www.GetBeand.com
As a former barista and coffee enthusiast, I wished to fuse my two passions of coffee and writing and so created an independent coffee review site that posts reviews of coffees, cafes and events in a blog format.
An independent coffee review site, our story starts with The Mean Bean Machine. The Machine was initially built to write, in order to create the perfect story. Imbued with human sentience, it's was programmed with a BA in Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich but in this economy, there was no place for a machine that could spin the ultimate tale so it turned its programming to coffee!
Getting a job in an independent coffee shop in Hertfordshire, The Machine was trained at Union Coffee's headquarters in East London and soon found its mechanical perfection meant it could crank out the ideal cup of coffee, and so it rapidly rose to the position of Head Barista of aforementioned shop but it never forgot its first love...writing.
Under a human guise, the machine would go on to become an award winning short story writer and would pursue employment in copy and content (The Machine would like to direct you to its portfolio at vincentwoodwriting.weebly.com).
However, after a few years, it realised it could marry its two passions and thus started our project.
Here The Machine posts reviews of coffee, cafes, and events, in a blog format so that it can continue to write about being hopelessly addicted to coffee. Is it a writing project? Is it a coffee project? Only The Machine knows.
- The Mean Bean Machine
I Will Kill Again
Arch 216 27a Ponsford Street, Homerton, E9 6JU London
Not many businesses would opt to have pictures of notable serial killers and cult leaders on the wall whilst a giant lit box-sign proclaiming “I Will Kill Again” hangs over the bar but then that’s what sets this coffee shop apart from others.
Trendy Hackney is hardly short of decent third wave coffee shops or vegan lunch spots but just up the road, in Homerton, it may be a little harder to come by. Fortunately, ‘I Will Kill Again’ does what it can to redress this balance as the working roastery that produces Dark Arts coffee so you can sit in and enjoy the sadistic pleasures of seeing them hard at work whilst you’re on your coffee break in the attached coffee bar area. Named ‘Dark Arts’ because they specialise in dark roasts, this notion has then been extended into a full-on satanic business model with the strangely ethical bent on veganism because Satan cares about animals and the planet.
Just off of Homerton High Street, this hideaway can be hard to find, tucked underneath the railway arches and sandwiched between light industrial units to rent, yet it still boasts an atmosphere and unique identity that’s well worth searching out.
For one thing, dark roasts tend to produce a mellow coffee which is an odd juxtaposition when smooth sipping is met with classic metal tunes blasting out from the corner of the room. But a vibe is a vibe and if this is your scene then it’s done really well here , leaning into the aesthetic with gleeful abandon as numbered tarot cards are given when a food order is to be waited for.
Sure, it’s a very distinct atmosphere and it is inevitable that it won’t be to some people’s liking but in a world where the indie coffee shop is becoming more and more like the homogenous coffee chain, where almost every one has reclaimed furniture and a distressed wood finish, its genuinely quite refreshing for somewhere to go in an unexpected direction. And, for what it’s worth, thanks to its serving of great coffee with black humour, it may firmly rank amongst my favourite coffee places.
Vagabond N7
Vagabond N7, 105 Holloway Rd, London N7 8LT
On match days, Holloway Road is awash in a sea of red as near-on 60,000 football fans descend to fill up the eateries and bars that line the route to the Emirates Stadium, converging as quickly as they depart when it’s time for kickoff. So, undoubtedly it was a surprise to find a modicum of tranquility in amongst the seething masses of sports fanatics who claim the area as their own like locusts might a corn field.
That’s not to say Vagabond N7 was completely deserted, far from it, but the pre-game banter and alcohol infused chanting found elsewhere throughout Islington was strangely absent in favour of quiet chit-chat and the gentle clacking of laptop keys. It was almost as if everyone in there was entirely oblivious to the goings on outside. I was almost ashamed to walk in with my football colours, as though this place was the last temple of non-partisan, football-free discussion and I had tainted it with my shirt. Not that anyone seemed phased by it.
Another stripped back affair with reclaimed furniture, as so many specialist coffee shops are these days, it is painfully hip with tables suspended from ceilings by chain and local, edgy art adding a talking points to the scene. The long interior manages to find cubby holes for all that opens up into a hall at the back that has the air of a converted barn. Turn left and you’ll find an outdoor patio to lounge in all too fleeting sunshine of North London, set back far enough from the fumes of Holloway Road to make you forget that you’re in the ‘shopping centre of the world’ as the famed local MP once put it. Carry on forward though, and here you’ll see the roasting room where all sorts of sweet and proud coffee delights are primed ready to swing their way across the capital and swim the veins of Londoners. Kettles, drippers, brewers and all sorts of arrayed accoutrements line the back section where magic is performed in the coffee cauldrons where they deal in direct trade beans that can be bought by the bag.
I settle in, snatching up a copy of Caffeine magazine and whiling away the time in a lazy haze of chocolate and honeycomb tones rather than the frantic rush of pre-match pie and pint. This seems so much more civilised.
