Coffee Shop: Relax Coffee, Old Street, EC1
Time: Saturday morning
Coffee beans: Tilbury’s Modern Standard
Ordered: 1 x Nitro coldbrew

Outdoor space in the middle of busy roundabout. 9 weeks in to a 2 year pop up. Metal and concrete finish. Quiet during the day. Speedy and knowledgeable service. No wifi. No food. Nitrous charged coffee. Doesn’t taste as good as it sounds. Interesting space – will be rocking at night.

Coffee Shop: Origin, Shoreditch
Time: Wednesday morning
Coffee beans: Origin Batch
Ordered: 3 x Filter

Small space. Feels somewhat transient. Beautiful polished concrete floor. Flimsy feel furniture. Attentive and friendly baristas. Slow wifi. Delicious coffee. Much appreciated free refill. Inside crowded with architects (of both building and information). Outside bench busy with bike couriers. Nice place.

Here’s the first update on the 26 new recipes challenge.

#1. Zucchini, Basil and Parmesan Salad, POLPO, Russell Norman

#2. Spring chicken in a pot, BBC Good Food

#3. Fish Pie with Bread&Wine salad, St John (The Complete Nose to Tail)

#4. Chicken Cacciatora, Delia’s Complete How to Cook

Coffee Shop: Ozone Coffee Roasters, Old Street
Time: Friday morning
Coffee beans: Ozone Two Trees
Ordered: 2 x Americano, 1 x poached eggs

Massive space. Tons of seating. Decked out with reclaimed wood, open brick and oxidised metal. Beautiful long coffee bar. Quick service. Fast wifi. Enticing breakfast menu. Downstairs roastery alongside additional seating. Close to home. New favourite place.

I really love Buster Benson‘s codex vitae project.
I haven’t had the time to put down on paper everything that he has. But I thought I’d at least start with a list of books that I read over and over again. A personal canon. Desert Island Discs, but for books.
I’ve tried to limit it to an amount I could feasibly carry. And over time, I’ll swap in/out and evolve the list.

1 Make Space: How to set the stage for creative collaboration

2 Do Purpose – David Hieatt

3 Dear Future Me – Matt Sly

4 How to do better creative work – Steve Harrison

5 On the shortness of life – Seneca

6 The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me – Roald Dahl

7 Johnny the Clockmaker – Edward Ardizzione

8 The Media Lab: Inventing the future at MIT – Stewart Brand

9 Eating The Big Fish – Adam Morgan

10 A book about Innocent: Our story and some things we’ve learned – Innocent

11 Man Walks Into A Pub – Pete Brown

12 Change the world for a fiver – WAWWD

13 Mission Explore – The Geography Collective

14 Mind Your Business: Small Enterprise as Liberating strategy – Tom Hodgkinson

15 Shaping Things – Bruce Sterling

Coffee Shop: Dose, Smithfield
Time: Tuesday afternoon
Coffee beans: Square Mile + Guest Mugaya
Ordered: 1 x Double espresso

Black, red and white fit out. No working space. Two tables and a side bench. Diverse clientele. Very reasonable breakfast menu. Talented but glum baristas. Top notch espresso. Man on bench next to me frustratedly fiddling with Apple watch. Pitstop bench outside very busy.

Coffee Shop: Workshop Coffee Co., Clerkenwell EC1
Time: Monday mid morning
Coffee beans: Cult of Done V24 (Roasted own)
Ordered: 1 x Espresso

Attractive interior. Open brick walls. Central serving bar. Vertical garden. Probat roaster at rear, fully staffed and working. Noisy slurps from the head taster’s table. No wifi. Friendly, speedy service. Coffee tastes great. Couple next to me excited about the flower pattern in their lattes.

Coffee Shop: Appestat, Islington N1
Time: Sunday afternoon
Coffee beans: Climpson & Sons
Ordered: 1 x Black Americano, 1 x Cortado

Beautiful shop front. Inside, uncluttered but chaotic. Tempting breads. Fresh vegetables. Few cakes. Somewhat confused about its offer: Café? Restaurant? Grocer? Village store? Service remarkably slow. Coffee tasty.