Roasting all of their own beans, Monmouth Coffee Company is a rare sparkling bean in a city known mostly for its high teas. Anita LeRoy first opened up shop with the innocuous intention of selling the caffeinated hot drink, though quickly branched into using fair trade beans and buying directly from farmers.

Now with two locations in central London, her success rides on two things. Monmouth roasts all of their own beans in the basement, maintaining control over flavour and depth. Secondly, Monmouth prefers slow-drip filter coffee over quicker machines to achieve a more nuanced, better rounded drink. For this, only single origin beans which have not been blended are used.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter—not when chocolate truffles from Sally Clarke, light flaky pastries and cakes from Villandry and Paul and silky-smooth shots of espresso abound. Bring some home with you, too—beans by the kilogram are for sale.