Coffee Festivities

Life is pretty busy as a freelancer, so my FoodTeaLife posts have become a little sporadic but I still find time to get out and about doing foodie things (mostly eating!). There just seems to be less time to write about it all. However one thing I am making the time to write about is the recent London Coffee Festival.

The smell on arrival was heavenly! The fresh coffee scent just surrounded us and it wasn’t long before we purchased our first caffeine-filled beverage. The bright and early start meant a cappuccino to kick off the day was an absolute must. My first coffee of the day was accompanied by a slice of toast spread with avocado and vegemite, a strangely good combination. Wandering around I saw coffee demonstrations, plenty of quirky things to buy and try and something which turned out to be a real highlight, a Kalhua coffee cocktails bar!

Mixologists or baristas? The busy Kahlua bar staff creating coffee cocktails

We started off with a couple of White Russians, who doesn’t love their creamy coffee goodness?

Delicious White Russians!

There was one cocktail on the menu we simply had to sample…Espresso Martinis! I’ve always wanted to try one since I saw Nigella Lawson make them and what better place to try my first one than at a coffee festival?

Espresso Martini complete with three coffee beans on top

These were certainly strong, rocket fuel in fact! But it was great to finally try an Espresso Martini.

My first Espresso Martini (photo courtesy of Aminah Khan)

I certainly left the festival buzzing and on a high fueled by caffeine and fun times!

Coffee fun! Thanks to Aminah for the brilliant photos

The festival goody bags were pretty good too – loved my sachet of Drink Me Chai’s Earl Grey Latte and the free Fox’s Caffe Thins have been going down a treat (since discovered they are great topped with a molten marshmallow!).