6 sweet coffee stops in the City.....

With 6 weeks to go until my trip across the pond, my New York planning has kicked up a gear and my wish lists and things to do are being compiled on Pinterest, and within my notebook. Looking back on last years adventure and photographs I thought I would share some of my favourites over the coming 6 weeks.
Today whilst curled up on the sofa with a large cup of Joe, I'm sharing some coffee favourites from last year. Travelling to New York over the last 20 years, coffee stops have evolved from the corner cart to the big coffee chains and more recently the independent coffee houses.
Coffee is the staple for all New Yorkers and "to go" is the most preferred option. Here are some of the places that I enjoyed on my travels.

Tavern on the Green - this iconic restaurant that nestles amongst the tress in the meadow of Central Park is a film as well as a NY icon.  After undergoing a huge renovation T on the Green opened its doors again last year and along with a glorious menu, now hosts an On the Go menu from 7am. A daily stop on my early morning walk in the park.
Magnolia Bakery - world famous for it's cupcakes the bakery boutique within Bloomingdales is the perfect stop for a sweet treat and a cup of Peets coffee whilst you rest your feet from the shopping.

Toby's Coffee - originating from Brooklyn in 2012 where's Toby's is roasted and brewed; the 3rd NY coffee-house opened in the West Village in November 2014
Situated on the corner of Charles Street & 7th Avenue it is the epitomy of what you imagine a New York coffee shop should be, complete with a comfy sofa; the perfect place to stop for a coffee on route to work or when strolling leisurely through the village.

Breads Bakery - situated on east 16th street a short walk from union square, this artisan bakery serves and bakes its own bread onsite. The range is extensive and each loaf a work of art. With a "bread of the day" menu; the bakery is busy fro the moment the open sign is turned until the loaves sells out, from baguettes, ryes and challahs, all look amazing. With a small cafe at the rear of the bakery; its a great early coffee stop, when the bakery is awash with freshly baked bread aromas.
Baked - is a very cool bakery which originated in Brooklyn and last year it opened its doors in Tribeca in Manhattan. It was on my must list last year and I wasn't disappointed. On a damp cold drizzly December afternoon it was the perfect place to warm up and enjoy a fabulous coffee along with the best eggnog cheesecake I have ever tasted... the most perfect way to while away an hour on a cold afternoon. Definitely on a return list for this year.....
Finally Gasoline Alley which is a small coffee stop, tucked on Lafayette street just north of Houston street. It is a stripped down urban coffee stop, which houses some of the best coffee I tasted in New York. Loved the cool vibe of the place and the great coffee served.

Looking forward to visiting some of these again when I return in a few weeks... what other recommendations do you have for a quick coffee stop?

Hello Autumn....

Today sees the start of Autumn, probably my favourite season. Time for ;

-Woolly Jumpers, 
-Warm drinks, 
-Movie nights,
- Pumpkins, 
-Leaves changing colour, 
-Long walks,
- Apple picking,
-Thanksgiving & Pumpkin Spice Lattes!!

To celebrate the season changing I am sharing some instagram favourites from September.

• Adore this gorgeous photo of  Afancifultwist 's retriever bringing the autumn countrylife!
• Javan 's sunset in Brooklyn showcases perfect autumn evenings. His photo's across NY are stunning.
• Greenhouse envy with Sally's MIL's greenhouse. gorgeous garden & wheel barrow of autumnal apples.
• Fabulous chalk drawing for fall from Valerie McKeehan
• Another glorious floral shot from Emily Quinton in her delightful studio.
• Love this shot of Kate's terrier Minnie, in amongst the blackberry bushes.
• Simple shot of autumnal apples featured on NYTimes instagram - simple food styling.
• Jonny Wilkinson cycling across the English countryside pre world cup - autumn is the perfect season for bike rides.
• Autumnal blooms from Mcqueens... loving their instagram pages from September.

Here's to a gorgeous Autumn, filled with beautiful colours, cozy evenings and spice lattes.

Spending a penny over coffee....

