Extra Extra – Coffee steals all my pounds


99% of my paycheck each month gets spent on coffee – FACT

Believe it or not, London is actually doing pretty well on the coffee front. I choose to put this down to bullish flat white lovers shouting for a change (more likely to be that the cashed up entrepreneurs saw a gap in the market). Regardless of why, the cafe which has stolen my heart (and my wallet) is the wonderful Prufrock on Leather Lane.

It’s set up as a barista school as well as a cafe, which explains the fact that they really know their coffee. Cups of the glorious liquid are sold by the ounce (no latte or cappuccino on the menu, just 4oz/6oz/8oz), and you can choose between the house blend or whatever seasonal guest blend they have on offer. The house blend is a flavor palate that I have not come across before, unique and worth walking half an hour in the rain for.

The food is petty great to. Why no one thought to use a soft pretzel as sandwich bread before this is beyond me. And they always have a tempting selection of sweet treats ready and waiting.

However my top three reasons for coming back to Prufrock (week after week after week) are as follows:

1} they let you stay and drink coffee after closing when you don’t want to turn up at your silversmithing class too early (because if you show up too early people think you are nuts for the STG)

2} the kids behind the counter have philosophical discussions about milk treatment – turns out that milk becomes sweeter when heating not because the proteins change, but because it is always that sweet and you just don’t notice when it is cold

3} they sell brownie bits for 50p, and you have not lived until you have dunked brownie in your flat white in a marshmallow fashion