The Coffee That Almost Got Away

My next destination was Old Spike Coffee Roasters, another café I had researched long before arriving in London.

The place was buzzing with people.

Perfect.

I immediately spotted a bag of beans on the shelf, picked it up and joined the queue.

So far, so good.

When I reached the counter, however, I was greeted with some unexpected news.

Today wasn’t a normal café day.

Old Spike was hosting a special pop-up event, and while they were serving drinks, they weren’t actually selling any of the retail coffee.

Wait…

What?

I must have looked completely confused.

As I stood there, phone in hand, already searching Google for another Old Spike location, a woman walked over.

She had clearly noticed my disappointment.

“Are you looking for beans?” she asked.

Yes!

Turns out she was one of the managers.

She smiled, pulled a portable card reader out of her backpack and told me she could still sell me the coffee manually.

A few seconds later, I had officially paid, an email receipt landed in my inbox, and the beans were safely tucked into my backpack.

For a brief moment I did wonder if I had just bought coffee from a complete stranger with a backpack full of beans…

…but the receipt convinced me this was, in fact, a perfectly legitimate business transaction.

As I was leaving, she asked whether I lived nearby.

Apparently the bag of beans came with a complimentary coffee.

Unfortunately, because of the pop-up event, they weren’t able to make it.

So close!

Still, I left happy.

Mission accomplished.

The beans had been secured.Read more