The Caffeine Chronicles: Sans Pere (CLOSED)

UPDATE (August 2018): Sans Pere has now permanently closed.

Is it a coffee shop? Is it a patisserie? Is it a lifestyle boutique? How about an estate agency? If you're at Sans Pere in Shoreditch, then it's all four, among diverse other identities. Named for owner Barney Goff's late father, Sans Pere occupies a bright, airy space on the corner of Old Street and Great Eastern Street and it's a welcome addition to the area.

There is a seating area on the broad pavement, under a canopy of large umbrellas, which is a great spot for people-watching on warmer days. Inside, you first reach the 'home' section, which includes homewares for sale (I liked the colourful cups and stacks of notepaper), homemade food to consume, and, in the back, the estate agency, which looks much like the rest of the space. With high ceilings and light interiors accented by cheery pops of colour and some very cool, oversized pendant lamps, it's a lovely space.

Over to the left, the café section serves up espresso-based drinks, hand- and batch-brewed filter coffee, non-coffee lattes (matcha, beetroot and turmeric) and various breakfast and all-day food options. The breakfast menu — including eggs and soldiers, and avocado toast — and the post-noon selection of salads, tartines and daily specials also sounded delicious. I had already eaten but it didn't take much to persuade me to order one of the delicious choux pastry bites on display on the counter (£2). The only problem was deciding which flavour to order; I went for the chocolate popping candy pastry (because of course) but the hazelnut and the caramel–vanilla both sounded fab too.

They had an Origin Los Altos coffee from Nicaragua in the hopper and I ordered a piccolo (£2.80). The trend for charging the same price for all white coffees seems to be growing, which is great for latte and flat-white lovers, although less good for us piccolo/macchiato aficionados, sadly. Nonetheless, my piccolo was well prepared and the chocolatey notes of the coffee came through very nicely.

The coffee also paired nicely with the chocolate popping candy pastry, which was a delicious sensory journey with the smooth, rich filling contrasting perfectly with the popping sensation. I probably could have managed another one (or two), but it's good to have something to look forward to for the next visit.

The staff were all really friendly and it was a wonderfully calm but cool place to relax with a coffee, sweet treat or light meal. Just be aware that with all the beautiful goods in the 'shop' section and a small but well-curated selection of retail bags of coffee beans from Origin, Assembly and Colonna, it may be difficult to leave Sans Pere empty-handed.

Sans Pere. 84 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3JL (Tube: Old Street).

The Caffeine Chronicles: Workshop Coffee, Fitzrovia

When I decided to revisit some of my 'old favourites' from London's speciality coffee scene last year, Workshop Coffee's Clerkenwell café was high on my to-do list. Unfortunately, that branch has now closed — a great shame — and although there's a shiny new location in the White Collar Factory in Old Street, its weekday-only opening hours have meant I haven't had the chance to stop by yet. Instead, I decided to return to one of the company's more established coffee bars, in Fitzrovia, which I've been to before but have never written up for this blog.

The Fitzrovia coffee bar is located on Mortimer Street, just off Upper Regent Street and not far from BBC Broadcasting House. It's only a few blocks north of Oxford Circus, but the small, elegant café could feels a world away from the hubbub and the hullaballoo. Each Workshop coffee bar is beautifully designed but I love the way that each one retains its own specific character. The first room, which houses the espresso machine and brew bar, is long and narrow with a stunning Madagascan granite counter. The counter's colours pair nicely with the vibrant teal coffee cups and saucers (which would also go very nicely in my kitchen, incidentally).

It was late on a sunny Saturday afternoon when I arrived and Workshop was relatively quiet. As usual, the coffee selection was excellent. There was a delicious-sounding Cedral from Costa Rica available as a batch brew but I was in the mood for the more floral and green-tea notes of the Ethiopian Beyene, so I ordered this brewed through the Aeropress (£4). I also ordered a piccolo (£2.80) — there were two Central American varieties in the hoppers, but I'm not sure which one I got.

I took a seat on one of the comfy teal sofas in the back room, which feels like being in the living room of a friend with exceptional, Scandinavian mid-century taste. The coffee tables here are made with the same Madagascan granite as the counter. There's room for about 10 customers — depending on how friendly everyone gets — and a little more perching room the hallway between the brew bar and the seating area.

