PROUDLY ANNOUNCING: Workshop Coffee at The Pilgrm
August 2018 will see us launching our latest London coffeebar, as we bring the best coffee possible to Paddington.
In an exciting first for us, our new, focused space will be inside The Pilgrm, a boutique hotel located less than 400ft from Paddington Railway Station.
Behind the brass-handled doors and blue ceramic-tiled Victorian frontage, you'll find us nestled in the stunningly restored reception space of the hotel serving the best coffee possible to residents and workers based in the local area, as well as train travellers en route to the South-West of the country and Heathrow Airport.
Our rotating, seasonal range of espresso and filter coffees will be showcased seven days a week from the new bar, with single origin and decaffeinated espressos being run through Mythos 1 Grinders and pulled on a 2-Group La Marzocco Linea PB. This will be supported by freshly brewed, consistently delicious and constantly changing filter coffee, batch brewed and ready to enjoy immediately.
With comfortable seating and a newsstand stocked with magazines and newspapers, guests and regulars will also be able to enjoy loose leaf teas from exceptional, London-based tea purveyors, Postcard Teas, a concise array of baked goods from London’s best bakeries and a range of retail bags of coffee beans and brewing equipment to take home.
We're looking forward to welcoming you and are excited to be bringing what we do to a new area of the city.
We'll keep you updated on our progress.
We're currently accepting applications for Barista and Supervisor positions at Workshop Coffee at The Pilgrm. To apply, send a pdf copy of your CV accompanied by a short covering letter to work@workshopcoffee.com and we'll be in touch.
Workshop Coffee at The Pilgrm, 25 London Street, London. W2 1HH.
Open House | Join us on Friday 13th April
The London Coffee Festival is almost upon us once again.
As cafe owners, coffee lovers and roasters from across the country descend on East London, we'll be keeping the shutters at our Roastery in Bethnal Green up a little longer than usual on Friday 13th April from 5:00 p.m..
Providing a welcome break from the franticness of the festival, we'll be putting coffees from our current range down on the cupping table. You'll be able to taste these alongside some past favourites and a preview of some new arrivals as we seek to highlight our commitment to continually move with coffee’s seasonality.
All that, plus a few drinks and a whole host of conversations.
Find us at 29-43 Vyner Street, London, E2 9DQ.
We're looking forward to welcoming you.
INTRODUCING OUR SOURCE ROAST BREW COLLECTION
We source. We roast. We brew.
We wholeheartedly believe that involvement at every stage of a coffees lifecycle is paramount in providing the best coffee possible.
It’s the reason we spend several months of the year in producing countries, visiting numerous farms and tasting hundreds of coffees. It’s why we have a dedicated Roastery in Bethnal Green, where our Quality Control measures and standards become more rigorous by the week. And the insight and knowledge gained is then executed in each of our coffeebars, where we’re able to serve our guests every day before feeding back to the beginning of the process.
Each stage informs the other and we wanted to create something that served as a reminder of that fact.
So a little earlier this year, we extended a challenge to the entire Workshop team: to create an icon that brought these three things together in a clear, simple and beautiful way. We're incredibly happy to unveil the results.
THE ROUNDEL
Taking inspiration from the visual simplicity and immediacy of boy scout badges, each element is brought together in a clear and beautiful way:
SOURCE: A simple outline of a mountain range represents our dedication to sourcing from the worlds best farmers, producers and co-operatives.
ROAST: A curved line that runs through the roundels middle shows the roast profile from Deiby Sair Sanchez, one of our many filter releases this in 2017.
BREW: A small water droplet is a nod to the brewing process that brings the hard work of others to the final cup.
You can shop the first products from the collection here.
Proudly announcing Workshop Coffee at White Collar Factory
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost three years since we opened our Fitzrovia Coffeebar.
In that time we’ve released over 100 coffees (roasting over 175,000 kilos in the process).
We’ve seen two parts of the business move from their original homes. Our original Maylebone Coffeebar decamped a few metres from its first location on Wigmore Street to new digs in St. Chrstopher’s Place. Our Roastery packed up its cupping spoons and headed further east from Clerkenwell to a dedicated and infinitely larger space in Bethnal Green. These changes, and numerous others in between, have kept us busy.
As have plans for our latest opening.
At the beginning of June, we’ll be dialling in our coffees for the first time at our fourth coffeebar and fifth location: Workshop Coffee at White Collar Factory.
