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82 Marylebone High St, London W1U 4QW Hagen espresso bar is a Danish speciality coffee concept born in London. Danes love their coffee and there are a few former world champion baristas floating around Copenhagen, so it’s no surprise that a concept coffee shop would be based around their exquisite approach to caffeine production. There are a few locations across London but this is the first I've come across and I'm impressed by the completed air it has. So often speciality coffee appeals to the hipster crowd with pared back furniture and a sort of higgledy-piggledy approach that is designed to minimise cost and feel quirky. The problem with this is, when everyone does it, the quirk is lost. Sleek and shiny, the whole place feels like a schooling in modernist design, with chrome and mirrors everywhere, accented by pictures of Danish culture. Illustrated with the streets of Copenhagen or pictures of vikings and mermaids, there's a quaintness injected into the almost sci-fi feel of everything else and big, collective tables where you share the space are the prominent feature. A shiny bowl of oranges sit on the counter so you might order freshly squeezed orange juice and watch the process happesn in front of you but I opt for my usual oat latte and perch on a bench in the window as all of the marbled table space is occupied. Surprisingly, my oat latte is not as sweet as I expected it to be. Intensely rich and smooth but with no sweetness, there’s almost an umami taste to it that really takes me by surprise and it lacks any bitterness whatsoever. Genuinely, I think it may be one of the best coffees I’ve had in London (or certainly for quite some time) and I would gladly have lingered longer had I not had a plan in place for the day.
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308 Old Brompton Road, London, UK I’d arrived at Earl’s Court quite a bit earlier than I needed to be, so there was time to kill and I didn’t much fancy getting back on the train. After wandering up and down the high street a bit, I checked Google Maps to see if there was anything of interest nearby and, just down the road was another coffee shop that I thought might be worth visiting. A slow amble brought me to Black Rabbit Coffee where I intended to sit down and while away an hour or so before heading for my meal but it was late in the day and they were intending to close up shortly so could only offer me a takeaway. This threw my plans out the window but I was still keen to sample their coffee which was an espresso blend from well-known high-quality roasters, Allpress. A well-balanced cup that had a touch of sweetness to it, there was a slight spice that combined in a sort of fruitcake essence that was complex and made you work a little bit for it. The cafe itself is a lovely little corner spot on Old Brompton Road, filled with plants and the few tables they can fit into the limited space, but on warmer days you can sit outside and take in the comings and goings of Brompton Cemetery literally opposite the site. It is everything you would expect from a speciality coffee place, and it has a classic aura that makes it welcoming to approach and comforting to be in. I only wish I’d been able to spend more time there. |
AuthorThe Mean Bean Machine (Vincent Wood) Archives
May 2026
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