SQUARE MILE ROASTERS

Having found inspiration from Gwilym Davies the recently crowned UK Barista of the year my coffee journey has led me to East London based Square Mile Roasters. Recently started by James Hoffman (himself a former UK Barista champion) and Annette Moldvaer, SMR has already made serious in-roads into becoming one of the most up-front roasters in the UK today. From his coffee tinged teeth and the fact that he was brewing on a super rare Synesso machine that is the price of a small car I could see that he was very serious about coffee. His passion oozed into his patter like a freshly brewed espresso when he explained that they operate a system whereby they produce seasonal blends rather than same one throughout the year. They've just moved in to the Spring espresso which is composed of two different lots of coffee from two different origins (80% Del Obispo from Huila, Columbia and 20% Fazenda Monta Alegre from Minas Gerais, Brazil). It is a very clean and sweet espresso with notes of black cherry, toasted nuts, treacle and chocolate, with a soft buttery texture.

I've just taken stock of the new blend so if you would like to try, come see me.