Rapha Cycle Club, London

Coffee is quite a ride.

If you happen to pass by this shop, you might think it’s only a bicycle shop. Inspect it more closely and you will discover that, in addition to selling biking accessories and attire, it is also a coffee bar!

Rapha Cycle Club is apparently a famous biking club with its own outlets and clothing line, so a café is certainly not something out of the question. My cyclist pals from around the world would definitely love it here.

For me, however, I’m not here for the wheels, if you haven’t guessed that already.

Rapha is my first café drop in London this trip. In a nation of tea lovers, what sort of coffee would I find here, I wonder? Honestly I am quite looking forward to the answer to this riddle.

I ordered the brew of the day, which turned out to be a single origin Burundi. These beans from East Africa have a clean taste and aroma. Slightly nutty and acidic; I quite liked it.

As for my espresso, generally I’m not a fan of Brazilian beans due to their low acidity and chocolaty flavours, but when blended with Ethiopian beans, the latter offers a fruity aroma I enjoy. Here the mango notes at the end quite surprised me: delightful.

如果只是偶然路經這裡，會以為這只是一家自行车用品店。
但停駐一看的話，就會發現這裡除了售賣自行車用品和服裝外，
它還是一家咖啡館。
說起Rapha Cycle Club（拉法自行車俱樂部），
熱愛自行車的朋友應該不會陌生。
它除了集車店、服裝品牌、咖啡館于一身之外，
還擁有自己的車隊，也為世界各地愛好自行車的朋友提供一個交流平台。
我來這的目的當然不是為了自行車。

Rapha是我遊倫敦時泡的第一家咖啡館，
在一個喝茶的國度、一家自行車用品店裡，
會遇到怎麼樣的咖啡呢？說實在地，我是充滿期待的。
那天，我共點了兩杯咖啡，一杯是單品手沖蒲隆地（Burundi），
另一杯則是綜合式的義式濃縮咖啡（Espresso）。
來自東非蒲隆地的豆子，口感乾淨、芳香，
帶著少許的炒花生味道及中段的微酸，我還蠻喜歡的。
巴西單品咖啡的功克力口感，及「過份」地低酸 ，一般都不會是我杯中囊；
但這支綜合式義式濃縮咖啡，混入了巴西與衣索比亞，喝了有另一番滋味，
尤其綜合了衣索比亞后，為這杯義式濃縮咖啡增添清新的水果香氣，
尾韻飄散著的芒果香氣，留在口中久久不散，乍現的驚喜，讓我迄今難忘。