Poison Ivy Coffee, West Ealing

202a Northfield Ave, London W13 9SJ
https://www.poisonivycoffee.com/
Every day I drive through Ealing at the obligatory 20mph, or slower thanks to traffic, glancing at the businesses I slide by on my way to work in the back end of Brentford. I’m leaving this job soon and regret I’ve never had the chance to try out some of the speciality coffee shops of the area so, thanks to a strangely light amount of traffic on the North Circular, I’m actually running early and decide to use the opportunity to pull up outside the first one I see that seems decent enough and allows me to park nearby.

Poison Ivy Coffee is the one that ticks all of these boxes, just a few hundred meters from Northfields tube station. Open at 8am, when I arrive, it seems to be pitching itself at the matcha crowd but does assure me with the notice of speciality coffee on its frontage, so I step into the silence and hope for the best.
I resist the temptation to try a vegan croissant or biscuit and just order an oat latte for now, as I stare around the light green interior, the only person in there at this time. I enjoy the moment of reprieve from thinking about work or battling the roads of West London, strangely at peace knowing I’m going to get a coffee that doesn’t come from the dodgy pod machine in the corner of the office.

I smile politely and thank the barista when he hands me my coffee and smile after the first sip of proper caffeine. It’s quite an earthy punch through the milk, a strong but not unpleasant coffee, not dark but certainly a heavier roast. Smooth and reassuring, I’m glad I got to try out at least one speciality café before I part ways with West London, unlikely to be heading out this way again anytime soon. It sets me up for a good day and if I was only going to get to one place in the month I’d been trekking out this far, I’m glad it was here.