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Intermission Coffee  is a great name for a coffee shop that opened during the coronavirus pandemic: who among us hasn't felt, at some point, as though the whole of the last year has been an extended intermission while we wait to get our lives back?  The West Hampstead coffee bar opened last August, and it came heartily recommended by my friends at Saint Nine . But West Hampstead is a bit of a jaunt from Bermondsey and then London went back into lockdown, so it's taken me a little while to visit. I picked a great day for it, though, as the sun was shining as I stepped out of the Tube and crossed the road into the open courtyard of Heritage Lane. There are a couple of other shops and some public benches, but Intermission has its own yellow-accented outdoor seating too. Green features prominently in the design, from the shopfront to the ridged counter and the espresso machine, as well as the plants. The coffee shop is small — and at the moment, only two customers are allowed in a...

Most of my Caffeine Chronicles reviews are about speciality coffee shops I've discovered recently. Not so with Black Swan Yard Coffee , which is one of the closest coffee shops to my home and one that I've visited even more frequently while working from home during lockdown. Somehow, though, writing about the Bermondsey coffee spot has always eluded me, even as it's changed and adapted over the months and years, so I thought it was high time for a post. At present, Black Swan Yard is only accessible via a ground-level hatch in a handsome red-brick building at the top of buzzy Bermondsey Street. There used to be a a seating area inside the adjacent bike shop, but even in the before times, the hatch was the place to be. The photos in this post are from various visits over the past year, and although the A-boards featuring the titular black swan and one of their famous cardamom buns have been there for years, the hatch has gradually become more decorated. Physical distancing m...

I've been quite quiet on the blogging front of late, mainly because as you will have seen if you follow me on Twitter , I'm starting a new job in a new industry this week, and it's been a hectic few weeks handing over and signing off. But I had a few free days this week, which gave me time to visit Good as Gold , a new speciality coffee shop in beautiful Brockley, south-east London. After I'd added Good as Gold to my to-visit list, I spotted that it already came with a ringing endorsement from Daniel (AKA @100CupsCoffee ), and took advantage of a sunny morning to stroll up to Brockley, via Peckham and Nunhead. Good as Gold first popped up in Windmill Street, before the pandemic pushed owners  Anthony and Tom  — formerly of The Gentlemen Baristas — out into zone 2. Fitzrovia's loss is very much Brockley's gain, and when I visited the café, which is just down the road from Brockley station, light was streaming in. The décor is industrial-minimalist, but with plen...