Local Recommendation: COFFEE8, Hackney

COFFEE8: 360 Mare Street, London, E8 1HR

East London takes its coffee seriously. From Stoke Newington to Shoreditch High Street, you will find a myriad of coffee shops serving coffee which has been crafted by baristas who consider pouring milk an art form, not a chore.

But with London’s increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, there’s not always time to sit down and enjoy a cappuccino before tackling the tube in the morning. Luckily, there’s a way to enjoy good quality coffee on-the-go: mobile coffee vans.

While these innovative vans tend to be small, they can house everything needed to make a good cup of coffee, from roasted coffee beans to Italian espresso machines.They can be found dotted across London, but one in particular has caught our eye in Hackney.

 As its name suggests, COFFEE8 can be found in the E8 area of East London. It offers freshly prepared, delicious coffee served at the back of a quirky Piaggio van. Luckily for us at Keatons, it is parked just across the road from our office on Mare Street.

We took a trip to COFFEE8 to have a chat with its creator and owner Shaun. Shaun has not always been a barista; he used to be a landscape gardener, which involved travelling from Hackney Central to Surbiton. It was during his morning commute that he began to notice the lack of coffee cups in people’s hands during their journey to work. As a coffee lover, this inspired Shaun to set up his own business.

“I did a bit of research and found this van online. I bought it and through the council got my pitch,” Shaun said.

Today COFFEE8 is going strong, with Shaun making over a hundred coffees a day.

He told us: “Whatever people want, I will try and make, you can go off the menu.”

When it comes to flavourings, Shaun prefers to keep things simple. He avoids fancy syrups and does not sell food, just “tea and coffee”. He gets his coffee locally and uses seven different blends.

The ethos behind COFFEE8 is simple: good coffee, the best possible service and decent prices.

Unless the weather is exceptionally bad, or Shaun is away on holiday, a day at Coffee8 normally starts around 6am, with Shaun ready to serve customers for 7am. It will usually close down around 2pm (Mon-Fri), so if you don’t manage to get your coffee fix in the morning, there’s time to grab a coffee at lunch.

Article can be found in Access London Magazine, brought to you by Keatons Estate Agents.