London Coffee Festival 2016

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For the third time in as many years, I trundled off up to Shoreditch from deepest darkest south London to visit the London Coffee Festival held in the Truman brewery. From a short, sudden hit of espresso to the iced fruitiness of cold brew, I love my coffee. So it came as a bit of a surprise that much of the focus this weekend seemed to be on tea. Herbal teas, matcha teas and some English breakfast teas, but still teas.

Starbucks UK is launching the TEAVANA range that has been so popular in the USA. My personal favourites from that range include the jasmine tea and also the mint matcha latte. Other stands had plenty of herbal tea blends, many containing matcha. I loved the idea of this tea pouch from Perkolater. They also make coffee pouches for those times when you have booked a hotel room and there isn’t a Nespresso machine (which is every time in my case!)

Alternative to regular milk popped up often too. Coconut milk lattes are delicious but I’m not sure they will help in my weight loss regime. Can you get skinny coconut milk in coffee shops?

Less latte art this year and a bigger focus on flavour, provenance and good quality coffee machines. It was fantastic to see that Cafe Pods now produce pods for the DolceGusto machine, including pods for a flat white. It’s delicious and as it is unique to them, worth seeking out, Waitrose and Sainsburys are good starting places.

Salted caramel was drizzled on, stirred in and mixed through anything and everything you could imagine at the show. The best being the Hotel Chocolat ice cream. Delicious.

If you love coffee (and this year tea) the London Coffee Festival is worth a visit. One added benefit is that the venue, Truman Brewery, is in Shoreditch. A part of the city well worth a visit, if just for a salt beef bagel.

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