In this YouTube video, hosts Ben and Sam, long‑time coffee enthusiasts, review their three favorite London coffee shops, rating each on coffee quality, ambience, and price. They begin with a light‑hearted intro about their decades‑long coffee habit, then visit the first shop (not named, noted for rabbit décor and a sweet‑fruity aftertaste) where they give high marks for coffee (8/10), ambience (9/10) and price (8/10). Next they explore Black Sheep Coffee, a quirky stall on Farringdon High Street with graffiti and an anti‑herd ethos; they rate it 7/10 overall, noting solid service, decent coffee, and a lower price (£6.20). The third venue, described as having a bitter, possibly burnt taste and a Brent‑Cross‑like ambience, receives mixed scores (coffee 7‑8/10, ambience 7/10, service 10/10, price 8/10). Throughout, Ben shares his personal caffeine addiction, the health impacts of drinking 7‑8 cups daily, and his recent reduction to 2 cups plus increased water intake. Sam reveals she has quit coffee entirely due to adverse reactions. After comparing the three, they crown Prufrock as the overall winner, praising its décor, music, service, and especially its coffee, despite a higher price. The video ends with both hosts reflecting on cutting back coffee and feeling better, while Sam misses the taste. The content blends coffee tasting notes, ambience observations, price transparency, personal health anecdotes, and a final recommendation.
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Sam and I have been drinking coffee for a very, very long time. In fact, we've been drinking the stuff pretty much every day since our early 20s.
Has it been that long?
It's been 84 years.
Today we're going to be reviewing our top 3 coffee shops, and we're going to be judging them on 3 things: coffee, ambience, and finally price.
Let's get into it. Hello, hello. So first impressions, really good actually. You know, when you stepped in, the energy was really positive. Service was pretty quick. The vibe was amazing.
The design and the decor was awesome. For a coffee shop, it was amazing. And they had cute rabbits everywhere.
Yeah, that was so sweet.
Cute little rabbits. First impressions, what's it like?
Yeah, really good, really good. There's an aftertaste of like almost like a sweet fruity flavor. It's really good. When you go to the typical chains, it mostly tastes of milk and there's not really much of an aftertaste. Really good. You kind of just want more of it.
Ambience for me was— I mean, I don't know what would make a 10 out of 10, but it's at least a 9 out of 10. Like, I thought the ambience was beautiful. Absolutely stunning.
Yeah, I'd have to agree with that.
It was the details of the furniture. It was all the pictures. It was the branding of the rabbits. It was the little things around the coffee shops, like the books, the extra coffee you could buy, the machines. The music, you know, everything played a part in making it a really beautiful ambience. So 9 out of 10 for me.
Yeah, same, I'd have to agree. Um, price came up to £7.20, so that was £3.10 per cup. Yeah, which is not bad. It's probably on the slightly higher end of tea and coffee. I think actually the coffee must have been a little bit higher and the tea was probably around £3. The taste speaks for itself, so I think actually it's worth it in my eyes. So price I would say compared to the coffee and what you're getting, I'll give it probably an 8 out of 10.
How's the scooter, bro?
I feel like I'm a child again. Hey, Sam. Hello. So why do we love coffee so much? Well, I could tell you it's the smell, it's the taste, it's the shiny milky frothy goodness that sits on top, but in reality, it's because I have a bit of an addictive personality. It's been the case since I was a teenager, and really it just gives me a buzz that I love, and it's something that I can't get enough of.
So I've always been a bit of a coffee connoisseur myself. I've always loved tasting different types of coffee. Different types of notes, different flavors. I love seeing how baristas will create an entirely different cup depending on their skill level. I can't get enough of this stuff.
I want to first start off with with the service, cuz that was incredible. Um, you know, they were really friendly, really welcoming, and I wasn't expecting actually, but I love the service. Like, for me, service was a 10 out of 10. Really enjoyed it. Just really welcoming, really lovely people. Um, coffee, it's good. It's not As the aftertaste is not as strong as Prufrock, but it's still probably more my fave, more my type of coffee, the stuff that you could have more regularly, because Prufrock is the type of coffee I couldn't have every day. It's too strong. But this stuff is kind of more subtle for me, so I'll probably give this coffee an 8 out of 10. I think it's good. It's not as strong and it's not as flavoursome as Prufrock, but it's still good. Price, £6.20, so a pound cheaper than Prufrock. Obviously we didn't sit in so you would expect it to be lower than places you can sit down in. Price compared to the coffee and the ambience, probably give it a 7 to an 8 out of 10.
This was different to your average coffee shop. It was a little stall, you know, in the middle of Farringdon High Street, but I liked it. It was very quirky. There was graffiti on the wall. The slogan was "Don't follow the herd." It was called Black Sheep Coffee, so their whole ethos is kind of standing out. They had little messages like "don't follow the herd" and "be apart from the herd" and stuff like that, which I found very cool.
What would you rate it? I would give it a 7 out of 10, a solid 7 out of 10. But it's not all fun and games, guys. I was drinking I was drinking so much coffee that I was probably having about 7 to 8 cups every single day. It really made me agitated. I was feeling tired constantly, and I just wasn't feeling very good. But it all changed when I bought this. This amazing bottle of water. This has changed everything. I now drink 2 to 3 litres every single day, and honestly, it's been an absolute game changer.
So you might have noticed something today, guys. Ben has been the only one drinking coffee. I've been on herbal tea and green tea. Well, there's a good reason for that. I drank so much coffee that my body started getting a bad reaction to it. I couldn't sleep properly, my belly would feel weird, I would feel really lethargic and sleepy throughout the day, I would get agitated. So I decided to cut coffee out for good.
Interesting. This one has a really bitter aftertaste. Really bitter.
Do you think they could have burnt it?
Possibly, but it doesn't taste like burnt milk. It tastes like a very bitter type of coffee. Not a huge fan of this one, I have to admit. In terms of the ambience, I liked it. It was a little bit odd. It felt more like I was going shopping in Brent Cross. The staff were lovely, really, really nice young ladies, but the ambience, I think if I was going to sit there, you know, it didn't feel like somewhere I wanted to sit down and chill and have a coffee, and it wasn't the same thing. So ambience, I'd probably give it, you know, 7 out of 10. Service, I would give, you know, highly because they were really attentive and lovely. Price was actually the best of the day, so price, you know, I would say probably 8 out of 10 compared to the size and the taste of the coffee. It was probably about right.
So it was cool. It felt fresh and new and kind of modern, and that's what I did like about it. Okay, so we have finished our review of the coffee shops today, and Ben and I have just come to our final conclusion of which one we found the best. It's going to take home the ultimate prize. Drum roll, please. And the winner is— Prufrock! Boom! Prufrock ticked all the boxes for us, guys. The decor and ambience was fantastic. The music was cool, the service was lovely, the price was, you know, on the expensive side, but, you know, pretty decent. But more than anything, the coffee was amazing, according to Ben anyway.
It was really good, yeah. They're definitely a winner today. I guess to round off this story today, guys, I still drink coffee pretty much every day, but I've cut it down from 7 to 8 cups of coffee, which was pretty insane, down to about 2 cups per day. And I drink a lot more water, and I can tell you I feel a lot better.
And I've cut out coffee completely from my diet, guys. I no I no longer am reliant on it. I feel a lot better. I feel fresher. And my body stopped having all these crazy reactions to it. So, you know, I'm feeling good. I do miss it though.