I have always been a coffee junkie and its caused many nights of insomnia due to caffeine overload however it is one of my favourite things and I really couldn't do without it. I have over the last few years taken the time to seek out independent coffee houses when I can. I do believe that a espresso / latte made with  great coffee beans is up there with an expertly mixed cocktail or perfect bottle of wine. Following from my trip to the London Coffee festival and armed with my London Coffee Guide I decided to explore a quirky coffee venue not far from work.

Nestled down a side street in Fitzrovia between Oxford street and Goodge street sits one of the quirkiest coffee shops you are ever likely to drink in!.... an old  underground Victorian Toilet.
Built in 1890 the toilet had become dormant by the 60's....50 years later it was bought to life as a cool coffee house and food bar.
The Attendant has retained much of its original features, including the porcelain urinals which make  fabulous coffee nooks.
The coffee bar is accessed by the original stairs down underground and even features its own 'coffee graffiti' wall which is a fun addition.

Coffee beans are roasted by Caravan and the milk is sourced from Ivy House farm in Somerset which has 120 Jersey dairy cows producing their milk... singularly they are great independent brands, combined they create a gorgeous coffee.... alchemy of the caffeine variety!
Along with some great NY inspired foods, I could easily pretend I was across the pond state-side.... perfect little treat.
I had much fun at the little underground coffee haven and look forward to ticking more coffee adventures in the city...
Here are some more coffee adventures from London and across the pond in New York...

Coffee Love....

This week is National Coffee week, and Sunday saw me visiting the London Coffee festival in the London's east end. The festival is held in Brick Lane a short walk from Liverpool Street in the Old Truman Brewery building.
The morning was miserably damp and chilly, but this did not deter the huge crowds that came out to visit the brunch time slot of Sunday morning.
The London Coffee Festival is a mecca for all coffee enthusiasts and hosts everything imaginable to make, drink and accompany coffee is every form.

As well as every coffee attribute possible, there was also plenty of places to sit and enjoy the Java or Espresso Martini's.
With DJ's playing the decks and a band in the Hyde Park space the whole event had a very cool vibe about it.
The event also hosted the Coffee Master's competition where 20 baristas were pitted against each other across events to be crowned Coffee Master 2015. Disciplines of the event can be found here.
Some of my favourites from the event... Toms Coffee, every bag of coffee purchased will Toms will donate a week of clean water to someone who needs it.
Cold Brew - it seems that the cold brew phenomenon that hit New York last year is coming across the pond for this summer. Cold brews in abundance from multiple coffee merchants... looking forward to a summer of chilled coffee brew.
Milk & Sugar - Bourbon bar and Gin Parlour.
Cawston Press adult soft drinks... the Rhubarb and Apple is my favourite.I loved the stand and the juices were gorgeous.
Cakesmiths - gorgeous tray bakes perfect to accompany any cup of coffee.
CrossTown doughnuts - gorgeous glazed ring doughnuts - love the displays of these delicious rings of decadence...

With a host of coffee vendors to sip caffeine from my favourite on the day was Grumpy Mule. My espresso was the perfect hit required for the moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the London Coffee Festival and learnt lots about coffee & all its accompaniments.
I liked the venue and all its different rooms; however think that for the time slot that I had booked the organisers over subscribed as crowd control was an issue. (especially lots of double / single buggies - don't get me started on that rant!)

As its coffee week I will be sharing some more coffee favourites this week.... Here are 5 coffee favourites from London and 5 from New York.

Summer in the City ~ Cupcake treats

Tucked away in a small side street just off of Covent Garden is a very cute cupcake eatery, from Primrose Bakery. If you are unable to get to the original café bakery in Primrose Hill, then this is a great introduction.  I stagger my visits when I am in this vicinity between Primrose and the coffee shop around the corner Notes, as both a little indulgences.
Primrose Bakery is 10 years old this year and was one of the first places to launch the cupcake in London. Primrose Bakery's styling is gorgeous pastels, reminiscent of the tea parties that we all either wished for or had when we were children.
The bakery is small with a couple of tables for eating in, and a cute bench to sit on outside in the sunshine.

