London can be a bit unreliable when it comes to coffee, and you have to appreciate that the antipodeans who run
Sacred have got a point when they tell you they founded it because they were having a hard time finding a great cuppa in London.
These guys really care about their caffeine hit, and they'll make your coffee like they're making one of those 37,000 pound cocktails with the real gold and big bling diamond in them. What the young bucks coffee chain baristas don't always get right is the timing, and the milk temperature and density, and the cleaning of the machine, and the not burning of the beans, and the grinding them to the right size... You can see that coffee making is something that we should really only entrust to people who know what they're doing - coffee surgeons! Well, the Sacred team are coffee surgeons.
They also do something else that other London cafes have trouble with - iced coffee. Is it because there's not that much call for it here? Could be. It doesn't seem like something people could possibly mess up - but there are some nasty watery concoctions around... But not here!
Sacred's tea is not to be left on the shelf, the less cared for sibling. There's nothing more disappointing than paying a couple of pounds to be served a mug of hot water with a tea bag the same as the ones you have at home that cost you less to buy 40 of. Not here - Sacred serves blends of tea made specially, and carefully selected and done up in one of those tea pot bags, in said teapot.
Which makes it feel like you're genuinely treating yourself to a drink that's good for your soul.
The food all looks great - especially the cakes - again, it seems like they're pretty selective about what they serve. But really you should be here for the beverages. The location is convenient and the décor is comfy, homey and not something you have to think too much about - but then frankly if they get the coffee and tea right I could be sitting in a sheep shed and be perfectly happy with my lot.
