Londinium Espresso
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:47 pmI've been very lucky recently, with some great beans from Steve at Hasbean (especially the Wild Bonga and Bolivian Cafe David) as well as a wonderful mad Harrar from James' Gourmet Coffee.
I initially got in touch with Londinium because I found out they are selling the legendary Olympia Cremina lever machine, and I'm a lever nut. I wasn't interested in their beans that much because I've never really considered myself one for smooth, sweet, mellow espresso and for some entirely mad reason of my own, that is how I interpreted the descriptions on the Londinium Espresso website - probably prejudiced by descriptions of mild blends, whereas everything at Londinium is single origin.
I couldn't have been more wrong in what I thought about my tastes, as was thankfully proven by a demonstration of the Cremina using a range of Londinium beans which I have now started exploring, in particular a Cuban that Reiss (the man behind Londinium and a real enthusiast) took a long time sourcing, which is gloriously symphonic, and a Costa Rican that is very sweet and smooth but surprisingly nuanced. Well surprising for me. In fact, it's been a real eye-opener. A beautiful choice of bean with just the right light roast to enhance these qualities. The more I drink it (sadly I have now run out) the more impressed I have become.
In short, I'll be exploring more of their stuff and highly recommend it - especially if you think it's not what you like
Londinium are in my opinion right at the top of the tree of UK roasters. And thankfully we can now get the Cremina again in the UK.
Cheers
Mike
I initially got in touch with Londinium because I found out they are selling the legendary Olympia Cremina lever machine, and I'm a lever nut. I wasn't interested in their beans that much because I've never really considered myself one for smooth, sweet, mellow espresso and for some entirely mad reason of my own, that is how I interpreted the descriptions on the Londinium Espresso website - probably prejudiced by descriptions of mild blends, whereas everything at Londinium is single origin.
I couldn't have been more wrong in what I thought about my tastes, as was thankfully proven by a demonstration of the Cremina using a range of Londinium beans which I have now started exploring, in particular a Cuban that Reiss (the man behind Londinium and a real enthusiast) took a long time sourcing, which is gloriously symphonic, and a Costa Rican that is very sweet and smooth but surprisingly nuanced. Well surprising for me. In fact, it's been a real eye-opener. A beautiful choice of bean with just the right light roast to enhance these qualities. The more I drink it (sadly I have now run out) the more impressed I have become.
In short, I'll be exploring more of their stuff and highly recommend it - especially if you think it's not what you like
Londinium are in my opinion right at the top of the tree of UK roasters. And thankfully we can now get the Cremina again in the UK.
Cheers
Mike
