Only independent coffee shops for a month?

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Last Updated on 24th July 2020

For the whole of September I only bought coffee from small independent coffee shops. So no Starbucks, no Costa Coffee and no Neros … and so on! The initial idea for this came when my girlfriend Claire and I had a delicious ‘flat white’ from Campervan Coffee Company in the garden of Hitchin’s Vic pub back in the Spring, but it took me until September to go fully “independent” once I’d stumbled across an Instagram image bigging up visiting small businesses rather than lining the pockets of another multi millionaire CEO.

Independent coffee shops in my hometown

My hometown of Hitchin is a delightful little market town in the UK with many independent coffee outlets so there was plenty to choose from there. Hitchin is where Doctor Foster was filmed and is all well-known for its lavender and sunflower fields nearby. A few tweets even caught the attention of the local Hertfordshire Midweek Mercury newspaper with my exploits making it to the top of page 12.

And loads of independent coffee shops in London too

During the week I work in Clerkenwell, which has the biggest concentration of design agencies in the world, meaning I was spoilt for choice there too. Within 100 metres was Workshop, Timberyard and my favourite lunchtime haunt Look Mum No Hands. However within 30 metres are Costa, Pret and Starbucks which is where 95% of the office dive in to … as do I …. usually.

So what can you learn after a month of avoiding the tax avoiders? 😉

1. You get to sample so many more flavours from the many different bean varieties stocked by the independent traders.
2. It feels good when you support a small business and it gives you a warm feeling inside: in this case literally.
3. You’re tasting “proper” coffee.
4. Sometimes you may want “some coffee with your coffee” with cup sizes being on the small size compared to a sizeable grandé from Starbucks! But then that’s the great thing about having the choice. When you fancy a large coffee just grab that grandé Starbucks instead.
5. Value for money isn’t necessarily about the amount of coffee you receive though. One establishment worked out to be 3x more expensive than a Starbucks latté per ml but if you’re getting over 3x the enjoyment in nicer surroundings then it’s money well spent.
6. Purposely grabbing a coffee most days for the month turned into an expensive little exercise but it gave me a much better idea of what I like and where my favourite places are.
7. After a while I had to walk further and further to find new places so at that point I simply ended up going back to a few shops repeatedly, but then that’s how you become a regular somewhere.
8. Oh and “independents” pay their taxes of course!

My favourite coffees in my little experiment?

Well to be honest I enjoy coffee so I loved all of them. However I did like the flat whites from Wakelins in Hitchin, ‘Campervan Coffee Co‘ (Hitchin) and ‘Look Mum No Hands‘ (London) as they’re the ones I just happen to go to most frequently.

What next? I might keep it going and do my best to grab an “independent” coffee when I have the choice. The coffees I sampled certainly tasted better and were often served better too. That’s all part of the caffeine experience!

The coffee shops visited as part of this little “independent” exercise were:

• Timberyard – Old Street, London (now closed)
• Wakelin’s – Coopers Yard, Hitchin
• Coffee Coffee – Railway Station, Hitchin
• Campervan Coffee Co – Hitchin
• Café Air – Market Square, Hitchin
• Look Mum No Hands – Old Street, London
• Workshop – Clerkenwell Road, London (now closed)
• Temptations – Clerkenwell Road, London (now closed)
• Piccolo Deli – Goswell Road, London
• Black Sheep Coffee – Charlotte Road, London
• Beyond Bread – Charlotte Place, London
• Bakery Quotidian Deli – Sun Street, Hitchin
• Hermitage Road – Hermitage Road, London
• Giddy Up Coffee – Fortune Park, London
• The Haven Café – Bancroft, Hitchin

Does anybody else only ever go to independent coffee shops? 🙂 If you’ve enjoyed reading this check out my other drink experiment when I successfully attempted to make some delicious ‘sloe gin’ using sloe berries from the local hedgerows.

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