The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes in Herne Hill According to TikTok
The Best Coffee Shops & Cafes in Herne Hill According to TikTok
The best cafes in Herne Hill are even better than I expected
The best cafes in Herne Hill are reason enough to spend a day south of the river.
My sister and I are always on the lookout for a new London neighbourhood to explore, and one of our favourite ways to do it is by plotting a route between independent coffee shops. Give us a few good pastries, an iced latte and the promise of something interesting around the next corner, and we’re happy.
Herne Hill turns out to be exactly our sort of place.
We spend the day wandering between bakeries, speciality coffee shops and matcha stops before settling in for lunch at Llewelyn’s and finishing with a swim at nearby Brockwell Lido. By the time we head home, we’re already wondering why we don’t come here more often.
So, if you’re looking for the best cafes in Herne Hill, here’s where I’d happily stop again.
Map of the Best Cafes in Herne Hill
Planning your own cafe crawl? I’ve popped all of the best cafes in Herne Hill onto the map below so you can coffee-hop your way around the neighbourhood. Most are within easy walking distance of each other, making this one of London’s easiest (and tastiest) coffee shop crawls.
Throw in a wander around Brockwell Park or a swim at Brockwell Lido, and you’ve got yourself a pretty perfect day out. Just don’t blame me if you accidentally eat five pastries along the way.
Read more:
A Long, Lazy Lunch At Llewelyns in Herne Hill Is Hard To Beat
Quick info on the best cafes in Herne Hill
- Best overall cafe in Herne Hill: Bunhead Bakery
- Best coffee in Herne Hill: Christopher’s
- Great matcha in Herne Hill: Macatia & Coffee
- Best pastries: Blackbird Bakery
- Best cafe to work in: West 16th
Read on to discover the best cafes in Herne Hill.
Bunhead Bakery
The best overall cafe in Herne Hill
If I could only recommend one stop on this list of the best cafes in Herne Hill, it’d be Bunhead Bakery.
Everything feels joyful. The shelves are packed with beautiful pastries, people spill out onto the pavement, and there’s an infectious buzz that makes you want to order one of everything.
We settle on the rose and cardamom bun, which turns out to be magnificent. The dough is impossibly soft and airy, almost focaccia-like, with just enough chew to keep things interesting. Cardamom perfumes every bite, while a delicate rose icing adds sweetness. It’s easily large enough for two to share.
The drinks are equally playful.
The Limonana, a summer-special, combines homemade mint concentrate with citrus for one of the freshest drinks of the day, while my iced latte with strawberry and sumac syrup balances jammy fruit with savoury, slightly sour pops from the sumac.
This is exactly the kind of coffee shop in Herne Hill I’d become a regular at.
Bunhead Bakery:
145 Dulwich Rd, London SE24 0NG
Christopher’s
Quietly serves the best coffee in Herne Hill
Christopher’s in Herne Hill feels wonderfully understated, hinging its value on excellent coffee and beautiful cakes.
The iced latte is silky smooth, rich and balanced, and has enough coffee character to stand up to milk without getting washed out.
Alongside it we order a lemon and pistachio mini cake, packed with texture, generous pistachio flavour and a lovely bright citrus finish.
Sometimes simplicity really is enough.
Christopher’s:
145 Half Moon Ln, London SE24 9JY
Macatia & Coffee
Makes a stunning matcha in Herne Hill
If you’re searching for the best matcha in Herne Hill, this is where I’d point you.
Their iced strawberry matcha absolutely nails one of my favourite flavour combinations.
Before stirring, vibrant strawberry jam sits at the bottom of the cup beneath the green matcha. Once mixed together, the strawberries brighten the earthy matcha, creating a drink that’s refreshing and fruity. Makes me smile every time.
Macatia and Coffee:
1A Half Moon Ln, London SE24 9JU
Blackbird Bakery
Worth visiting for the pastries alone
The cake and pastry display at Blackbird Bakery should come with a warning – everything looks better than the last. In the end, it’s the pear and almond tart that wins us over, largely because its glossy slices of pear catch the sunlight in the display cabinet.
Thankfully, it tastes every bit as good as it looks.
The buttery pastry is wonderfully crisp, the almond filling rich, and the sweet pears tie everything together wonderfully.
And there are enough outdoor tables so you can enjoy your pastries while watching Herne Hill drift past.
Blackbird Bakery:
230 Railton Rd, London SE24 0JT
West 16th
The most spacious Herne Hill cafe to work in
West 16th is bright, airy and filled with people working, chatting and lingering over lunch. The steak sandwiches look particularly tempting, although this time we stop for one of their Bird & Blend’s iced teas instead.
The Dozy Girl iced tea, combining lemon verbena, chamomile, hibiscus, rose and lavender, is fabulously refreshing. There’s no syrup or excessive sweetness, making it feel more like a palate cleanser than a dessert drink.
I’d probably add a splash of syrup next time just to sharpen the flavours slightly, but as a refreshing summer drink it’s lovely.
West 16th:
137 Half Moon Ln, London SE24 9JY
Final thoughts on the best cafes in Herne Hill
Herne Hill has to be one of London’s loveliest neighbourhoods, and its coffee shop scene is second to none.
Unlike parts of central London, these cafes don’t feel like places people rush through before catching the Tube. They’re somewhere to linger, order another coffee, split another pastry and slowly watch the world go by.
We’ll definitely be back. In fact, next time I’d repeat exactly the same day: a cafe crawl through the best coffee shops in Herne Hill, lunch at Llewelyn’s, then an afternoon swim at Brockwell Lido.
Honestly, I can’t think of many better ways to spend a sunny Saturday in London.
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