Too Much Coffee

Many apologies if this is common knowledge, but there used to be a lovely shop selling beans underneath the arches just outside Waterloo Station in London. Then one day - it was gone! I hope they were so successful they went somewhere nice and continue selling, but I never found out. Any ideas?

Thanks, Martha.

If you mean the Drury Tea and Coffee Company, they moved a few hundred yards down the road some years ago. I can't reach their Web site at http://www.drury.uk.com/ right now to get you the precise address; they sell online now also.

Cheers,

Hugh

UPDATE : Their Web site is now accessible and their address is given as : The Drury Tea & Coffee Company
3, New Row
Covent Garden
London
WC2N 2LH
- so they must have moved again.

Drury is also the Coffee Machine Company. Their roastery is just south of London Bridge. Do a search here for more info/recent posts on the Coffee Machine Company. However, if you actually want to just buy beans from them, the best place to go is Drury in Covent Garden.
D

When I bought my (now gouzeri's) Rocky from Drury's in Covent Garden, they proudly gave me some of their espresso blend to try. You'll like it, they said.

I didn't. It was (IMO anyway) stale and unpleasant.

I've never had any other roasted from them since, so maybe that was a one-off. It certainly didn't endear them to me though. If I was going to Covent Garden to buy roasted, I'd go straight to Monmouth.

I think it depends on your expectations Phil But the 1 kilo bag (of supposedly their best stuff) they gave me free, did seem to last an awfully long time If I was in the Covent Garden area and had the choice, I'd start with Monmouth, then Algerian Coffee Stores and last Drury if the others were out of stock
This may not actually help if Martha was looking to travel no further than Waterloo though.

I was at their roastery just before christmas picking up a new steam pipe for my machine. I was _stunned_ at the size of their roaster! I only saw it from a distance but DAM.

Big isn't it It's the large coffee stain on the carpet in the entrance hall that shows the sign of a real roastery though.
However, Steve and I were discussing this yesterday, big roasters is a bit like dosers or hoppers, the bigger it is, the less likely you want it to be full! When it comes to roasted beans I'm not sure that quantity and quality really go together. Small batches is the way to go for the best quality imho.
D

I never meant to imply that large = good. Just that it was bigger than I imagined roasters could be. In fact I remember thinking while I was there that it would be hard to maintain quality when you were roasting that much coffee at once. It seemed to be that it was likely to become like any other industrialised food manufacturing process.

Back to the subject of coffee @ waterloo. There is a really nice weird little coffee shop on lower marsh just around the corner from waterloo station. They don't sell beans. They do see scooters tho. It's called Scooter Works:

132 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7AE
http://www.lower-marsh.co.uk/scooters.html

On their day they can produce one of the best espressos in London. They also serve a reasonable "flat white" (a antipodean drink - like a capa but without the foam). It's run by a Kiwi guys and his Italian wife.

The decor is quirky but the coffee is worth it.

Sorry, that was me going off on a tangent rather than commenting directly on your post. The whole place is very "industrial" though which kind of goes against the notions of either speciality or gourmet coffee...
D

Thank-you all - this has been really helpful. I can actually venture farther than Waterloo, so will try Monmouth - it's just the Waterloo shop seemed like nice people. (I know that nice people doesn't necessarily mean excellent coffee, but it does mean you leave the shop with a warm fuzzy glow....)

Martha.

The guys and girls in Monmouth always seem really friendly to me and Didier (if I remember correctly) is nice in Drury as well, they would all be willing to advise if you had any questions.
Dom