We're helping you get to know some of the biggest disruptors in London food and drink, from the rogue chefs and the tastemakers to the trendsetters and the hospitality history redefiners. When it comes to London coffee, Abuelo founder sees passion in offering speciality, and blends an architecture-led cafe with evening wine lounge. Here's why you should visit, and where she's heading after a shift.
Photo: Chloe De La Vega.
Tell us who you are and what you do.
I started Abuelo with my mum in 2018 and we have just opened our second location, in Marylebone which is much bigger than our Covent Garden location and has allowed us to experiment more. We are both designers and wanted to create architecturally interesting cafe spaces, each with a different vibe, because we felt it was something that we wanted to see as customers, from the interiors to the food plating and even the crockery, every aspect of Abuelo reflects a creative concept. Abuelo celebrates our Australian and Argentinian heritage by combining modern Australian hospitality style with Latin American Speciality coffee, we focus on the best in contemporary Speciality coffee, using award winning single origin, Speciality Coffee Association rated Latin American beans that are sustainably and ethically grown to support Latin American communities. Our food menus focus on Australian style brunch food with a unique Abuelo twist, showcasing quality fresh produce as well as our house jams, pickles and ferments.
Tell us more about Abuelo and why people should visit.
If you like design and want to sit in a cute unique space, take some cute pictures, read one of the magazines we have in our stand, drink a unique drink or a speciality coffee then come visit. And in the evenings, if you’re looking for a sexy 1970’s vibe bar right near Oxford Circus, where you can listen to a DJ set and enjoy some natural wine then come by.
We also think our coffee is a reason to come - it is so important to support specialty coffee over commodity coffee, as it requires higher standards for ethics, sustainability and quality. Our roasters have long term Direct Trade relationships that allow us to offer support to local latin American communities which is so important to us… this ensures that farmers are paid a fair price, and provide an extra subsidy to help with health, education, infrastructure and better equipment. This security and support encourages innovation and expansion for these farms, and ensures a more sustainable and improved way of life for farmers. Our background is both Australian and South American, two of the worlds most important coffee cultures - Australia for being the innovators in how modern Speciality coffee is made (brew method) and South America as one of the worlds best and primary coffee producing region (bean). Our aim at Abuelo is to combine these cultures by brewing the Australian way, and using only ethically sourced Latin American beans. As a Latin American person it is so important to me that we support our region and people, and at the same time provide a higher quality product to our customers.
Tell us more about what part interior design and architecture has had to play in Abuelo.
Lynette is an Architect and I am a designer as well so the design is the most important thing for us, not just the interiors but in our graphics, recipes and our presentation, which we also do ourselves. We personally love being customers in places where there is a multi-sensory experience and something where you feel surprised or get that sense of joy in your day from seeing someone's creativity.
Photo: Abuelo.
What speciality coffee do you use, and why?
As above.
We change the bean we use frequently depending on what we think is the best bean of the season, we work directly with our roasting partners who are importing directly from the small farms across all of Latin America, from Nicaragua to Honduras to Colombia and so on. We always know our beans backstory and how/where they’re grown and who grows them as we have direct connections to the farms, these are fair trade, organic, rainforest alliance and sometimes even Cup of Excellence winning beans. This is super important to us as it ensures these communities are supported!
But what is specialty coffee?
Speciality coffee refers to coffee that has been carefully sourced, processed, roasted, and brewed to exceptional standards. It is distinguished by its high quality, typically scoring 80 points or more on a 100-point scale used by professional tasters called Q graders. This rating system assesses various aspects of the coffee such as aroma, flavour, body, acidity, and aftertaste.
What could be done better in London coffee culture?
I think there is always a place for everyone in the market because every customer has different taste and needs, but one thing if I’m honest I would love to see across the board is more people moving away from big chains and towards supporting independent small businesses and speciality coffee - not just because it’s important to support small business now more than ever but also it’s important to support ethical farming and sourcing practices of beans if you are able to! And then on top of that you’re getting a more quality product anyway, so I think as a customer there's also an added value for money.
What is your coffee order?
I’m a flat white or a matcha girl… but I also love our signature drinks that we’ve introduced at Marylebone, our main Abuelo signature is a Dulce de leche cream top cold brew - if you’re from an Argentinian background like me you’ll know why I love dulce de leche, it feels so nostalgic to me! But even if you aren’t this is such a unique drink you can’t get anywhere else on earth I think.
Tell us more about your food options at Abuelo and how they complement your ethos.
When designing our menus and recipes I focus on dishes that are simple and casual yet unique and interesting, and we also of course focus on presentation because you still eat with your eyes first. At Marylebone we’re doing a lot of pickling, fermenting and jams, and then also focusing on showcasing quality produce and products from small makers. The menu is basically easy to eat, fun lunch and breakfast food often with a little south American twist, like right now we are doing a coconut (vegan) arroz con leche which a lot of us grew up with, and then on top we’re putting blackberry infused preserved plums. In the evening we’re doing small share plates that really focus on showcasing some amazing products, especially meats and cheeses, as well as some items that are an elevated version of a nostalgic almost joke reference, like an elevated chicken salt ‘chips’ which is something that Australians will understand.
Photo: Abuelo.
If anyone is ordering just one thing at Abuelo what is it and why?
Probably the dulce de leche cold brew… It’s basically a cold brew with a head of caramel cream on top… cold brew itself is made using a cold water extraction for many hours so you get an almost tea like consistency which is very different from an espresso made iced latte, you get a light coffee flavour with a more mild, mellow taste, then the caramel really compliments the flavour of the coffee we use, currently this is a Colombian Excelso EP which has milk chocolate, golden syrup, praline flavour notes.
Or if you want a fun drink but don't like coffee, the salted vanilla cream matcha is amazing… it’s similar to the other one in that its a cream head on top of a matcha, but this one is a vegan cream with vanilla and salt, which ends up tasting almost like custard… it’s delicious.
Food wise, my favourite thing right now is the Jamon toast, which is garlic rubbed bread, a good serving of freshly sliced jamon, stracciatella, and our house made fermented hot honey on top, with a guindilla pickled chilli on the side. The other favourite is our Abuelo Cubano - it’s our take on a Cubano sandwich, made with our favourite house sweet pickle. So good.
If youre heading anywhere after Abuelo where are you going and why?
Seeing as we are only a few minutes away from soho I would probably head to Kiln followed by a cocktail at Soma.
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