The bakeries offer the following  flavours daily Carrot, Chocolate, Chocolate with Vanilla, Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Vanilla and Gluten Free Vanilla. The salted caramel is one of my favourites and the Vanilla is perfect with a cup of coffee.

They also offer daily specials, here is the weekly menu:

As you can see when I visited it was around Independence day so American cupcakes were in abundance along with some fab specials.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Covent garden and feel the need for a sweet treat and a quick rest, then pop into Primrose for a cupcake & coffee. Primrose Bakery have produced some gorgeous books and a great little app. I am really looking forward to their Christmas book which is launching in October.... I'm not sure that I can wait to see if Santa pops one in my stocking on Christmas eve!.

4th July food treats

When you find yourself in London on the 4th July ambling around the city on a Literary adventure, then the only food treats to seek out are of and American influence. 

My morning started in Notting Hill where I stopped for a coffee and a gorgeous maple syrup infused  bacon sandwich in one of my favourite cafes ... Charlie's. I have blogged about this venue a couple of times and it is a little hidden gem in Portobello Road.

A short stroll to the top of Portobello Road I popped into Recipease  where 4th July celebrations were in full celebration.... Jamie's America book taking pride of place at the front of the store. The blueberry & cream cheese looked gorgeous and I grabbed a slice to take home with me ( I ate the following day and it was delicious, moist, full of flavour with gorgeous cream cheese frosting) Recipease is on my list of places to pop back to.   

  After a long walk it was time for a Shake stop! in Covent Garden.... this visit I opted for a shake dog, fries & a limited edition Blueberry Lemonade!.... oh my the lemonade was amazing, cool, sharp, complete with real blueberries... America in a cup!.

Late afternoon tea before I headed across the river to the Old Vic theatre was at the very cute Primrose bakery tucked down a side street just off of Covent Garden square. Here I savoured a coffee and a 4th July vanilla cupcake, which was moist, dense and the perfect treat to end a day of lots of walking!...

 

(I will blog the rest of my visit at this little cupcakery in a separate post as the décor was scrumptious on a summers day. )                

I had a gorgeous day exploring London on a Literary adventure and the American food treats just made the day better, with blue skies and sun shining it was one of the loveliest days I've had in ages, work free & very indulgent!

5 London Loves - Coffee

Last week I shared my coffee loves from New York, this week its time to share from London. Coffee arrived in London in 1652 and became on overnight success. Coffee houses became the places to conduct business and were influential in changing the landscape of the City of London during this time.  In 1688 Edward Lloyds coffee house in Tower street was the place to go for marine insurance, this coffee shop eventually became Lloyds of London insurance brokers. Jonathan's coffee house in Exchange Alley, eventually became London Stock Exchange. Sotherby's & Christie's both have origins in coffee houses.
With nearly 2,000 coffee shops in London you are never far from a caffeine fix. A London Underground map was produced last year with a coffee stop at each station. Here are 5 of my favourite coffee fixes across the city.

Monmouth Coffee - opened its doors in Covent garden in 1978, roasting & grinding its own beans. This legendary coffee shop opened a 2nd location in Borough market, which has become its flagship, with queues snaking around the corner for a cup of its java. Monmouths distribution moved to a larger premises in Maltby street after outgrowing its Covent garden store. Monmouths signature style is to only serve one size coffee. They only use full fat milk, which compliments their coffee perfectly. I love this coffee shop, and is always a must on a visit to Borough Market. My bag always goes home a little heavier with a bag of Monmouth beans.

Kaffeine - located in Great Titchfield Street, just behind Oxford Street.This cool little coffee shop is influenced by the coffee shops of Australia & New Zealand. As well as serving great coffee in a very urban relaxing atmosphere this cool shop also offers coffee classes.... Loving the look of the Latte classes here.

Notes - this fab little coffee shop is so much more than a coffee shop, it hosts jazz evenings and offers a great selection of wines. Later this year Notes will launch its own signature beer. I love this little caffeine haven, and is a must visit whenever I am in the Covent Garden location. Styled minimally with old school tables and chairs it offers a relaxing environment perfect for sipping a latte away
from the hustle and bustle of London life.

