Calling time on our Holborn Coffeebar
It's hard to believe that it's been half a decade since we opened what was, in 2013, our second ever coffeebar.
World-class in terms of its design, its levels of customer service and the quality of the tens of thousands of coffees we've served over the past five years, we had high hopes for what we'd be able to do in a new area of the city.
However, the broader building development has never quite delivered on its initial promises of becoming a thriving commuter hub, surrounded by a host of exciting, like-minded operators. This has, in turn, made it increasingly difficult to justify the site long-term and so we've made the difficult, but sensible, decision to close the doors for the final time on Friday 8th March, 2019.
We're immensely grateful to the Holborn community and our wonderful cohort of regular guests for joining us over the years and are sad to be saying goodbye. We hope to see as many of you as possible for at least one last brew over the next week.
In the meantime, we are actively looking for new coffeebar locations both in the area and further afield. The Holborn team will be joining the teams at our other London coffeebar locations, as well as our growing Wholesale Training Team and our Masterclasses will now take place at our Roastery in Bethnal Green.
All that remains is to thank the Holborn team, past and present, for their enthusiasm and hard work on the Viaduct over the years. And, of course, to thank you, our guests, for your continued support.
The closest coffeebar to our Holborn location is Workshop Coffee at White Collar Factory, less than one mile away. You can see our full list of cofffeebars here. If you have any questions or require any additional information on our Holborn Coffeebar, please contact us here.
Slow Saturdays with tokyobike + Kinto Japan
The weekend brings with it the opportunity to take a little more time and be a touch more considered in the things we choose to do. That in turn allows us to appreciate the process a little more and discover more as a result.
With that in mind, we've partnered with tokyobike and Kinto Japan to brew and serve coffee from our seasonal range on the first Saturday of each month. You'll find us in their Shoreditch store from 11:00 until 12:00 brewing up something new on Kinto's 2-Cup Brewer Stand.
Stop by at your convenience for a conversation, to learn more or simply to enjoy a delicious cup of freshly brewed filter coffee on on us.
And after your coffee, you can also join tokyobike on a free, guided ride through and to some of London's scenic spots. Making use of cycle paths, tow paths, back roads and green spaces, bring your bike along to enjoy the ride and take in the views. Find out more and sign-up here.
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.
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.
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THE MAKING OF OUR CUSTOM CUPS
During the process of creating our limited edition, custom ceramic cups, we were lucky enough to spend some time in the studio with Moss Ceramics founder, Tsouni, observing and learning more about the ceramics process.
Inside Turning Earth studios, in a railway arch beneath the overground line between Hoxton and Haggerston stations, we discovered just how involved, focused and time-consuming each stage was.
Every cup began its life as one non-descript, unassuming pound of stoneware clay. Before going anywhere near a potters wheel, it would undergo the process of wedging; a physically involved procedure, this required the repeated (and purposeful) throwing down of the clay onto a work bench in order to remove any air bubbles and to help distribute its water content more evenly.
From there, it would be carefully and exactingly thrown by hand, transforming each ubiquitous lump into the shape of the beautiful and bespoke final pieces. Walking us through the steps she went through 160 times, Tsouni explains:
"For each cup, the clay was centred on the wheel and an indent was made in the centre. The cup walls were pulled up from there. My hands got so used to throwing the shape that by the end of the process, it felt as though they were almost making themselves."
Stamped with our W device, the cups were then left to dry for 24 hours before being checked over the following day for rough edges and imperfections and trimmed accordingly:
"The stamping required the most care – not only does it have to be done when the clay is at a precise point between wet and dry, but if you apply too much pressure you'll affect the shape of the cup. Of course, if you don't apply enough pressure, the stamp won't be bold enough."
Allowed to dry thoroughly for a further 48 hours, the cups then entered the kiln for their first firing at around 1,000oc. From there, each piece could be hand-glazed before being finished with one final firing in the kiln.
Only then were they ready to be shared with us and, subsequently, with you. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
WORKSHOP COFFEE x MOSS CERAMICS
To celebrate our new look, we wanted to do something special and that we hadn't done before. Today, we’re incredibly pleased to be able to showcase the results.
Approaching East London-based Moss Ceramics earlier this year, we’ve since been working closely with founder and one-woman production team, Tsouni, to create a short run of handmade Workshop Coffee cups to add to our shelves.
After reviewing and considering numerous test and sample pieces, the final design is a beautiful, robust and understated handle-less tumbler. Its smooth, glossy white-glazed interior spills out onto the upper-half of the cups exterior before giving way to the contrast of an unglazed, sandy, textural lower-half. Combined, it creates a cup that sits snuggly in the hand and, with solid, thick walls and base, holds the heat well.
Each cup has been thrown by hand and subsequently offers its own nuances and idiosyncrasies, and means that every one of the 160 cups we’ve created is unique.
Having left the studio in Haggerston, 60 of the collection have been gifted to our staff, meaning there are just 100 left.