team of ace reporters in the early 2000s as they try to uncover a shocking scandal — that accolade goes to Spotlight, to which Truth makes a nice companion piece.

(Elisabeth Moss, Cate Blanchett, Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid in Truth. Image credit: Warner Bros)

Truth explores the story behind the now-infamous 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report that alleged to reveal evidence of discrepancies in President George W. Bush's military service during the Vietnam War. At its centre are top producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and much-loved anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford), who assemble a first-rate investigative team to help them discover the truth. The whole story rests at first on a single memo that suggests Bush, and other sons of influential families in Texas, may have received preferential treatment in order to enlist in the National Guard and thus avoid being sent to Vietnam. If true, this is huge, but the provenance of the memo is uncertain, and so Mary and her team must try to find out the facts and gain the confirmation they need.

I say that the story is now-infamous, but I hadn't heard about it before and then inadvertently ended up finding out the whole story online before watching the film, which coloured the way I viewed the film and judged the characters. If you don't want to know what happens, look away now!

One of the reasons I tired of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom was the insufferable self-righteousness of the characters. We are doing journalism properly and we will get our two confirmed sources and we will find the truth, the characters told us each week. The first hour or so of Truth feels a bit like like an episode of The Newsroom: the characters find what might be a great scoop, they investigate, they pull together enough verification to run the story, and it is a huge success. Mary, Dan and co celebrate together, job well done. "We're 60 Minutes; we are the gold standard," they say. But then the criticisms begin, niggles at first: bloggers who spot problems with the memo that may mean it couldn't have been written on a typewriter in the 1970s. A large part of the plot hinges around whether such typewriters had a superscript key.

Before long, though, the whole story is crumbling around Mary and Dan, as more and more problems with the reporting are identified until an internal investigation is launched. Did Mary ignore some of the warning signs in order to push her own "radical feminist agenda", for instance? Either way, she and her team made some huge oversights in their reporting, perhaps because she had so much faith in the story, that she was blind to the reasons it may prove to be false. And this is where the reporting differs from Spotlight: the Spotlight team also believe passionately in their story but large parts of the film are allocated to their painstaking, diligent work to prove that they were right. Mary, meanwhile, is rushed to air the story and she and her team make a lot of mistakes, regardless of what the whole truth may be.

Truth is as compelling as Spotlight and Blanchett is very strong as the passionate producer who is blinded by the ambition of her story — I last saw her in Carol, a very different role, which demonstrates Blanchett's fantastic range and control. It's also true that Truth is, narratively, more complicated than Spotlight, where we can root for the heroes because they are doing the right thing and they are right. We want to root for Mary in Truth — we want her to be proved right — but it isn't that simple. And I think that is what I struggle with: the film is based on Mapes' memoir and the film seems far too one-sided. It leaves little open for interpretation, as its characters speak solemn, Sorkin-esque words about their profession. "I was there the day they figured news could make money," Dan tells Mary.

The film is well structured and has a great ensemble cast, but many of the supporting cast-members are under-used, especially Elisabeth Moss, but also Dennis Quaid. Just like the 60 Minutes report, Truth is very much the Mary and Dan show. The story is fascinating and the film is engaging, but ultimately, Truth left me feeling slightly unsatisfied. The truth, I suppose, is still out there.