As more and more people are commuting into London again with offices reopening their doors, we thought it was an ideal time to look into the best places to buy your coffee on your morning commute. At Officeology, we looked at the highest-rated coffee shops within a radius of ½ mile, approximately 10-15 minutes walking distance, from each tube station. We also looked at which of the highest-rated coffee shops sells the cheapest latte!
Many small and independent businesses struggled massively after Covid, with over 250,000 set to close in 2021 according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). So, for our research, we only looked at independent coffee shops in order to support them and help to get them back on their feet
London’s Highest-rated Independent Coffee Shops
So, what are some of London’s highest-rated coffee shops? Well, if you’re heading out to Baker Street then Second Shot Coffee is a must-try, or if you’re stopping at Liverpool Street don’t miss out on visiting Pangea Cafe. For Tower Hill, De Vine is a very highly rated coffee shop and for South Kensington Guillam Coffee House is extremely popular. At Canary Wharf, Dock Coffee is where many go to before work or at Waterloo you can’t go wrong visiting The Coffee House.
Each of the coffee shops mentioned on the map below is the highest-rated within ½ a mile of the station, so you can be sure you’re getting great drinks, excellent service and will be starting your day off right in these coffee shops.
See top-rated independent coffee shops near London Undergrounds in full size here.
The Cheapest Line for Coffee
If you’re travelling to work on the Northern Line, it’s good news for your wallets! This line is the cheapest place to find a latte, with the average price of a latte being £2.70. The cheapest coffee shop on the Northern Line is Coffee Pound near Golders Green station where you can buy a latte for just £1. The most expensive coffee shop on this line is The Nook which will set you back £4 for a latte.
On average, based on the 2021 calendar which has 261 working days, it would cost £704.70 a year if you were to buy a coffee every Mon-Fri on the Northern line. However, if you were to buy a coffee from every highest-rated coffee shop on a single line, then technically, the Waterloo and City line works out to be the cheapest as it would cost you just £5.65 in total. Sounds like a total bargain right? Well, as there’s actually only two stops on that line, we’d be even more shocked if it wasn’t the cheapest.
See The Cheapest Line: The Northern Line in full size here.
The Most Expensive Line for a Coffee
Commuting to work via the Circle line? Then we’re willing to bet caffeine isn’t the only thing that will wake you up before you reach the office. The price of your latte might be the wake-up call you never needed (or wanted)! On average, this line is the most expensive when it comes to a well-made latte, typically costing around £3.11. The cheapest coffee shop you’ll find on this line is The Coffee House near Temple station who charge a mere £2.45 for a latte. In comparison, the most expensive coffee shop on the Circle line will definitely set you back a pretty penny. De Vine coffee shop near both Monument and Tower Hill stations charges an eye-watering £4.90 for a latte!
So, based on the 2021 calendar, if you were to buy a coffee every working day on the Circle line, it would cost around £811.71 a year. But, if you were to buy a coffee from every highly-rated coffee shop on a single line, then the District line works out to be the most expensive, costing you £177.25
See The Most Expensive Line: The Circle Line in full size here.
Best Coffee Shops in London Summary
To summarise, those travelling to work on the Northern or Waterloo line will find fantastic coffee shop options at a much cheaper price than any others. However, if you use the Circle or District line you can expect to pay a little more for your much needed morning caffeine fix.
Of course, if you already have a state-of-the-art office coffee machine, you won’t need to go into any coffee shop to grab your perfect blend and can enjoy the money-saving benefits instead. Take a look at our range of unique coffee blends too and discover your new favourite coffee.
Methodology
To be able to find and compare the best coffee shops near London underground station, we first scraped the information of 3263 individual coffee shops to find the highest-rated shops within a ½ a mile radius on every tube stop. All coffee shop ratings were taken from Google reviews. We then collated the cost of each coffee shop’s largest latte.
Only coffee shops whose menus were available online were included in our study. Once we had compiled all of the data, we were then able to work out which lines were the most expensive and the cheapest when it came to purchasing a latte from only the highest-rated coffee shops by each station on the line.