Tap - Tap have 3 locations in London and my favourite is in Soho on 193 Wardour street. With a bicycle hanging above the entrance its hard to miss when walking along the street. This coffee shop is deceptively simple. With a rustic coffee its offers great coffee and gorgeous homemade cakes. The shop is narrow and long, with great windows and skylights offering up fantastic light on the dullest of London days. Another great place to seek out a stones throw from Oxford street.

Charlie's cafe - a quaint cafe tucked down a little alley nestled in the heart of Portabello road Notting hill. This little cafe really does offer great coffee, and a great breakfast/brunch menu, sourcing artisan foods and British produce. It really is a little haven in one of London's busiest streets.

As with all London loves posts, here is a map of my coffee favourites in London.
If this post has wetted your taste buds for exploring London's caffeine fixes, then check out this cool app - London coffee guide. With a coffee chain on most corners in London, this app will help you locate your nearest independent coffee shop,  and explore parts of London that started over 300 years ago and is still as popular now as when the first coffee shop opened in the city all those years ago.

5 New York loves - Coffee

As I shared my New York Tea loves earlier this month, I thought I would share my coffee loves this week. Coffee is the much favoured hot drink of choice in America. 20 years ago a TV series hit the airways which would launch the coffee shop into a different stratosphere. Now it was cool to meet up with friends in a coffee shop, instead of a bar!... Yes, Friends launched 20 years ago and lived on our screens for 10 years, with some of its most memorable scenes in Central Perk itself. Although a fictional coffee shop in New York, the friends apartment block on the corner of Grove & Bedford street in Greenwich Village is still one of the most photographed movie location buildings.

 In New York itself you cannot move more than a block without seeing the iconic Starbucks sign and its coffee shops nestled among the sites of New York. There are over 50 sites in Manhattan, so you are never far from a cup of the hot brown liquid gold. However it wasn't Starbucks that gave me my New York coffee love when I visited nearly 2 decades ago, but the fabulous deli of Dean & Deluca. This store on Broadway in the heart of SOHO was everything that I imagined a NY coffee and deli venue would be. With smaller coffee shops nestled across the city, this brand now worldwide epitomises everything great about food in New York.
Coffee is so popular in NY that last year the subway map was released with a coffee stop at every subway location. This is a fun way to explore the city, although not sure how much sleep you would get if you grabbed an espresso from each stop... caffeine consumption would be astronomical!

Today I am sharing some of those stops of coffee loves from across the city;
Gasoline Alley; a cool urban coffee shop, with minimal decor other than a statement bicycle hanging above the counter in the heart of NOHO (north of Houston street) on Lafayette street. Where once the streets were filled with car mechanics and gasoline stations it is now filled with coffee shops and boutiques. Gasoline is an homage to an era gone buy, serving  Intelligentsia coffee, and Dough donuts.... 2 great brands making a name for themselves in the food news of New York.
Bluebird Coffee Shop; is a very small cute neighbourhood coffee shop in the heart of the East Village on East 1st street. With limited seating it really is a treat of a find, and the coffee served in cute blue cups is delightful.

The Bowery Coffee shop is located on the corner of East Houston and The Bowery, it has an eclectic feel. The old-world-style storefront features ice cream parlour tables and a zinc-topped counter. Along with dark & delicious coffee, Doughnut Plant fritters and Balthazar croissants are also available.
Birch Coffee has three locations across the city with its own coffee blend and iced blend available. All venues are aesthetically designed to fit its area. I recently featured this coffee shop in my Social media sunday post and I am looking forward to visiting in December. Anywhere that features books & coffee is a winner for me!.
D'espresso coffee shop in Madison avenue just around the corner of Grand Central Station. This coffee shop is the most stylishly designed and features an amazing library book installation which is just gorgeous. Another must visit for me this year...

As with all 5 loves posts, here is a map of my New York locations for you to try..... enjoy.

If my post has wetted your appetite for a coffee adventure in New York, ITunes has 2 great New York Coffee apps which you can download. One is free and the other is a nominal fee.... I really love the coffee cup map!....

