Early this morning, Gwilym Davies was about to board a flight home from Malta to London when he received a urgent call from Tim Styles of the coffee shop Penny University. Penny U was a man down for the day and Styles wanted to know if Davies, the 2009 World Barista Champion, could fly in as [...]

“The British capital won’t be a coffee capital,” I wrote in April 2009, “until the taste for excessively milky coffees recedes and the best coffee shops look beyond espresso to filter- and siphon-brewed coffees. I’d also like to see more coffee shops sourcing and roasting their own beans.” One year on, those conditions have been [...]

Rather than violate the civil liberties of a law-abiding British citizen I would prefer that Gwilym Davies voluntarily strap a GPS tracking bracelet to his ankle. But if the 2009 World Barista Champion refuses to help us trace his movements via GPS or constant twitter updates I may soon have to ask my man at [...]

Since Londoner Gwilym Davies was crowned 2009 World Barista Champion my inbox has been clogged with the same two questions: Where can I find him pulling shots and why wasn’t he included in my roundup of the top 10 coffee shops in London?

Antipodean know-how and joviality continue to invigorate London’s coffee landscape. Baristas from New Zealand and Australia transform waves of rich espresso and smoothly textured steamed milk into lattes so velvety you can barely see a bubble. Yet it’s home-grown talent that represents the cream of the crema: Two of the last four World Barista Champions [...]

Whenever in London you can congratulate 2009 British and now World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies in person – and have a great coffee while you’re at it. Gwilym pulls his award-winning shots from an espresso cart parked at the Whitecross Street Market on weekdays (mornings through lunch) and behind the Columbia Road Flower Market on Sunday [...]