While I waited, I nibbled on a brownie bite (yummy, and just enough of a sweet treat for me that afternoon). They also had a few other cakes and pastries, as well as a couple of sandwiches on offer.

Both of my coffees were really good, but the filter coffee was particularly well brewed, with the subtler flavour notes of the Beyene coming through very nicely. It was a very refreshing brew for a warm afternoon. The presentation was excellent, of course, with the teal crockery coordinating nicely with the furniture.

I paused to admire the 'merch' on my way out. I rather liked the stackable mugs and was interested to see a Pump Street/Workshop coffee–chocolate collaboration.

Sad as it was to see the Clerkenwell Workshop go, it's great to know that there are still other great Workshop options around town — including a new one for me to try out.

Workshop Coffee. 80 Mortimer Street, London, W1W 7FE (Tube: Oxford Circus). Website. Twitter. Instagram.

The Caffeine Chronicles: TAB x TAB

As regular readers know, I rarely visit West London these days, mainly because it isn't very convenient to get there from Bermondsey (I am spoiled living relatively centrally, which means I tend to walk or take a single bus almost everywhere). But when I lived in Marylebone, I used to enjoy strolling over to Westbourne Grove on a Sunday morning for brunch and a spot of shopping. Now, the opening of a new design-conscious speciality coffee shop, TAB x TAB, on Westbourne Grove has wooed me back.

TAB x TAB opened last month and I was intrigued to read about it in the press release I received while in Boston; since then, it's received rave reviews from some of my fellow London-based coffee writers. As I suspect it will be very busy this weekend while the Notting Hill Carnival is on and as I won't be in London for many more weekends until November, I figured that last weekend might be my last chance for some time and I hopped on a couple of buses over to verdant Westbourne Grove. The name, in case you were wondering (I was, but then to some, I am a Tab!), comes from the owners, Mathew and Charmaine Tabatabai. Mathew notes that TAB x TAB combines their passions of "quality coffee, delectable food and compelling conversation."

I arrived just after 10:00 am and all of the sun-drenched pavement tables were already taken, although there was still plenty of seating inside. I took a seat at one of the beautiful wooden stools perched in front of the window, which afford excellent people-watching. There are several other tables inside, both a larger, wooden communal table and smaller offerings. As will soon become a theme in this review, everything is thoughtfully designed and chic, but practical too.

The long, slate-grey coffee bar is home to a gorgeous MAVAM Undercounter espresso machine and there were two coffees available: the Brothers seasonal blend from Ozone and a Brazilian Fatima from Dutch roaster Bocca. There was a Bocca coffee available as a batch-brew filter too but I started with a piccolo with the Bocca espresso (£2.80). My food choice was easier, possibly because I didn't need to read beyond the second item on the all-day menu: avocado on toast with coriander, cashew and lime dressing (£7). Several other light meals and some gorgeous-looking pastries were also available.

I had already heard about the beautiful, hand-crafted ceramic cups, bowls and plates from London-based artist KANA — the first of many collaborations TAB x TAB will have with local artists and up-and-coming designers — but they lived up to their reputation, and I took even more photos of my piccolo than usual. Exercising great restraint (I'm saving for a big, upcoming foreign trip), I didn't buy anything...this time.

The coffee tasted as good as it looked, the creamy, nutty notes of the espresso coming through very nicely. Then the avocado on toast arrived and it looked just as amazing — so much so that the woman next to me asked if she could take a photo of it (at least she asked; another customer placed his coffee on the floor (!) to photograph it, making even me feel rather less extreme in my camera-eats-first philosophy). I would never have thought to combine cashew with coriander and lime in an avocado dressing, but the flavours combined superbly and the dish might even be one of my all-time-favourite avocado on toasts in London. Great care had clearly gone into the preparation of both the coffee and the food, which were presented impeccably despite the constant stream of customers.

After I had finished, I took a few more photos and browsed the 'shop' section, which includes a few lifestyle goods as well as retail bags of Bocca and Ozone coffee, and then rejoined the queue at the counter. I wanted to get a filter coffee to take away, but had clearly hit peak brunch time and after waiting a while, I began to run out of time and decided to settle for my excellent single-coffee experience. Although there are plenty of great coffee shops closer to home, TAB x TAB was well worth the journey and I hope to return again soon.

