Editorial policy
How we work
A short, honest account of what this guide is, and what it will not claim.
Last updated: 12 November 2026.
Research guide, then visit-verified
Every shop in this edition is a research guide entry. That means the notes were compiled from the shop's official site and other named sources, on a stated date. We have not necessarily been. We do not describe the taste of a cup, the feel of the room, the length of the queue, or the friendliness of the staff unless that is a visit-verified note.
A visit-verified badge will be used only after a real visit, with a date. The badge exists in the site's code and stays off until then. We will not invent a visit, and we will not write “we popped in” or “our favourite seat” for a shop nobody on the project has walked into.
The Top 10 on the home page is a set of well-known starting points, spread across London. It is not a tasting ranking, and it is not based on visits we have made.
Photos
We do not copy photographs from Google, Instagram, Tripadvisor or a shop's website and save them as our own. A picture a business posts of its own store is still their copyright. Where a picture appears on this site, it comes from one of these places:
- An openly licensed image on Wikimedia Commons (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA — not NC or ND), shown with a credit to the photographer, the licence, and Wikimedia Commons. We only use an image when we are confident it shows that shop, and only when the picture is genuinely useful. Weak or off-topic street photographs have been dropped.
- A shop's own Instagram. We link the account published on the shop's official website. A couple of pages also show a specific public post, using Instagram's official embed code, only where that post URL appeared on the shop's own site. The embed script loads only when that section is on screen.
- Photographs from Google's Place Photos service, fetched live in the browser when a Google Maps API key has been configured. Those photographs are not stored on this site. Each one is shown with the required “Google Maps” credit, the photographer's attribution, and a link to the source on Google Maps. Until a key is set, this path does nothing and no request is made to Google.
- Original illustrative images, generated for this guide: coffee, beans and generic cafe scenes. They are never presented as a photograph of a named shop. Each is labelled “Illustrative image”.
We still hope to add our own visit photographs, and photographs with a shop's permission, later.
Image credits
The shop photographs currently hosted on the site are from Wikimedia Commons. Each is also credited under the image itself.
- Flat White, Soho — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Algerian Coffee Stores, Soho — Photo: Ewan-M, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Monmouth Coffee, The Borough — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Prufrock Coffee, Leather Lane — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Prufrock Coffee, Leather Lane — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rosslyn Coffee, Queen Victoria Street — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Caravan, King's Cross — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Caravan, King's Cross — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Origin Coffee, The British Library — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Climpson & Sons, Broadway Market — Photo: Roy Katzenberg, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- 15grams, Greenwich — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- 15grams, Greenwich — Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Original illustrative images on this site:
- hero-latte — A ceramic bowl of latte with tulip latte art and a wisp of steam, on a dark wooden cafe counter. Illustrative image, not a photograph of a particular shop. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- banner-espresso — Espresso pouring from a chrome portafilter into a white cup, with golden crema. Illustrative image, not a photograph of a particular shop. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- banner-beans — A close-up of glossy dark roasted coffee beans. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- banner-cafe — A warm generic cafe interior with a wooden bar, espresso machine and brass pendant lights. Illustrative image, not a photograph of a particular shop. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-latte — A top-down view of latte art in a ceramic bowl beside a brass teaspoon. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-espresso — A small ceramic cup of espresso with tiger-striped crema on a matching saucer. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-beans — Roasted coffee beans being poured from a wooden scoop into a jute sack. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-pourover — A pour-over dripper on a glass carafe, with water being poured from a goose-neck kettle. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-cappuccino — A cappuccino in a ceramic cup next to an almond croissant. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-hands — Two hands holding a steaming ceramic mug of black coffee. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
- card-window — A latte on a round wooden table by a rain-speckled cafe window, with a small vase of eucalyptus. Illustrative image. Used as a labelled illustrative image, not as a photograph of a particular shop.
Other people's reviews
We will not copy the text of reviews from Google, Tripadvisor or similar platforms, and we will not cache them. When a Google Maps API key is configured, each shop page can fetch a live rating, a review count, and up to three reviews, plus two photographs, from Google's Places API. Reviews are shown in Google's default order, with the author's name, avatar and profile link, a “Google Maps” attribution, a link to read all reviews on Google, and a report link where Google provides one. Until a key is set, the page shows a “See reviews on Google Maps” button that opens a Google Maps search for that shop, and no request is made to Google. We do not fetch reviews on listing cards.
Hours, prices, specs and amenities
Opening hours come from official pages where we could find them. Drink prices, opened years, machines, grinders and amenities are shown only when we have a named, dated source. If we could not verify a field, it is marked “to check” or omitted. Bean prices are official list prices, with the bag size, the date, and a source link. Where we show a price per 250g or per kilogram for a bag of a different size, it is labelled as calculated. Prices exclude shipping unless we say otherwise.
Ads and affiliate links
There are no advertisements and no live affiliate links in this edition. A couple of roasters have public affiliate programmes, which are marked in the code as placeholders only. If those links are ever switched on, or if a feature is paid for, we will label them clearly, up front — not only in the footer.
Who this is not
This site does not publish a personal biography, and it does not use a personal contact address. We do not speak for any cafe, roaster, or other organisation. If a fact looks wrong, please check the official shop link before you travel; we will keep re-checking official pages and correcting the guide.