It's all happening in Hackney

I don't venture East very often but as soon as a birthday surprise for my boyfriend and his mate, a tour of the London Fields Brewery (@LdnFldsBrewery), was booked, I commenced my coffee research. What is worth trying in the E8 area? Apparently, loads!   

After looking around online and consulting the foolproof coffee guide, I narrowed my options down to five places but given the time frame of 2 hours, I realised that there was no way I could (comfortably) handle five coffees within it. Finally, after much deliberation I settled for Mouse & de Lotz and Reilly Rocket and put the others on my 'Hackney List' to visit another time.


Mouse & de Lotz (@MouseanddeLotz) was up first. Pretty empty to begin with, the place started filling up halfway through my delicious granola and a Square Mile macchiato. It feels slightly off the beaten track with no tube or train station nearby and not in an obvious, vibrant part of town but the place is surprisingly busy. Try their wares and sit there for a while on a day you don't have to rush anywhere and you will understand why. It is just very chilled - ideal for a lazy Saturday morning.

Now, I appreciate that I might be biased about Reilly Rocket (@reillyrocket) because it's a motorcycle cafe and so even if their coffee was crap I'd still go there and write about it (probably without mentioning the coffee...). It wasn't crap. Quite the contrary, I was served a perfectly pulled double macchiato and was very envious of all the delicious looking plates of food flying around me but having just eaten, I resisted. Instead I had a good look around. The place doesn't do minimalistic and nor should it. It's a big space to fill and it's filled perfectly. I especially liked the Suzuki showroom but, again, as a biker, the smell of petrol accompanying my coffee feels natural to me, even if it might not be to everyone's taste. I will definitely be going back and, after having seen the size of their parking space, so will my Yamaha!

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