Located on Old Street roundabout, the project is billed as one of the most ambitious and progressive workspaces in London and we’ll be serving drinks from a bar -- or bars -- to match. Incorporating two coffeebars, the first will be located on the ground floor of the space, serving delicious coffee to the public throughout the working week. A six-metre-long, basalt-topped bar will take pride of place in the 1,300 sq. ft. coffeebar area. Complemented by a beautifully tactile tiled bar front, it will be adorned with much of the machinery our regulars have come to know so well: a 3-group La Marzocco Linea PB and Nuova Simonelli Mythos 1 Grinders.
The second bar will located on the buildings 17th floor, serving the buildings tenants and offering an incredible view of London's skyline from its terrace (and 150m running track).
Taking a slightly different approach to filter coffee service, we’ll continue to serve two filters from our rotating, seasonal range at any one time. However, both will be brewed using our Fetco batch brewers.
With the space taking inspiration from the work of self-taught French architect and designer, Jean Prouvé, references will be found throughout the building, from its factory-like finish, to the green colour palette that runs throughout and even the coffeebar seating, which will provide space for more than 40 to enjoy the best coffee possible.
There’s lots to be done between now and then, but we’re looking forward to sharing more information with you in the coming weeks.
Considering taking the first step in your career in coffee? Or thinking of taking the next? With a new location comes a need for more motivated team members looking to learn, develop and progress. Find out more on how to join us here.
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We've made a few changes
In April of this year, we were handed the keys to 3,500 square foot of expansive, empty space in and amongst the art galleries on the quiet, cobbled road of Vyner Street, East London. As with any major project, the work to get us to that point began long before, but in the seven months since, we've been hard at work. In every corner of the business, we've been making some exciting advancements, from our production department, to changes to our stores and the refinement of the Workshop Coffee brand itself.
First, the Workshop Coffee Roastery. Our new space affords us two important developments in our quality-driven approach: resource and time.
The installation of a brand new 25kg Probat has an immediate effect on our capacity, allowing us to roast larger batches whilst continuing to carefully monitor our output through the ever-reliable Cropster. We've also built a climate-controlled storage room that will allow us to dictate the temperature at which our coffee is stored, diminishing the impact of yet another difficult-to-control variable that has a considerable impact on taste and flavour. Meanwhile, our still new and somewhat unfamiliar ColourTrack laser analysis unit that sits across the room from our roaster provides us another window into better understanding the numerous elements and variables that help us roast the best coffee possible.
The benefits of all of this are already beginning to be seen in the area we are going to be spending even more time on than we currently do: the cupping table. With greater levels of capacity and resource come increased opportunities to cup, taste, evaluate and continue improving every coffee we roast in the space. A renewed focus on this crucial point in our feedback loop can only mean greater consistency in our roasting process and we're excited to showcase the results in the coming weeks and months.
Having had numerous discussions with our wholesale partners, our customers and members of our own team, we've also developed a new, bespoke coffee bag.
We've scrutinised everything, from their shape and height to the design of the label that adorns them, ensuring quality at every stage and level.
The custom-made, resealable bags -- available in all of our stores and online from today -- continue to allow for ongoing freshness and we've sought to unpack the details of each coffee into a clear and approachable grid system to ensure continued quality of information.
Most excitingly, we've also changed our bag size. A switch to our 250g bags has allowed us to create a product that, for 1- and 2-bag orders, is capable of fitting through almost every conveivable letterbox. That means that our online and subscription customers can now expect to arrive home to our freshly roasted coffee ready and waiting for them to enjoy.
As you'll have no doubt already noticed, in the process of improving our packaging we've also taken the opportunity to refine our brand. From today, a new bold and distinctive 'W' will feature on each and every one of our coffee bags. We've also been working over the weekend to bring that new look to our website and into our stores.
In short, a number of things have changed. Our new look will manifest itself in the bigger ways we've already outlined and in the countless details of our everyday operations: signage, aprons, takeaway cups, to name but a few. And, as is always the way with projects such as these, things will continue to adapt and iterate over time as we acquire feedback and learn lessons along the way.
However, fundamentally, nothing has changed. We continue to source, roast and brew the cleanest, sweetest, freshest coffee possible and these advances will allow us to do that better than we ever have.
We're back: our new Marylebone Coffeebar
It is with great pleasure that, as of 7am this morning, we have opened the doors to our new Marylebone Coffeebar at 1 Barrett St., W1U 1AX.
