I never could get the hang of Wandsworth. Like Southwark, it's a London borough and a district, which confused me. And in any case, that part of south-west London is poorly connected to my part of south-east London. All of this is a long-winded way of saying that it's taken me much longer than it should have to visit Story Coffee's Wandsworth location. But I'm very glad I did!
It helped that I was meeting a friend better trained on the District Line than me. Besides, the sun was out and a lazy, alfresco brunch-time catch-up was just what the doctor ordered. I caught the train to Wandsworth Town, and made the short walk past all the eateries on Old York Road to the Ram Quarter, a newish development that combines some of the period features of the old site with some shinier glass buildings. There are a few places to eat, with a new branch of Friends of Ours coming soon.
Story Coffee is closer to the Wandsworth High Street side of the Ram Quarter. It has a large outdoor terrace, which was pretty busy on such a sunny Sunday, although it was so warm that the most coveted tables were those underneath the awnings. On less clement days, there's plenty of seating inside too, nestled around the gorgeous marble counter that takes centre-stage.
My friend and I grabbed a table outside and then got stuck into perusing the menu. I needed more coffee before I could decide on a brunch dish and ordered a pourover. Story Coffee roasts its own coffee, available on espresso and as a pourover, but they also serve filter coffee from various guest roasters. When I visited, the guest coffee was from Sheffield-based Cuppers Choice Coffee. There were two single-origin coffees available, one from Brazil and one from Peru. If you're a regular reader, it will come as no surprise that I went for the Peruvian coffee, the Toro de Oro grown by 11 small-scale producers in the Cajamarca region. It had delicious summer berry notes, and the sunshine and the Kinto serveware brought out its amber colours (NB, the mahoosive book in the background is not mine!).
But I couldn't come all this way and not have some Story Coffee at Story Coffee, so later on, I had a piccolo brewed with the Story Blend espresso, which combines Brazilian and Ethiopian coffees. The latte art was very impressive and it tasted as good as it looked.
When it came to the food, it was hard to choose between the Turkish eggs, the avocado toast and the scrambled eggs but both my friend and I ordered the latter — I also went for a side of smoked salmon. The eggs were served on toasted sourdough with chive crème fraîche, lemony kale and, importantly, a little purple flower. Because savoury brunch dishes can look pretty too! The food was delicious and fuelled me up for my long walk back to Elephant & Castle, having had enough public transport for one day.
The original Story Coffee is on St John's Hill in Battersea and remains on my to-visit list. I enjoyed my visit to the 'sequel' so much that I'm sure it won't be long before I pay a visit to its older sibling.
Story Coffee. Ram Quarter, 15 Barley Walk, London, SW18 1UL (Wandsworth Town rail). Website. Twitter. Instagram.
For 140+ more of my favourite coffee shops in London, you can also check out my London speciality coffee guide.
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