London Coffee Festival

We thought it was about time to head south to the big metropolis for the London Coffee Festival. Heading to the venue, I got well-urban in Tower Hamlets, an' mix'd it wiv da kidz, in'it.

As it was National Table Tennis Day, I thought it rude not to get some practice in for our team's upcoming Kendal League K.O. Cup Final (which we WON!!! yeah!). No better way to start the day than with a high serve and a cucumber sandwich.

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We said hello to the guys at Doppio Coffee who also use one of my favourite brands: ECM. I was already feeling homesick, but there were some Penrith "Tray Bakes" for sale, so I chowed down and soon felt like a city slicker.

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In for my first piccolo of the day ... I was already feeling like a Shoreditch regular. "Cor Blimey, Mary Poppins."

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Within minutes my cinematic potential had been spotted and I found myself being asked to do an audition for the new Tom Waits's film, "Flat White in Monochrome City". Here I am practising my line: "Slip me a Micky, Joe. And what's wid dat stupid wooden bow tie, yer godammn hipster?"

I'm still waiting to hear whether I got the part...

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Word got around quickly that the Cumbrians were in town. People just couldn't stop plying us with free nosh. Honestly, you'd think it was an NHS canteen with all that divine grub. Thanks here to Cakesmiths who'd heard my "palate" was more florid than Vincent Van Gogh's and asked me to sample their gluten-free cakes. My verdict: "notes of lemon and dark chocolate, buttery mouthfeel, well-balanced, pleasant acidity, hint of bicarbonate of soda".

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Just enough time to pamper those hard-worked digits, before heading home.  Will is applying a tester face-scrub made from used coffee grounds and we'll be stocking it very soon. When I said: "I'll get to know the ingredients like the back of my hand", I think he took me a bit too literally.

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Thanks to Liam Lonsdale for some cracking images... he really should think seriously about taking up photography as a profession! www.liamlonsdale.com

And here's a little video we made on the way down on the train. Just to demonstrate that there's an alternative to Virgin Trains coffee.