Now inside the piazza of St. Christopher's Place, the same baristas and barbacks you know are continuing to serve delicious coffee alongside a focused food offering throughout the day.
There are others things our regulars will recognise, too: our espresso machine and cups have become a renewed focal point.
However, with a new space also comes a new aesthetic. The EK43 grinder and Fetco batch brewer we've come to know so well in our Holborn and Fitzrovia Coffeebars adorns a zinc-topped bar. This gives way to a clean, simple design with flashes of colour and intrigue that include -- among other things -- a wall carving that we're particularly fond of.
We look forward to welcoming returning and new customers in the coming days, weeks and months and bringing back the best coffee possible to Marylebone after a short hiatus.
Our Christmas Trading Hours, 2014.
It's unlikely that you need any reminders about the fact that Christmas is just one short week away (though our Subscriptions really do make a fantastic gift), but in case you were coming to visit one of our stores during the holiday period, please know we'll be open the following hours:
Clerkenwell CafeDecember 24th: 7:30am - 4:00pm
December 25th & 26th: Closed
December 27th - 31st: 8:00am - 4:00pm
December 1st: Closed
January 2nd - 5th: 8:00am - 4:00pm
January 6th: Regular Hours
Marylebone Coffeebar
December 24th: 7:00am — 7:00pm
December 25th & 26th: Closed
December 27th - 31st: 9:00am — 6:00pm
January 1st: Closed
January 2nd: 9:00am — 6:00pm
January 3rd: Regular Hours
Fitzrovia Coffeebar
December 24th: 7:00am — 7:00pm
December 25th & 26th: Closed
December 27th - 31st: 9:00am — 6:00pm
January 1st: Closed
January 2nd: 9:00am — 6:00pm
January 3rd: Regular Hours
Holborn Coffeebar
December 24th: 7:00am — 7:00pm
December 25th - January 4th: Closed
January 5th: Regular Hours
A Move for Marylebone.
Back in August of 2011 we took a small shopfront in London’s West End and turned it into the city’s furthest westerly outpost of a burgeoning quality coffee scene — at the time almost completely focused around the inner East.
Just metres from the mayhem and clatter of Oxford Street, with its relentless crush of tourists, shoppers and the glaring gaudiness of high street and multi-national brands we dedicated ourselves to being a refuge from the noise and chaos, sharing great coffee, simple food and a genuine and humble hospitality.
Bringing great coffee to the neighbourhood was gladly welcomed by the local office community, and we’ve been constantly thanked for the brief respite and recharge we provide those visiting the nearby department stores. Wigmore Street, for these last years, has played host to our first coffeebar as well as our first head office, and has served us well as our home outside Clerkenwell.
But we’ve always known we were on borrowed time.
With property redevelopment being what it is in Central London, our lease has been on a short rolling renewal for some time. A few weeks ago we finally received word that plans for the property we occupy were moving ahead, and that it was time for us to move on. To that end, in early January we’ll be closing the doors to our Marylebone Coffeebar for the final time.
But, fear not. We’re not closing for long, we’re moving. And we’re not moving far, at that.
From the end of January, we’ll be delighted to open the doors on the next chapter of our West End operations, as we unveil our newest location at 1 Barrett Street, W1U 1AX — just 150 metres away from our Marylebone Coffeebar, further inside St. Christopher’s Place.
Working again with Ink Associates on design and construction, and this time with a little more space to play with, we’ll be updating and expanding what we’ve already established in the neighbourhood.
A five-metre long zinc-topped bar and extended glass food cabinet, combined with banquette and perch bar seating will set the stage for an expansion into a wider, more considered food offering, while the relocation of our espresso brewing machinery from Wigmore Street will ensure the continued service of the best coffee possible.
Added to our repertoire will be the larger scale Fetco batch brewed coffee that is proving so successful in our Holborn and Fitzrovia locations, allowing our guests the option to enjoy freshly-brewed coffee, served quickly and conveniently.
The very same team of Baristas and Bar Backs that you’ve gotten to know at our original location will be in place to welcome and look after you in Barrett Street.
As we begin construction work over the next few days it’s with great pride that we look back at our original West End experiment, and to the countless guests we’ve had the privilege of meeting, serving and getting to know. While the rest of the city readies itself to wind down for the Christmas break, we’re gearing up to build, polish and launch our latest venture, and to continue to share with the people of the West End — whether office workers, tourists or weary shoppers — what we consider to be the best coffee possible.
To opportunities new, and to safe and happy holidays for us all,
- Workshop Coffee Co.
