When I started to work in coffee, there wasn't a lot going on.

There were, however, a few institutions, and they're still trading today, and I wanted to make a short film about them on the way that they influenced my thinking about coffee.

Right now, London's an amazing place to drink coffee, and it's in the middle of its third big coffee boom.

No much remains of the first to write.

The 1st 1 started here.

16 52 was a massive deal square mile, but not much of that remains, except for this thing, just small plaque on Dhe Lloyd's of London.

Lord was originally coffeehouse, where customers came to trade shipping insurance.

Now it's very different, though the runners in the building is still called waiters.

My first coffee job involved working on Oxford Street on the only place nearby to buy beans that I found was this place Higgins.

Back then, I was selling domestic expression machines on.

I knew nothing about the coffee I worked with, other than it was a 60 40 arabica robusta blend that wasn't very good.

So I went Here is the first time I saw they had between seal was super old school.

Back then, guys were like brown overcoats, old shopkeepers, and I brought some coffee beans that were really expensive at the time on totally wrong for what I wanted, and I just didn't get it.

But this place it's started in 1942.

It started during the Second World War and sort of made it out of those years and rationing afterwards and has become kind of an institution.

Coffees are pretty old school.

It's like Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee from the Galapagos and places like that.

So, like nothing really current.

Nothing super traceable, but just kind of the old school stuff.

The next place I found was called the Algerian Coffee Stores.

I still knew nothing about coffee, but I had bought David Sherman's book and I'd read it on.

I went in and tried to talk about coffee like he talks about coffee, and I asked for some beans that were roasted just into second crack like nice mahogany color mill, visible oils, and they looked at me like I was kind of crazy.

I've still got back were often because it's a pretty good place to go and shop.

The strange coffee brewers glass, Conor's market parts, that kind of thing.

Even though the coffee's haven't really changed that much over the last 10 years.

Just around the corner from there soon find another institution just called Bar Italia.

Bar Italia is one of the remnants of the second wave of coffee that London had, which was kind of fifties espresso bar boom on.

It's still going started in 1949 runs, 24 hours a day on the coffee in there is super traditional old school Italian, which is pretty great.

When I started to identify as being a barista, I totally what I was doing when I didn't know what I was doing, going in four in the morning and asking for a double restaurant, too.

Kind of, you know, like I knew what I was doing to live like the serious coffee order, and I'll never forget how the guy behind the bar looked at me like I was just a idiot.

It's £2 from espresso is like This will be £4.

You may as well just get one.

Espresso is the same amount of liquid again going back there today.

Nothing has really changed the machine, the staff service, the Deco coffee, it all as it was 10 years ago.

And I don't think it's gonna change anytime soon.

And it's kind of good that that's somewhere in London doing that old school espresso thing well and doing it with pride.

And that's been doing it for a really long time.

Even though it's not coffee had ever really choose to drink, despite the fact that they started in 1978 roasting in the basement here on Mama three.

It wasn't actually into 2005.

I found Mama on.

They were my introduction to quality.

They were The first company came across in London.

Serving coffee came from a single farm.

They were more interested in filter espresso, despite the fact that what they do is now very common in London.

They have never really chased trends, just done their thing for decades now.

They haven't tried to be like everyone else.

They just stuck to the principles on.

Every time you go crazy, busy, I drink a lot of filter coffee there.

I enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoyed this video.