Best Coffee in the Square Mile?

June 24, 2008 6:06 AM

Best Flat White in the City of London? Coffee-lovers, please advise!

I'm a big fan of Monmouth and in fact I often get my morning coffee at their Covent Garden store before heading to work.

But I work in the City, not too far from Moorgate station and all there is here is the Starbucks/Costa chains! Are there any cafes around here worth checking out? Perhaps ones using Monmouth beans?

At the moment, I'm going to try out the Coffee guys on Whitecross but even if that works out, any other options?

posted by vacapinta to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

If you head towards Liverpool Street Station, along South Place & Eldon Street you'll find a couple of smaller independent coffee shops. Also under Liverpool Street station there is a fairly large shopping area, with about half a dozen coffee shops.

Also the other side of Liverpool Street Station (with respect to Moorgate and the direction you're coming from), along Bishopsgate Street there are a lot of smaller coffee shops.

Not sure what kind of beans these shops are using, but they aren't chain stores (although there a couple SBUX/etc around). The City is very dense, and with such a large working population you shouldn't have any problems finding some coffee to your liking.
posted by Mutant at 6:52 AM on June 24, 2008

I'm informed by fellow Australians that there's actually a cafe in Soho called Flat White, where they do, yes, make superb flat whites. No so good for your morning commute, but thought it might be useful knowledge anyway.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 6:53 AM on June 24, 2008

In that part of the City I fear you're pretty much stuck with chains. As far as chains go, people seem to like Pret's coffee, though personally I'm not a fan. You might have to wait for an Apostrophe to open! The Great Eastern Street one is a joy.
posted by patricio at 6:53 AM on June 24, 2008

If you're happy to go to Liverpool St, the Mr Coffee ("He's so frothy") between the former ABN building and Pizza Express on Bishopsgate is good. It's a fair way from Moorgate just for a coffee though.
posted by patricio at 6:58 AM on June 24, 2008

I've been to the flat white in Soho, and the coffee is fine.
posted by handee at 9:30 AM on June 24, 2008

Flat White
posted by Kiwi at 1:30 PM on June 24, 2008

Response by poster: Followup: The Coffee guys on Whitecross do use Monmouth beans and the Flat White was delicious. There's also a Coffee@ nearby although I haven't tried it.

Note that both of those actually involved me walking over to Islington. I thus deduce that East end Hipsters care more about their coffee than City bankers who just need a caffeine injection. :)

Thanks for the recs on Flat White. I'll head over to Soho and check it out!
posted by vacapinta at 6:29 AM on June 25, 2008

Response by poster: I thought Id' update this thread. I tried Mr. Coffee and the quality wasn't so good.

I did find these guys: Taylor St. Baristas across BishopsGate. These guys and the coffee stand on Whitecross st. are definitely the best coffee around this area.
posted by vacapinta at 2:41 PM on November 13, 2008