High St, Hornsey, London N8 7NX
I’m one of those people that will almost immediately disregard any sort of recommendation. Not out of any form of spite or self-inflated sense of ego (possibly out of some sense of self-inflated ego) but more out of the fact people often only see a tiny facet of your likes and dislikes and confidently make assumptions or suggestions largely based on what they actually like. In any case, I don’t like being told “You’ll like this place,” so when my sister suggests we drop by a bakery near to her flat I look around for some reassurance.
By ‘look around’, I mean that I stare at her French boyfriend, who is so picky about quality food, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him compliment any sort of British cuisine since knowing him. I once saw my sister ask if he would like some Stollen Christmas cake to which his response was “No, it’s German.” He champions French pastries over almost all others (which is probably fair enough) and so I am genuinely shocked when he gives his nod of approval to, what I think is, a Greek bakery in North London.
Being a vegan, bakeries are somewhere that so readily offer up conflicting emotions as I drool over cream filled buns or buttery pastries and soft, spongey cakes before remembering I can’t have a single damn one of those things so this only further contributed to my skepticism but, low and behold, I was catered for in cakes, savouries, coffee and sandwiches, which is so incredibly rare, outside of specialist delis, that it was almost an emotional experience. Forcing myself to keep a level head (and it still being early at the time), I resist the urge to splurge on dairy free cakes and croissants, and pick up a vegan sausage roll to go with my oat-milk latte.
Now, presumably you don’t come to a coffee blog to read about whether a vegan sausage roll compares to the now infamous Greggs one (it doesn’t, it’s better), how greasy it is (not at all, I was pleasantly surprised) or if it even tastes like meat (I wouldn’t know, I’ve been vegan for four years and veggie 17 years before that), you came here to read about the coffee with which I washed down the lightly seasoned meat alternative encrusted in a light and flaky pastry topped with sesame seeds. 
All too often in establishments where coffee is not at the forefront, it becomes an afterthought and a good bakery can suddenly be spoiled by sub-par coffee practice and I feared this might be the case with Intrepid Bakers. I certainly didn’t recognise the brand of coffee, Dimello, but I had been surprised at to this point and approached the situation with an open mind and a lack of caffeine in my bloodstream.
As it transpires, Dimello is a Greek coffee company sampling the best Arabica beans from around the world and then exporting them to shops across Europe. It took me quite some time to do the research on this as their website is entirely in Greek and my languages span as far as pretty decent English and some school level Spanish. Greek has somewhat passed me by. The coffee is I try is dark but not as heavy and bitter as I first thought it might be, it’s actually quite a light and bright blend that goes wonderfully with oat milk.
Revived and with renewed confidence in the coffee scene of the Hornsey area, I think to myself, “If the bakeries do coffee this good, the cafés must be incredible!”

140 Crouch Hill, Crouch End, London N8 9DX
There’s a bizarre feeling to hovering by a coffee shop doorway now. Unsure whether you can or can not go in depending on how many people are ahead of you, you twitch against the invisible threshold like a moth persistently bumping into a lightbulb whilst you wait for a confirmation nod from the barista at the bar.
It feels good to be back in London again. Not that I’ve travelled in for an ‘unnecessary journey’ from my Home Counties base of operations (although I’d argue the pursuit of decent coffee is entirely necessary) but rather I’m trying to edge back closer to the city and am permitted to view houses providing I attempt to social distance whilst clustered in shared flats and rooms for single-people. 
Fortunately, the Hornsey house I drop in on today is conveniently close to my sister’s flat in Turnpike Lane so, once my viewing is done, she leads me -at a two metre distance, of course- to several spots of her fancy. Crouch End would be where I suspect I’d be spending most of my time (given it’s proximity to the property) and so we head up the high street where I am surprised by the middle class boutiques, independent stores and urbane feel to the place given that I do not always have the most positive takes on North London (despite it being one of the areas of the great metropolis I will defend most ferociously).


At the top of the road, past the bakery recently featured on BBC crime-thriller Killing Eve, Caffeinate sits as a pastel-coloured cubby hole of delights as its hip interior beckons you in with images of tropical birds and plant covered light bulbs, but the urban jungle feel is somewhat lost when only two people are allowed in at a time. I’ve already had two mugs of coffee today so I decided to change things up a bit with an iced, oat milk, latte since the sun is out and basking the usually grey streets of London in a bright, yellowy glow.
I’m pleased to see them shop uses Allpress Espresso beans, a roaster that uses hot air roasting to maximise the taste. It doesn’t deal in subtleties or minute flavour tones, it’s more
the sort of coffee you can drink in any form and you definitely know you’ve had a coffee, and I respect that. Even in an iced latte, where the makeup is predominantly milk (or milk alternative) and ice, you still get the strong, rich roast come right through without any interruption. This is not an iced coffee for those used to chain store frappe’s or milkshakes masquerading as coffee.
I take a pew on one of the bench seats lining the narrow store front as my order is made up and the eerie quiet of being in a cafe when no one else is around is both relaxing and yet perturbing. I’d love to be here if and when the hustle and bustle returns and, if things go to plan, I may well get the opportunity. There are too many unknown variables to commit to becoming a ‘regular’ at this stage what with a global pandemic, rental prices and the abundance of decent coffee shops in the area…but, should the stars align and a little bit of luck fall my way and theirs, I wouldn’t rule it out.