Love must be like coffee. Sometimes strong, sometimes sweet, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied, but never cold
(Megan Maxwell)
The culture of London Coffee Houses has been the subject of studies, stories, books and their effect is evidenced in modern institutions whose origins go back to that of the Coffee Houses themselves.
One of those emplematic and iconic institutions is, without doubt, the Coffee House of Mr. Edward LLoyd on Tower Street, that with the passing of time gave birth to the largest reinsurance market in the world: Lloyd's of London.
Within a square mile of where The City of London is located, Coffee Houses have an important function, they are a meeting place to exchange ideas, projects, ambitions, fears, seek or give advise and counsel, meet and greet people, make or break friends and ventures, reflect, dream, plot and conspire.
We do all this in these public spaces, motivated by all those around us with the same purpose, vibe and energy, sharing -without realising it- this process of co-creation with the energetic, vibrant and innovative community of The City of London. All of this, under the watchful eyes and protection of the barista, who in turn provides the sacred elixir called coffee in one of its modalities, feeding and keeping alive the fire and energy emanating from us all.
In the times of Starbucks, Caffé Nero and Costa Coffee, the sacred London Coffee Shops that maintain their authenticity, with their own personality, become places of worship, destinations of pilgrimage to these sacred sites, worshipped by the faithful, cared for by zealous guardians.
Forbes & Hamilton, previously known as Wild & Wood, is one of those sacred pilgrimage sites in the City of London.
It is very likely that you may have passed just in front, without noticing its existence.
Those of us that found it, knew where we were going.
No one arrives by chance to Forbes & Hamilton.
Forbes & Hamilton forms part of your existence and is there waiting to be discovered.
Without any doubt, Forbes & Hamilton is one of those spaces in the City of London to which I am more attached and feel a genuine love and affection for - something that I will forever be grateful for. The hundreds of people who I have invited to meet here for a coffee, and thus get to experience the traditional "London coffee shop'' will attest to these sentiments.
My feelings for Forbes & Hamilton not only derive from the quality of the products offered and the attention and service -simply, the best- but from what it represents in itself: a refuge, an oasis, a destination, a spring, a lifeguard, a temple.
The place is tiny - it cannot seat more than eighteen people . Its iconic old, wooden pews are the ideal place to sit when you meet more than one person. The other spaces are functional, ideal for a place for those that come to do their thing; whether that be to drink the best coffee, engage into insightful conversations, plot, imagine, create and/or elate the spirit; the sitting is uncomfortable enough that it forces you to hurry and say whatever it was that you came here to say
It is certainly not a place to come to waste time, but a place to live life to the fullest.
Bozena and "Kid" are attentive to everything and everyone attending, they are the overseeing eye watching it all without missing any detail. They personally greet you, and without saying a word, tell you everything that you need to know. Their thing is brewing coffee, and their words are expressed through the coffee being offered in the space they hold for you to relax, engage and enjoy.
They take their coffee with the seriousness of someone with real and true passion for what they do, who do not pretend to look like anything they are not, who offer their self as they are, and are there to brew and serve the best coffee available, in a manner such that when you get to taste their coffee, you get not only to taste it, but also to understand and even get to think that you know them.
On more than one occassion, Bozena (aka Boss) has come to bring me another espresso, because she considered that the one I had been served -just by seeing it- was just not up to their highest standards.
Like all good Coffee Shops, they serve coffee exclusively in the traditional options it has been brewed and served over time (with some modern respectable antipodean additions), such as espresso, macchiato, piccolo, latte, flat white, cappucino, americano and long black. They do not serve decaffeinated coffee, nor soy milk, nor any syrups, and believe that if they ever serve chai latte, God would punish them.
When you enter Forbes & Hamilton you are transported through time, landing at a London Coffee House where people gather to have amenable conversations and savour good coffee; without pretense, and make no mistake that without doubt, they are the best -and one of the few- at what they do.
Forbes & Hamilton embodies the spirit of the Coffee House of The City of London that lives in the collective consciousness of all of us working here, coming here and passing by to do and make business. Those attending, everyone, without exception, without noticing nor knowing, feels and remembers the importance that this represents.
With all my gratitude, I wish Forbes & Hamilton and their Guardians Bozena and Kid, a long, blissfull and healthy life!
Yo lo Creo/
I believe and so it is
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