London coffee festival 2021
Wednesday 22nd September. Up bright and early to get to the Roastery. Make a coffee for the road
and away we go. A few hours later we arrive in London ready for The London Coffee Festival 2021.
We drop off our coffee and merch at the Festival venue ready for the first day on the Thursday, then It’s time to go and seek out some of London's great coffee shops.
First stop is Ozone Coffee, I went for a cold drip (my favourite!) and poached egg on toast. The food And coffee was so good, and the vibe of the place was great. Buzzing with people, and a cosy vibe despite the place being huge! Downstairs was a roaster, and again had a trendy and cosy vibe. A lovely place!
The next stop was Origin Coffee. I absolutely love their coffees so I was very excited for my first visit to one of their shops! As expected, I loved it, the clean and minimal interior, the cosy vibe, and the batch brew was outstanding! I could have stayed all day sipping away at different coffees!
Ok! Onto day 1 of the coffee festival! Doors opened at 10am, so we were they earlier dialling in the Single Origin Tanzania we were having on that day. We were part of the La Marzocco Roasters village so we were using the Linea Minis. Oh what a dream they are to use , and so pleasing to the eye too! Our Ritual Roasters stand was looking great and ready to go!
10am came and the doors opened! It’s worth noting this was the first time I had attended the London Coffee Festival , let alone exhibited, soo was a tad nervous, but once I got chatting about coffee the excitement kicked in!
The first two days were trade days, so I met a lot of people who own cafes and coffee shops which was cool! Our neighbours were Girls Who Grind Coffee, Pelicano Coffee, Outpost Coffee and many other great roasters!
I made plenty of espressos. In fact I had consumed that much coffee dialling in and tasting throughout the day that I had consumed way too much caffeine!
That being said I did make my way around the festival to sample some coffees from other stands of course! I couldn’t be surrounded by so much awesome coffee and not try some! I had the most incredible pour over from Plot Roasting. Their stand was incredible, they were using Orea drippers for their pour overs so it was great to watch, and nice to see the Orea show its face at the festival with it being a very new brewer.
I also had a lovely Mexican batch brew from Kickback Coffee and the Hasbean stand had a great tasting section where you could try the same coffee just different processes so washed, natural etc. this was super interesting, especially if your still getting to know coffee processing and the difference it can make on taste.
There were so many amazing stands, I didn't know where to look first! There were lots of demos and I spent a little time enjoying latte art live with some very talented people. There were some great gear stands to look at too, and La Marzocco had a very beautiful and impressive selection of espresso machines in action at their stands!
The evening were for parties! Woop! We attended a La Marzocco evening party, where I spontaneously took part in their latte art throw down. What a great vibe there was!
Up on the stage behind the Linea Minis, and an awesome bunch of people, high fives were exchanged with my competition before the round started!
More La Marzocco parties and a Minor Figures Party too, our evenings were filled with great vibes and fun!
The Saturday and Sunday were public days and these were great because it was the
days I got to meet you lovely lot! So many of you came to the stand to say hi and try some coffee, it was great to meet you all face to face! These days were a bit tougher because of the heat on the top floor (oh my was it warm up there!) but it was still so much fun chatting to everyone and making coffees!
Day four of the Festival ended and I took a moment to reflect on the awesome time I had. Sure, it was tiring and non stop! So much talking and partying was full on but wow what a week it was.
It was an overwhelming week in London, but I had the time of my life . Surrounded by Coffee and so many passionate people, it was a baristas dream! If you haven't been and are considering it then I would recommend a whole day ticket as there is so much to do. I will be back there for sure next year!
Hope to see you there!
