Algerian Coffee Store, Old Compton Street

A few days after the riots: still some policemen/ policewomen patrolling the area rather actively. An earthy kinda guy walks past the Algerian Coffee Store, but he does not enter. This is a rather amazing shop. Whoever walks past stops to look, either at the beans they have on display, or the tea leaves, or the coffee pots of diminishing heights and diameters.

If memory serves me right, this is Greg. He complains that his friends steal the coffee he brings back home when they come to visit. Also, that the coffee in Caffe Nero is not too bad, and Starbucks is by far the worst.

This is Nick, who runs the shop as the most senior member of staff. He goes through the different owners of the shop one by one. First started by and Algerian family, the place is now owned by an Italian.

Absinthe candy. And so many other charmingly packaged sweets, snacks and other munchies.

This is THE coffee machine. Possibly the best coffee on the street. Once a year they get it serviced, and the staff miss the coffee so badly that the withdrawal symptoms start up.

I often wonder what it would be like to work in a shop like that, or even to have this as your regular coffee/ tea supplier. Would they know the intimate coffee-drinking details of my personal life, and will they judge me for my plebian taste? Perhaps they would pity me for being caffeine-intolerant. Or perhaps they would gossip about me: how I always meet a strange man about two and a half times my age before popping into this shop. I have 2 new bags of Imperial Moon in their nondescript brown paper, sealed with a simple home-made sticker with their address:

52 Old Compton Street

London W1D 4PB