“Adventure in life is good; consistency in coffee even better,” – Justina Chen
What could be better than being huddled in a room with coffee from all around the world? The strong smell of freshly ground coffee wafts through the air. It is a pleasant mix of dark aromas twisting through conversations and between coffee cups. Everyone gathered here all have one thing in common: the love of coffee.
The London Coffee Festival is being hosted at the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane from 6-9 April. It is synchronicity that it happens to coincide with my London travels.
The festival unites us to celebrate all that is coffee. It is a feast of the top coffee roasters in London and from around the world, with skilled baristas showing their art and roasteries sharing their alchemy. There will be food pairings, coffee competitions, launching of new flavours… essentially every coffee lover’s dream.
The momentous event offers a martini party, home barista workshops, live latte art, tasting room, immersive coffee journey, and art projects.
Art exhibit launched to raise awareness for Project Waterfall, a scheme to bring clean water to coffee-growing communities.
As a humble caffeine addict, I do not claim to profile coffees to adequately determine the blend, origin, and roast. But I appreciate a good cup of coffee and great ambience.
And that is exactly what I found at the London Coffee Festival.
I geared up for the London Coffee Festival, armed with my reusable Ecoffee Cup, my wits and my camera.
I was doing some last minute coffee prepping at the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs. Barista Hustle proved to be a very helpful site that guided me through the basics of roasting, cupping and tasting. Although I would not say I am now an expert, I am definitely better off than I was a week ago.
I arrived at the coffee festival early to get a head start before the main doors opened. Yet, I still struggled to find my bearings. The festival is a complex network of different rooms, passageways and staircases. Everywhere I looked there were bouncing baristas, syphons, coffee machines and colourful coffee cups. The rooms were all spinning with colour. I looped around at least three times and I still struggled to figure out what I wanted.
The coffee at the festival is free, and there are even self-serving coffee machines!
Some of the tasty treats at the London Coffee Festival.
Luckily, people were handing out free samples. I successfully managed to treat myself to various tastings, including coffee, hot chocolate and doughnuts.
The atmosphere at the festival was contagious! By midday everyone was hyped up on caffeine and conversations were bubbly. I managed to put my last minute coffee prep to good use and asked about the different roasts and blends. Testing myself – I tried to profile the coffee and discern the flavours. I threw in terms like “it has a great body,” or “it’s delicate on the tongue, is it a light roast?”
I was right 50% of the time, which was good enough for me.
Dhan Tamang, UK’s three-time Latte Art Champion.
I will be heading back to the coffee festival over the next few days to soak up the coffee culture and experiment with new stalls. There is more than enough to keep you entertained. Even South Africa is being represented by award-winning Truth Coffee Works with its signatory steampunk theme which is paired with The New Black. They will be showcasing their amazing Deep Dark and Twisted roast this weekend.
After all this time, I had still not gotten a single cup of coffee. I was so absorbed by the tasting and exploration. I resolved to get a latte from Beanberry Coffee Company, a local London roastery, on my way out. It was midday and the festival was getting very crowded. Then I set off, back down Brick Lane with coffee in my hand and the sun on my face. I was absolutely buzzing.
