facttime

With a few days of annual leave left to use this year and the desire to spend my birthday somewhere sunny for once, I found myself in beautiful Porto earlier this month. I'd been wanting to visit the city nicknamed Invicta ever since my trip to Lisbon in 2015 . My city guide is now live , and here is my guide to Porto's excellent speciality coffee scene — well, the ten coffee shops I was able to visit during my four-and-a-half-day stay, one of which is in Vila Nova de Gaia, technically a separate city. Porto's city centre is relatively compact, making it easy to explore its coffee shops. Do check Google Maps or the coffee shops' social media for the latest opening hours, and note that some places close on some combination of Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. And I was able to sample coffee from five local roasteries, as well as from several international roasters. It was also great to see hand-brewed filter coffee featuring on so many menus. Although I'm partial to a p...

While killing time in Greenwich a few weeks ago, I happened upon 15grams , a speciality coffee shop on Greenwich Church Street, on the corner of Greenwich Market . It was a sunny Sunday and there was a big queue and no room to sit, so I got a cortado to go, which I enjoyed so much I knew I had to return for a more leisurely visit. I was back two weeks later and in the interim, the protective perspex screens on the counter had been taken down, making it even easier to admire the handsome coffee bar. The décor is very mid-century with wooden panelling and black tiling, pistachio green and maroon accents and a comfy armchair at the back, which would be perfect for curling up with a book (and a coffee). The café itself is long and slender, with the counter running along one side, with a long, narrow table running along the window just opposite. There are a couple more tables outside on the pedestrianised passage to the market. To get to the coffee, you first have to make it past the impres...