Things are certainly looking positive for the London coffee scene, with the Taylor St Baristas store near outside Liverpool Street a worthy addition. It almost makes me want to work on a project for a bank. Almost.

They have two locations in London (as well as one in Brighton that I’ll definitely visit when I head down there) though their Richmond site is not particularly convenient for me. Currently commuting out of London for work, I was interested to see if any of them were open on the weekend. I checked their website but couldn’t find any details about opening hours (though they either corrected it now or I just didn’t see it). Instead, I sent them an email and got a very pleasant and prompt response about their locations (map locations included) and their times.

Their more convenient location (for me at least) is their tiny store found on New Street just off Bishopsgate. This Sunday, it was pretty empty. My guess is that I went there for a pretty late time (2pm) and the constant drizzle forced people to move away. That’s fine with me since it meant I got to sit at one of their chairs, and ended up chatting to the lovely Irish barista about the store and how long it’d been there for. Kudos to the store for hiring someone so passionate about her coffee and profession. It sure beats the pale kids they hire at said-chain who don’t know to operate a real espresso machine.

Anyway, on to the coffee. I ordered a flat white. It’s slightly more expensive than the one they serve at Monmouth (my benchmark) at £2.20. That’s fair enough for having a sit-down coffee as well. The ratio of milk to espresso was perfect, and the espresso strong but not burnt. They even went to effort of pouring latte art on top (okay, well it was a slow day). Very nice all up. If I was working in the area, I’d definitely make an effort to go there for my daily dose. The sandwich (£3.90) was pretty good too. Thick crusty seeded bread with a hearty slab of ham and cheese. Heated up, it was the perfect lunch.

If you’re in the Liverpool Street area, I’d highly recommend people head here. It’s slightly hidden from view but they do fantastic cups of coffee.

Name: Taylor St Baristas
Found at: 1A New Street, London, EC2M 4TP
Website: http://www.taylor-st.com/
The Good: Great coffee, nice little cafe. They even sell Bundaberg Ginger Beer, Cherry Ripes and Freddo Frogs!
The Bad: There wouldn’t be much space for people to all sit down for lunch, but I’m betting their take away coffee is still fine.