I heart coffee - it's true

I <3 / heart / love Coffee - I'm never really quite sure what to call this place in Streatham. I usually go for I heart coffee. From a trawl around the web I think most others go for I love coffee. I guess that confusion is part of the problem when you opt for a name which includes a symbol.

Anyway, that's enough about the name, this place is good so let's get down to business.

I've been a few times now, on this trip the order was a flat white, pan au raisin and babycino...

This place gets so many things right, a cherry hello as you come in. Friendly staff take your order. The staff are thoughtful too, they saw baby spiller was probably too young for a china cup, so checked that they should provide a paper cup. They new exactly why I asked for a straw as well and promptly provided one.

The coffee is very good. Nice creamy texture to the milk, hot but not burnt. Intense coffee flavour.

Pan au raisin was good too, although nothing special.

I was a little surprised about the quality of the coffee at this place, the name and exterior didn't really give me a huge amount of confidence. However it had been recommended by a few people, I'm clearly not the only person to have discovered that this place is doing a great coffee - they've been busy every time I've been there.

I'll try and remember to add a 'baby friendly' review for future posts (and might update previous ones). I heart coffee is good for babies I think. Door is relatively easy to get through with pram, plenty of space inside, high chairs available, plenty of comfortable chairs (I would guess good for breastfeeding), baby friendly staff. I didn't see a specific child area and didn't check baby change facilities I'm sorry.

Scores:

Coffee
Hot: 10/13
Aroma: 10/13
Flavour: 11/13
Texture: 11/13
Presentation: 9/13

General
Service: 10/13
Food: 8/13
Atmosphere: 7/13

Overall 10/13

Baby/child friendly 9/13

Moka - not mocha

Having lived in Balham for five years I had never been drawn into Caffe Moka. Now I live in nearby Furzedown I have finally got around to going, my only regret is not having gone earlier.

This isn't a fancy place but it does what it does well. It's a comfortable local cafe with nice coffee and food and some tempting deals.

We were looking for a coffee and cake, as per usual, and we thought we'd give Moka a go.

It's been a while now so had to check with Mrs Spiller what we ordered, it was a cappucino for me and a white americano for her.

Cakes were banana, chocolate and peanut butter and a toffee and walnut (not sure if that's right, it's been a couple of weeks).

The coffee was strong, not burnt, really good without being exceptional.

 



The cakes were good too, the banana, choc and peanut butter in particular was very nice.

A couple of eventful moments while we were there: as we arrived, and throughout our stay, there was a table of ladies gossiping about what I thouht was a friend of theirs. It was all quite graphic, tragic and sensational. It was great eaves dropping time. As we left Mrs Spiller commented how the table of ladies had spent the whole time talking about Katie Price, it all makes much more sense now.

There was also an incident where an entire cup of coffee was spilt. The staff were very good at clearing it up and providing a replacement coffee for the unlucky customer.

If you're there on a weekday they've got a cake half price between 2-4.30 on weekdays!

So, the scores...

Scores:

Coffee
Hot: 9/13
Aroma: 9/13
Flavour: 9/13
Texture: 9/13
Presentation: 8/13

General
Service: 9/13
Food: 9/13
Atmosphere: 8/13

Overall 9/13