Thameslink’s coffee connoisseurs enjoy bespoke brews at Loughborough Junction station

A specialist, independent coffee shop has opened at Thameslink’s Loughborough Junction station.

To celebrate the opening of the new shop, Federation Coffee has given away 800 free cups of filter coffee to commuters this week.

Federation Coffee owner Joe Cannon, who also has a coffee shop in Brixton, said: “We have been encouraging people to try our batch-brew filter coffee because there’s a bit more finesse and you can appreciate the single-source beans. If people are in a rush to catch a train, it will also be faster for them to grab-and-go with a filter coffee.”

This week’s filter coffee is from a single-origin Guatemalan microlot - a high quality bean from a specific plot on a coffee farm in limited supply, while the bespoke house espresso has been blended from Guatemalan and Ethiopian beans.

Federation Coffee’s beans are usually roasted by Curve in Margate and the bespoke house espresso blend changes with the seasons. Every month there is also a guest roaster for the filter coffee option. Former guests have hailed from as far away as Sweden to the more local-based London.

As well as serving quality coffee, Joe is keen on being green and highlighted that customers are not served takeaway cups if drinking in. Discounts are given to customers who bring in ‘keep cups’ or reusable cups, while takeaway cups are fully compostable if needed. Coffee grinds are also made use of by gardening organisations as fertiliser. In the past, Federation Coffee has supplied a mushroom farm with its grinds.

Forty-year-old Joe, who lives in Peckham, is no stranger to the hospitality industry having previously run a restaurant and a Borough Market stall. You might think owning two coffee shops would be plenty to keep his hands full, but Joe is in fact a barrister. He said: “I’m a barrister in my normal life. There’s usually a barrister – barista joke that comes up. And I’m a dad to a two-year-old so I’m quite busy!”

Opening a new coffee shop at Loughborough Junction was a natural next step. Joe said: “It seemed to us that there was an opportunity to serve really great coffee to commuters. A lot of professionals use the Thameslink service from Loughborough Junction and they tend to know their coffee and appreciate really good coffee. Our emphasis is to serve really good coffee in a friendly, non-pretentious way.”

Joe’s new coffee shop is open from 06.30 to 12:00 Monday to Friday. For more information, visit http://federation.coffee/

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