TAB x TAB. 14-16 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5RH (Tube: Bayswater or Royal Oak). Website. Twitter. Instagram.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Attendant, Shoreditch

I reviewed the original branch of Attendant back in 2013, soon after the public-bathroom-turned-coffee-shop opened its doors in Fitzrovia and have been back a few times since then. There are now two further branches, one near Old Street in Shoreditch and the newest one on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell, which share the original's quirky décor and impeccable tiling, if not its convenient provenance.

I stumbled across the Shoreditch branch while running some errands at the weekend and called in for a coffee and a sweet treat. The café's interiors are much more verdant than the unassuming grey shopfront on Great Eastern Street might suggest. Dozens of leafy green pot plants hang from the ceiling and there is a living wall opposite the counter. The aforementioned tiling, which calls back to the Fitzrovia Attendant's origins, is a vibrant deep green.

I also approved of the diverse pendant lighting. Late on a Saturday afternoon, most of the tables, which run in two lines, parallel to the counter, were occupied. There are also several stools set up by the front window, but, lured by the foliage, I sat at one of the small tables opposite the coffee bar.

Attendant has an extensive food menu, divided into breakfast (8:00 to 11:30 am), lunch (11:30 am to 4:00 pm) and all-day brunch (8:00 am to 4:00 pm), which spans the two. The brunch menu looked particularly enticing, with options like smoked salmon and asparagus eggs Florentine, and rhubarb and cherry French toast. Even the avocado toast comes with maple bacon, basil, strawberry and chilli salsa. I had long since eaten lunch, but managed to find room for a flourless peanut butter cookie (£2.50), which tasted great. The other cookies and cakes — especially the salted caramel brownies — looked delicious too.

Coffee-wise, I was in a filter frame of mind and ordered a V60 pourover (£3.50). The featured coffee was a Guatemalan variety, which tasted lovely and fruity. I also approved of the serving vessel, which I dubbed a coffee goblet. I didn't have time to try a piccolo too but the espresso-based drinks being served to my fellow customers all looked very well prepared. When I first visited Attendant, they were using coffee from Caravan but they now roast their own — and very well, my experiences on Saturday and before suggest.

Although it was busy, the service was excellent: the baristas and servers were friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. Like the Fitzrovia original, Attendant's Shoreditch branch is a great place to spend, if not a penny, then several pounds and a happy hour or so.

Attendant. 74 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A (Tube: Old Street). Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Boston Briefly: Exploring New Neighbourhoods, Shopping and Eating

During my recent trip to Cape Ann, I went into Boston with my family on four days: a day trip, an evening at Fenway Park, and a day-and-a-half at the end of our stay. The weather ranged from cool and incredibly rainy on the day trip, to warm and sunny at the baseball game, to extremely hot on our penultimate day and hot, humid and sometimes rainy on our last day. Ah, New England summers!

Two Weeks on Boston's North Shore: Bex's Guide

I'm a city girl and tend to fill two-week holidays with multiple destination and many activities, but when my parents suggested a family holiday at a beach house near Gloucester, 40 miles northeast of Boston, the idea appealed greatly. We spent two weeks in Cape Ann 24 years ago and I was keen to return as an adult. I thought I'd spend time on the beach, read and write a lot, and take advantage of the regular trains into Boston. The weather was gorgeous so I did get lots of beach time but very little writing time as there were so many other things to do. Apparently, some 2,000 words' worth of things to do, thus this is a long read.

The Boston Caffeine Chronicles: Gracenote Coffee

On our penultimate day in Massachusetts, we packed up our rental house and drove into Boston, dropping off our luggage at the hotel and the car at the car-hire office. It was a swelteringly hot afternoon and I wasn't planning to visit Gracenote Coffee's Boston coffee shop until the following day but when I realised I was so close to its location in the Leather District near South Station, it would have been silly not to go.

Coffee Extraction Class with George Howell Coffee, Boston Public Market

One of my favourite coffee shops from my visit to Boston in February was George Howell Coffee's beautiful flagship café in the Godfrey Hotel on Washington Street in Downtown Coffee. Last time, I didn't have chance to stop by their first Boston café at the lovely indoor gourmet-food market, Boston Public Market, next to Haymarket station, but I made it a priority on my recent trip.