 

I hope that you have enjoyed my NY loves post this week.... Here are my previous posts, pop back next week for London's equivalent coffee loves.

(please note that all views are my own and I have not received any payment for this post)



 

 

Sweet treats & bakes

Since cupcakes became the phenomenon across London streets and markets a few years ago, every season just like fashion another sweet treat becomes on 'trend', dosunts, cronuts, meringues and macarons have become fashionable of late.

This week I've been lucky to sample a few that have been hitting the headlines.

Peggy Porschen - is undoubtedly the queen of the cupcake world. I have several times visited the Parlour in Belgravia and been lucky enough to ice cookies with the cupcake queen herself. Last week Peggy launched a sweet treat range at Selfridges foodhall, and this week launches a collection of stunning cakes for Mothers Day. The meringue & chocolate kisses look perfect for spring, along with the cute iced cookies. The honeycomb is amazing, perfect melt in the mouth moments. As you can see it looks gorgeous and worth a trip to the big yellow stores foodhall or online.

Cocomaya - usually famed for its chocolate has recently launched the CocoDough into its bakery range. The Cocodough is a hybrid pastry, a cross between a doughnut and a croissant. Its a croissant pastry filled with creme anglais, deep fried like a doughnut and then dipped in sugar.

The salted caramel is amazing.... even Nigella tweeted hour fab her's was last week. The CocoDough is available from the Selfridges Foodhall in the bakery.... in mini & man size!
Sticking with the Donut theme on Saturday whilst out and about in London I picked up a donut from St John's bakery.... aside from their amazing bread St John's is famous for its donuts, from custard, chocolate or jam filled they are decadent, delicious and very naughty!. I picked up a rhubarb jam filled one which was moist, and so light it really did melt in the mouth, perfect for an afternoon treat with a cup of monmouth coffee. I also picked up a slab of bread pudding, this is my absolute favourite baked treat, my nan made the best bread pudding, however St John's comes a very close second, delicious.

A bite of the big apple in London.

This year with no trip to New York planned I decided to see how much of NY i could bring to London on a day out in the city. A couple of years ago I did something similar, here  are my adventures from that day. My perfect day in NY would include Pancakes, Ice skating, Eggnog, a huge Christmas tree, and  a walk in the Park, finished off with a sweet treat.
My day started early with breakfast at the very american Automat, tucked down a side road in Green park, it reminds m very much of The Smith restaurant that I fell in love with the last time I was in New York. I ordered buttermilk pancakes with fruit compote and a side order of crispy bacon.... mmm delicious, along with large coffee it was perfect start to the morning.

A short walk through the streets of Green park bought me to the iconic Old Bond Street, complete with Tiffany's ... no-one can visit NY without a visit to this iconic store on 5th avenue and has been a key feature for many visits. As well as gazing at the beautiful townhouse scenes for this years windows, a fabulous horse drawn carriage was parked outside the iconic address waiting to transport little blue boxes across the city. I saw this on 2 further occasions during my day. gorgeous, romantic and very christmas in New York.

From Bond street I walked along the backstreets until I reached Piccadilly, a quick stop in wholefoods to stock up on some American sweet treats, it looked just like a grocery store on a side walk, complete with trees stacked up on the pavement. Really liked the Merry Citrusmas sign...

The lovely eros had been converted into its own snowglobe and Trafalgar Square 's iconic tree had a lovely blue tint to it this year.

From here I walked along the embankment to the historic Somerset House, where I whiled away an hour tentatively skating around the rink and enjoying lashings of hot chocolate and mince pies in the Skate parlour. This years rink was sponsored by the New York apparel brand Coach. With a huge decorated tree and lots of places to sit and watch the world skate by, this is London's equivalent to the  Rockefeller   centre.  I loved it... a London favourite in the holiday season.

Late afternoon after a walk through Covent Garden and a stop at the Hummingbird Bakery where I picked up an Egg nog cupcake I finished my day off in Brgr & co in Soho where I had Christmas afternoon tea burger style!

Cupcake was taken home and eaten as a late supper with a large Baileys coffee in my New York memories mug....
perfect.... what NY treats would you do in London?