"Kiss the Hippo runs its own roastery and this Shoreditch branch is where you taste the full picture. Rotating single-origin lots on both espresso and filter, baristas who know what's in the hopper and why."
145 City Rd, London EC1V 1AW, UK
The room looks borrowed from a Shoreditch tattoo parlour. The espresso is as committed as the aesthetic, which is saying something.
Flying Horse roasts their own beans in Hackney and pours them in Shoreditch, which is as close to the source as you'll get in this corner of the city. Come for the single origins.
LIFT runs its own Shoreditch roastery, sources named producers from Ethiopia, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and pours the results as filter. Numbered micro-lots mean every bag is traceable.