CoffeeRail - Coffeeholic's trip to Europe - Part One

About a year ago we decided with my girlfriend that we're going to go on a InterRail next summer. I guess nealry everyone is familiar with the InterRail-phenomenon. If not, you better check it out! We started planning our trip in the spring and we ended up taking a completely different route than we had planned for. Despite a few ill-fortuned encounters and trains-late-from-schedule (Especially in Italy...) the trip was great. Out route was Helsinki-London-Paris-Nice-Venice-Innsbruck,AU-Regensbourg,GE-Prague-Berlin-Malmö,SWE-Stockholm-Helsinki and it took about three and half weeks to get back home.

But let's get to the business not, this isn't a travel blog... I had searched for some good cafes on our way. Thank God I did that, otherwise not too many proper espresso would have been consumed. Here are the best ones we came across.

London
(In London I followed a guide from FlatWhite.com that seems to be deleted now... I'll try to find it)

First espresso I had was at The Providores (109 Marylebone Highstr), a restarant that's been run by Peter Gordon, a Kiwi-chef. This espresso opened my eyes. It was the first proper coffee made from freshly roasted beans I had tasted. Taste was just amazing, something I had never tasted before. Great coloured crema. The thick nectar under the crema was high in acid, fresh but not too green. Mellow sweetness emerged when the acidity had passed. Great shot that made me realise the potential of fresh coffee.
The Shot that changed my life.

Cappucino wasn't bad either. The microfoam could have been confused to whipped cream, but taste was a bit bitter and not-so-sweet. My guess would be unwashed milk pitcher.
Next stop was Scooterworks (132 Lower Marsh, Waterloo Tube), also mentioned in the guide.
They have this really cool and old Faema piston machine (photo on the web page). Some people recon that you can pull better shots with these ones. I was a bit dissappointed with this one as some new employee made my espresso. Good crema, fruity and quite acid. Quite long but not watery. Alright but couldn't compete with Providores. However the place itself was great so I think it's worth a visit. Combine with a visit to Tate Modern.