Giddy Up, Fortune Park and Bếp Haus

The way I see it, I owe the success of the Rocket Cup to Cory Doctorow, who mentioned about it on Boing Boing after seeing it on the Shapeways blog. It is then especially appropriate that the cup should visit Giddy Up Coffee, since that is apparently where Cory gets his morning caffeine fix (if you’re out there, Cory, I’d be pleased to buy you a coffee some day).

I originally attempted to visit the Hoxton location of Giddy Up on the front porch of Floripa, only to discover that they had recently closed. Undeterred, I walked to their nearby location in Fortune Park, where I spent a pleasant time chatting with the baristas and sipping my espresso al fresco.

The lovely (and, inevitably, motion blurred) baristas at Giddy Up in Fortune Park.

I don’t usually patronize the outdoor stands, preferring to find a spot to sit bathed in the soothing glow of my laptop screen. But this stand is in a fun, relaxing spot, and if it were on the path, say, from home to public transportation then I could easily see myself stopping there of a morning. The espresso was great too: they were experimenting with Square Mile‘s Kochere blend, which is a fun fruity change from the usual dark roasts.

The rocket cup taking the air on a bench in Fortune Park.

A few days later I found myself in the vicinity of Giddy Up’s newest location. They were launching an espresso bar in the front of Bếp Haus, a Vietnamese takeout restaurant that had just opened on Bow Lane (and yes, that’s U+1EBF, LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX AND ACUTE). I had another great espresso there, augmented by the delicious smells of cilantro and lime in the background. In discussing music with the barista, he mentioned that his favourite Canadian musician was Neil Young. Another customer, obviously part of London’s finance industry, countered that Canada’s greatest export is central bankers.

The coffee isn’t served up with sweetened condensed milk, but I think the statuette still approves of the cup.

My experience at Bếp Haus might finally be used to justify the “world” in my Rocket Cup World Tour. For what could be more international than being served an Italian drink in a Vietnamese restaurant with a half-German name, prepared by a Spanish barista for a Canadian patron, here in the heart of England? (But stay tuned: the tour now has a US stop, in the queue for later blogging.)

The copper countertop reminds me the dining room table we had when I was a kid.