Cafes serving up London's best Flat Whites
It's like a hug in a mug. And luckily for us Brits, it's now... over here.
flat white noun /Austral. flaat whyette/ /NZ flet wyte/ 1. An antipodean style coffee which is served as a double shot of espresso served in a small cup with textured milk; a damn good strong coffee.
flattie noun. colloq. flat white; I'm gonna smash back a couple of flatties bro/ NZ/ mate /Austral.
... so says Soho coffeehouse "Flat White" (appropriately named) who claim to have brought the the bevy to the UK shores from down-under.
If the slicked-back machismo of the espresso purist is just a little too much for you then why not take things down a notch and order a coffee you'll actually enjoy drinking?
The Covent Gardeners’ coffee is legendary and they roast and grind their own. There’s something of the conservative British approach to it that distances them from the hipster newbies but their house grind causes a stir for certain. Surely the richest flavour in London and to be enjoyed in the fun of the skewiff wooden cabin appeal it has going on in its Monmouth Street outpost.
Milkbar
3 Bateman Street W1D 4AG
Cafes & Tea Rooms
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Originally Milk Bar was a sidekick of Flat White, but since its inception has continued to become more and more popular. The stylish façade is a little rough around the edges – which is just fine – and the coffee scores high, with the antipodean drink du jour one of the best you’ll find in Soho.
Caravan is more about the fine location than the purity of its outstanding flat white. Coffee isn’t the main event here and you can tell, but that makes the surprise of a perfectly whipped white all the more satisfying. With ethically sourced Arabica beans at the heart of the coffee range, it’s a great place to get tweaked on caffeine up on Exmouth Market.
Feel the high with their flat white in a far out arty atmosphere that says never fear, there really is a life beyond nine to five jobs – thanks to the laptop crowd who pack it out daily. The walls are covered with creative creations and there’s the in-house London Fields Radio so you can hear muso’s playing their favourite psych rock, Sixties girl groups and general interestingness while you tip back that micro foam. The Climpson’s beans are a winner.
The Attendant
27A Foley Street W1W 6DL
Cafes & Tea Rooms
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An exceptional Flat White and all in the surrounding of an old toilet. Opulent.
A coffee chain (locations around Soho and Somerset House) that stands out from the crowd – you can tell there must be something about Fernando and Wells from the slew of fashionably attired customers who queue for its coffee and sandwiches. Stylish and a little bit sexy, the flat white is more than a match for the sleek environment in which it is served up.
Beer selling, Tour de France showing, bike fixing café and all round perfect stop off for that tired old Clerkenwell Road ride. There’s only one thing here better than the millionaire shortbread and that’s the flat white. So, don’t bother getting greasy in your own bike shed, just come here and waste your money on someone else doing the hard work so you can enjoy those delicious Square Mile beans while you watch.
Prufrock have a second London outpost in the uber hip entrance of Present, the Shoreditch menswear store, which can make eyes weep at the sartorial heaven on display and wallets weep at the prices of reaching a higher plain of clothing. The coffee from the vintage machine is, naturally, incredible and the flat white itself remains the choice to make – it’s as big as cappuccino was in the nineties.
This well-known Hackney bean-house is famous for its latte art; it's also a top choice for a Flat White.
Flat White
17 Berwick Street W1F 0PT
Cafes & Tea Rooms
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Flat White claims to be among the first to have served up the drink to London and it has the name, so there. Transforming what was in our cups from Matey Bubble bath to the liquid gypsy tart it’s still giving now; it’s a total coffee party. Loud music with caffeine brunches, there’s probably nothing better in this crazy world.
