Dose Espresso

An impending office move means less time in Clerkenwell and more in Soho. Not necessarily a bad thing, but as my legion of readers will know, I spend enough time there anyway. When I say Clerkenwell, I'm including quite big swathes of EC1 with numerous clusters of food, booze and coffee interest: Smithfield, Leather Lane, St John's Square, the Italian strip, Exmouth Market, Whitecross Street... it's a great area with a lot of choice.

But onwards I go, and before that, a brief serenade to my favourite coffee place in the area. Not Workshop (always St Ali to me), or Prufrock, or Caravan - but the humble Dose Espresso.

Dose is a tiny, low key place on Long Lane towards Barbican. It's a typical Melburnian hole-in-the-wall sort of place, with a few chairs but mainly take away. The cute red cups match the huge, vintage La Marzocco but you wouldn't linger for too long.

Coffee is fantastic; Square Mile but some of the lesser seen single origins and blends. They do some snacks and sarnies too but the focus is firmly on the coffee here. For the peckish, I'd go next door to The Old Red Cow for one of the best bar food and craft ale selections for miles.

Soho is obviously littered with great coffee places, so I'm not worried on that front. But Dose has a certain calm and serenity not easily found in W1, and I'll miss it. Their range of Hario gear is excellent too.