Long after I had started using the London’s Best Coffee App to fuel my Rocket Cup World Tour of London, the developers obviously responded to my psychic messages and added a feature that I had been pining for in secret: a list of the city’s newest espresso bars, sorted in reverse chronological order.  It was…

When the London’s Best Coffee app informed me that a new espresso bar had opened right on my usual route through Covent Garden up to UCL, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I stopped by. And I’m glad I did, because the new Timberyard location has quickly become one of my favourite places…

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…

Milk Bar is a relatively new cafe that faces Soho Square—or rather, it nearly faces the mouth of an alleyway whose other end opens onto the entrance to Soho Square (close enough, right?). I don’t visit there all that often. It’s a nice enough spot, with attractive art on the walls and perfectly adequate espresso. I…

There’s something especially poetic about the name Nude Espresso. In the context of a cup of coffee, milk and sugar can hide any number of sins. They can drag you back towards the mean, flavour-wise, rounding the corners off of a less-than-stellar bean. But in the preparation of espresso, there’s nowhere to hide. The path…

There’s no escaping it.  The first and most important thing that must be said about Department of Coffee and Social Affairs is that it has the best name of any espresso bar in the city. The name, rendered above the door with pitch-perfect lettering and logo, was the reason that this was one of the first…

The original two iterations of the Rocket Cup were both 3D printed in ceramic by Shapeways (the second iteration was a mild adjustment to the first, based on feedback from Shapeways). As far as I know, Shapeways contracted out its ceramic 3D printing to Figulo, a small company in Boston. Because of the cup’s success, I…

Although I spend most of my work days in the centre of London, I certainly don’t live anywhere near there. I live well out in the southeast of the city, close to one of the main rail arteries. Out here the lands are wild and uncharted, at least by the creators of the London’s Best…

Let’s just get the obvious pun out of the way immediately: Looking for great espresso in the heart of London?  Urine for a treat! Ahhh, that’s a load off my mind.  I’ve been carrying that around in my head for weeks. I can safely say that no tour of London’s espresso scene would be complete…

The trains heading downtown from my home station come in two flavours. While they all eventually find their way to London Bridge, at that point they diverge. Some immediately cross the Thames and terminate at London Cannon Street in the financial district; the rest stop briefly at Waterloo East before terminating at Charing Cross, after…

With my submission to Bridges 2014 in the can, I have some time to proceed with the next stop in the Rocket Cup World Tour (of London). As I’ve spent more time commuting in London, I’ve gradually decreased my reliance on the Tube. I used to ride the Southeastern train in to Charing Cross and…