A coffee and cake crawl through London

London has more than enough specialty cafes to fill a crawl, but most lists either skip the machine behind the bar or bundle in chains to pad the count. This one does neither. All six stops are genuinely independent, all six are open about their roaster, and between them they run two La Marzocco models, one Victoria Arduino Black Eagle and three in-house roasteries. The route arcs east to west: two stops in Hackney, one in Shoreditch, one on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell, one on Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia and a final stop in Chiswick. You can do the first five on foot and by Overground, then take the District line west for Chief Coffee.

1. Climpson and Sons, Broadway Market, Hackney

Climpson and Sons started as a stall on Broadway Market in 2002 and now roasts at a separate facility nearby, selling retail bags from the same bar where the espresso is pulled. The machine is a La Marzocco KB90 with a Mahlkonig E65 grinder, and the house espresso, called The Baron, is built around Daterra coffee from Brazil. The KB90 lets baristas dial in different brew ratios and temperatures per group, which is one reason Climpson has stayed consistent as a roaster-cafe for over two decades.

The cake counter is restrained: a short rotation of slices rather than a full bakery spread. If the sourdough toast is on the board, take it.

2. E5 Bakehouse, London Fields, Hackney

A few minutes south of Climpson on foot, E5 Bakehouse sits under a London Fields railway arch and operates both a flour mill and a roastery alongside the bakery. The Hackney Wild sourdough is made with flour milled on site, and the coffee programme draws on the same instinct for provenance: E5 roasts its own green beans in-house.

Come here for the baking as much as the coffee. The pastry counter changes daily and the space is unhurried and unpolished in the right way for a railway arch. It is one of the few places in London where you can buy the flour, the bread and the coffee beans all roasted or milled in the same building.

3. Ozone Coffee Roasters, Leonard Street, Shoreditch

Ozone roasts on a drum roaster housed in the basement of its Leonard Street site in Shoreditch, one of the few London cafes where the roasting happens underneath you as you drink. The kitchen runs a full brunch menu and bakes pastries on site, which makes Ozone a genuinely useful mid-crawl stop rather than just a quick coffee.

The bar is spacious, the natural light is good, and the team tend to be open about what is on the grinder that day. Ozone also supplies a number of other London cafes from the same roastery, so coffee you enjoy here will likely appear elsewhere on your travels.

4. Prufrock Coffee, Leather Lane, Clerkenwell

Prufrock has been on Leather Lane since 2011 and runs a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle paired with a Mythos One grinder on espresso. The bar uses Square Mile as its primary roaster with guest roasters rotating through the menu, which means the espresso changes meaningfully rather than sitting on a single blend all year.

Prufrock was one of the cafes that helped establish specialty coffee as a serious category in London, and it still draws a crowd that knows exactly what it wants. The brew bar runs V60 and batch alongside espresso, and the staff training is visibly thorough. On a quiet weekday morning there is a good chance the person serving you trained here before opening their own place.

5. Workshop Coffee, Mortimer Street, Fitzrovia

Workshop Coffee at 80a Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia pours beans from its own roastery on a La Marzocco Linea PB with a Mahlkonig EK43 grinder. The Linea PB runs dual boilers for precise temperature control, and the EK43 is the standard-bearer for flat burr grinding at this price point. Workshop also runs V60 and batch brew alongside espresso.

The Mortimer Street site is calmer than some of the busier Workshop locations, and the food is edited rather than extensive. There is often a strong filter option from the rotating Workshop roast schedule, and the retail bags at the counter reflect the same espresso programme rather than a separate product line.

6. Chief Coffee, Chiswick

Chief Coffee in Chiswick occupies a former Victorian bottling factory, a building with enough original industrial detail to make the interior worth the journey west on its own. The espresso machine is a La Marzocco FB80 with a Mahlkonig EK43 grinder. The bar pours Allpress Espresso as its primary roast and rotates Workshop Coffee as a guest, giving the menu a clear roaster logic rather than a random rotation.

The cake counter sources from Rinkoff Bakery, a family bakery in Whitechapel with over a century of history. The pinball lounge at the back means Chief Coffee draws a broader crowd than most specialty bars, which is part of what makes it work: it does not ask you to perform your coffee knowledge to get a good flat white.

Common questions

What espresso machine does Workshop Coffee use?

The Workshop Coffee bar at 80a Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia uses a La Marzocco Linea PB espresso machine with a Mahlkonig EK43 grinder. Workshop roasts its own coffee and runs the same beans across espresso, V60 and batch brew.

What espresso machine does Prufrock Coffee use?

Prufrock Coffee on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell runs a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle espresso machine with a Mythos One grinder. The bar uses Square Mile Coffee Roasters as its primary, with guest roasters rotating through the menu.

What machine does Chief Coffee in Chiswick use?

Chief Coffee in Chiswick uses a La Marzocco FB80 espresso machine with a Mahlkonig EK43 grinder. The bar pours Allpress Espresso as its primary roast and rotates Workshop Coffee as a guest.

What coffee does Climpson and Sons use?

Climpson and Sons roasts its own coffee. The house espresso is called The Baron and is built around Daterra coffee from Brazil. The bar at Broadway Market uses a La Marzocco KB90 machine with a Mahlkonig E65 grinder.

Which London cafes on this crawl roast their own coffee?

Three of the six stops roast in-house: Climpson and Sons in Hackney, E5 Bakehouse in London Fields and Ozone Coffee Roasters in Shoreditch. Workshop Coffee in Fitzrovia also roasts its own beans. Prufrock Coffee uses Square Mile Coffee Roasters and Chief Coffee uses Allpress Espresso as its primary.

Is this London coffee crawl walkable in a day?

The first five stops are linked by the Overground and a short walk. Climpson and Sons and E5 Bakehouse are both in Hackney and a few minutes apart on foot. Ozone is in Shoreditch, and Prufrock and Workshop are accessible via Clerkenwell and Fitzrovia. For Chief Coffee in Chiswick, take the District line west from central London, which adds around 40 minutes. A full crawl comfortably fits into one day if you start in Hackney by late morning.