The September Roundup
the best coffee I had this month, plus some news
Live from New York, it’s time for another monthly roundup! I’ve been in NYC the last few weeks, taking lots of coffee walks in Central Park and admiring the pumpkins on brownstone stoops.
While I’ve had lots of amazing coffee here (and will definitely debrief that later), I want to focus this post on some of the best coffee experiences I had in September. I’ll also highlight some exciting coffee news and updates.
Top spot of the month:
Goes to…Simmos. In a fit of autumn rain I ducked into Simmos to stop myself from getting soaked. Man am I glad I did.
The interiors of this cafe are beautiful—clean, minimalist, and charming. The tables have little bouquets of blue hydrangeas that match the blue stripes on the ceramics the coffee is served in.
The staff was lovely, and so was my flat white.
I can’t recommend a canal walk and a stop at this coffee shop more.
Other notable favorites:
E5 Bakehouse at the V&A Storehouse. This is the second time I’ve been to E5’s location in V&A’s new storehouse and have just been so happy to be there both times. The space is comfortable and full of light. Pastries are abundant and very tasty. Great design waits just through the main doors to the museum. I think it’s truly the ideal place to spend a weekend morning (museum included of course).
flat white at E5
Loaf on Paper, Brooklyn. I could have spent all day at this store. Loaf on Paper is a joint stationary store and coffee shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s filled to the brim with absolute cuteness, from the quality journals it stocks to its cat themed branding. While the lines for drinks can get long, I think it’s worth the wait. I ordered a (admittedly very expensive) black sesame cold brew, and it was truly a work of art. It also tasted great. Beautiful drink, beautiful stationary, beautiful space. Wins all around.
a beautiful cold brew from Loaf on Paper
General coffee news and yapping
Pumpkin cream cold brew at home
I love fall-flavored coffee. My absolute favorite is a pumpkin cold foam iced coffee–something there is a notable lack of in London. About halfway through September, after extensively looking for somewhere that served something like this in the city, I decided I could surely just do it myself.
Turns out I was right–it was really not that hard to make. All you need is single cream, pumpkin pureé, milk, vanilla syrup, cinnamon, and a dream. If you blend a few teaspoons of the pumpkin pureé with a splash of cream, milk, syrup, and the cinnamon, you get something pretty close to what you would get in a NYC coffee shop (I would know, I just had some in New York). It will also cost you way less than $9.
Take this as your recommendation to experiment a bit with fun coffee flavors at home, I’m really glad I gave this a try this month.
New and exciting openings:
Rosslyn, Fenchurch St. Station. Anyone who reads Coffee in Hand will know that I’m the biggest Rosslyn fan, so I was super excited to hear they are expanding yet again to another beautiful location in the City. The new shop opened this Monday, and looks stunning. Occasionally when they open a new store, they offer £1 coffee for a few days, so be on the lookout for that!
Tampopo Coffee. A new specialty coffee shop is coming to Putney. Described as being “inspired by Ethiopian/Japanese coffee cultures,” it seems like it will be an interesting place in a beautiful location–perfect for a cup of coffee and a river walk.
Seaborn Coffee. Recently opened in Stoke Newington, Seaborn coffee serves Fireheart beans and some seriously tasty looking cookies. Plus they appear to have a really cool vintage La Marzocco that’s been painted orange.
That’s all for this month’s roundup, see you next time!