01
Green
Lots of twenty to sixty bags, bought on sample from three importers we have worked with for years. Every lot is cupped blind against last year's before we commit, and we pass on more than we buy.
4
86+
High Water
A coffee counter in a brick store on the Barge Walk.
07.30 – 17.00
Ethiopia Guji, natural
— of 22
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01 The clock
Since 1540 the palace clock has shown the time of high water at London Bridge. The court read it to catch the barge.
Ours are smaller. Twenty-eight seconds on a shot. Three minutes forty on a filter. Ninety-three degrees in the kettle.
High Water is a coffee counter in a brick store on the Barge Walk, between the palace wall and the river. Twenty-two seats, one grinder per coffee, a kitchen that bakes twice a day. We open at half past seven and lock the door at five, and in between the clocks are the only thing we are strict about.
The coffee is bought on sample, roasted in Kingston and rested before it is served. The water is the Thames, via the mains and a filter, which the clock in Clock Court would appreciate.
18g → 36g
28s
93°C
80ppm
1:16
7–21d
02 Green to cup
Six steps, each with a number attached.
02
Roast
Small batches on a 12 kg drum in Kingston, a mile downriver. Eight to nine minutes to first crack, dropped a shade lighter than most London roasters so the origin is still there in the cup.
12kg
204°C
03
Then nothing. Seven days before it goes on espresso, three before filter. The gas has to leave.
Rest
The bag carries a roast date, not a best-before. We think the window is day seven to day twenty-one and we will tell you where the coffee you are drinking sits in it.
04
Grind and water
Ground to order, single dosed, weighed to a tenth of a gram. The mains at Hampton Court runs hard, so we filter to about 80 parts per million and remineralise for espresso. The old clock cared when the water was high; we care what is in it.
0.1g
80ppm
05
Extract
Espresso at one to two in twenty-six to thirty seconds at 93 °C. Filter at one to sixteen, four pours, three minutes forty. The cardamom espresso is a double pulled over three cracked pods, no sugar, and it is the one people cross the bridge for.
1:2
1:16
3:40
06
We taste it before you do. Every batch, every morning, and a second time after lunch.
Cup
If a shot drifts outside the window we pull it again and the first one goes down the sink, not into a latte. That is the whole quality system, and it fits on a card by the grinder.
03 Menu
On the counter today. Everything made to order, nothing kept warm.
Espresso
-
EspressoHuila, washed Caturra. Red apple, panela, a little dark chocolate at the end. Double by default.
£3.00 -
Cardamom espressoThe house cup. A double pulled over three cracked green pods, no sugar. Served in green stoneware.
£3.60
Filter
-
Pour-over, Ethiopia GujiNatural heirloom from Hambela. Apricot, bergamot, black tea. Three minutes forty, served in a carafe with a warmed cup.
£4.80
Kitchen
-
Cardamom bunLaminated, twisted, pearl sugar. The pods are ground fresh the same morning as the ones in the espresso.
£4.20
04 Beans
The four on the counter, in 250 g bags, roasted on Tuesdays and posted on Wednesdays.
Royal Mail 48, £3.50, free over £30. Collection from the counter is free and comes with a coffee.
Whole bean unless you ask. We grind for espresso, filter or cafetière, and we would rather you let us know your brewer.
Not yet. Every bag we post is roasted that week and we are not big enough to promise that monthly.
05 The room
A brick store, a long counter, twenty-two seats and a window on the Barge Walk.
06 Visit
On the Barge Walk, two minutes downstream of the bridge. No palace ticket needed.
High Water
Barge Walk, Hampton Court
East Molesey, Surrey KT8
Cross Hampton Court Bridge from the station, turn right onto the towpath before the gates, and we are the brick store with the lantern.
- 07.30 – 17.00
- 08.00 – 17.30
- 16.40
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Reading the till
Tables are for the window bench and the Saturday cuppings. Everything else is walk-in, and the queue moves at about one coffee a minute.