11 cafés·last updated May 2026
Kaffeine opened in 2009 when serious coffee in London was rare; the flat white arrived in the UK from a Soho counter. Bar Italia has been here since 1949.
Ulterior Motives · 16 Jun
London in July runs two clocks. One is the second week at the tennis and the Proms finding their opening night; the other is quieter: six wooden skiffs rowing…
Ulterior Motives · 19 May
London's June is a calendar of things that don't happen otherwise: a hundred locked gardens opened for one weekend at the start of the month, the King's…
Kaffeine opened in 2009 when serious coffee in London was rare; the flat white arrived in the UK from a Soho counter. Bar Italia has been here since 1949.
Last updated May 2026
Kiss the Hippo roasts in Richmond and runs this Soho counter on the same terms: rotating single origins, seasonal espresso blends, and a manual brew menu from V60 to Chemex. This isn't a branded spin-off; it's the roaster, in Soho.
Peter opened this in 2009, when there were very few places in London taking coffee seriously. He's still there, and so is the standard.
Named single origins with tasting notes on the espresso menu, and farm provenance where most Soho cafes just put a city name. The detail is on the board because someone here cares.
This is a Colombian roaster's Soho outpost, not a Soho cafe that happens to sell Colombian coffee. Beans roasted at their own Southwark arch, direct-trade sourcing, and a barraquito on the menu back that up.
A Carnaby bookstore pulling shots from Open Fields Coffee. Order the flat white.
Taste profile cards per coffee, V60 alongside espresso, tucked into a quiet street off Carnaby. The specialty work the West End skips.
A hotel café on Warwick Street where the house blend is built from three named origins and described in flavour terms. Order the flat white.
Off Soho's main streets in Farrier's Passage, someone here knows how to pull a cortado. The cold brew is prepared ahead; not a machine-coffee operation.
The address that brought the flat white to the UK. Come for a properly made 4oz from people who have been thinking about it longer than most.
The Represent branding is all over Wardour Street, but step inside and the baristas are talking espresso, not streetwear. For Soho, a reliable stop.
Open since 1949, still pulling espresso in the Italian style and buzzing past midnight. Order at the counter, drink it standing, and you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
From The Journal
View all pieces →
Ulterior Motives · 16 Jun
London in July runs two clocks. One is the second week at the tennis and the Proms finding their opening night; the other is quieter: six wooden skiffs rowing…
Ulterior Motives · 19 May
London's June is a calendar of things that don't happen otherwise: a hundred locked gardens opened for one weekend at the start of the month, the King's…