Monmouth Coffee Company

February 9, 2010 | Map

Whoa, what a cracker! One flat white and I was literally jumping across Hungerford Bridge!

Monmouth Coffee Company is by far my favourite local roaster. On my way back home, I passed their café in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, where it all began in 1978. The roasting is now done in railway arches in Bermondsey, but the original Covent Garden location still exists as a very small café. You will definitely have to queue to sit down, and it is not unusual to queue for take-away likewise, but therefore you get a simply fantastic coffee with a nice pattern of milk foam on top, which you can then enhance/destroy with raw sugar from a bowl, if you so wish.

The roast of the day was advertised as El Guabo from Peru, medium-bodied with medium acidity. Okay, I certainly had coffees that were heavier on the tongue, but this one was strong…ultra-strong! “Sweet lemon and milk chocolate”, according to the description, which was probably not too far off, was it not for the sheer strength that let the coffee linger on the tastebuds for quite a long while – longer than half an hour. If I was to compare this coffee with single malts, this would be an Islay Whisky: delicious, complex, aggressive and long-lasting, but definitely nothing for beginners. Whew!

Note to self: Play it safe next time and order a latte, not a flat white.

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