LDNGuide
Where To Drink Iced Coffee In London
If you’re a fan of iced coffee (which you probably should be if you’re reading this guide), then you know that unlike other iced beverages, it doesn’t have to wait for the summer. Sure, you crave it continuously when it’s 25 degrees out, but this iced drink is something so highly anticipated, so loved, that we start drinking it as soon as we physically can. Which means the first consecutive three days of sunshine post March, a.k.a. the very official start of iced coffee season. From an excellent iced mocha in Shepherd's Bush, to an iced Korean brew in Balham, these are nine of the best places to get iced coffee in London.
The Spots
Order: Iced Korean Latte or Iced Apple Blue if you’re a fan of apple crumble
Balham spot The Apple Blue doesn’t just serve some pretty incredible (halal) brunches like fried chicken on a pancake-style yorkshire pudding (we know), it also makes some great seasonal specials. Things like ‘thicc cocoa’ in the winter and iced Korean coffee in the summer. There are also iced Spanish chai lattes, iced Apple Blue Lattes (made with pea flower tea, cinnamon, and apples), and iced chocolate.
Order: Iced Spanish Latte or Iced Matcha Latte
What this Covent Garden coffee spot lacks in seats, it makes up for in style. The Kyoto import serves excellent espresso-based drinks as well as pour-over. While there’s usually a queue that snakes all the way outside—especially on a sunny day—the iced Spanish latte is well worth the wait.
Order: Iced Coffee
The first thing you should know is that the baristas at this spot inside Clapham’s Studio Voltaire don’t take well to being asked for flavoured syrups to go with your coffee. They do however offer a delicious and better alternative—their signature iced coffee. It comes in a glass bottle alongside a glass filled with ice, and is silky smooth, with a sweet creaminess that makes it the perfect accompaniment to a slice of their excellent pistachio and yuzu cake. After a few sips in their white-walled, canteen-looking cafe, you too might get a bit snooty about letting a drop of vanilla syrup near your coffee.
Order: Iced Milo or Iced Vanilla Latte
This Shepherd’s Bush spot is making chocolate milk cool again. That’s right, it serves iced chocolate as well as a limited-edition Milo special. Plus you can add a shot of coffee and voilà, iced mocha. It’s tasty and the outdoor terrace is a charming little place to park up with a book and iced drink.
Order: Kinako Iced Almond Latte
London’s thoroughly modern version of the Olympia in Greece (can you tell we need a holiday), The Pantechnicon is a grand building with columns, a cream paint job, and a lovely two-floor cafe. Kitsuné’s first UK outpost in Knightsbridge (there are also spots across Japan, Korea, Thailand, France, and the US) is all exposed brick and foliage and its drinks menu includes a kinako iced almond latte, blossom iced matcha latte, and a floral rose syrup that tastes like spring. Our favourite is the almond latte and you should also know that there are a few chunky sandos you’ll probably want to get involved in too.
Order: Iced Spanish Latte
One of our top choices when it comes to chocolate cake, L’eto is a west London mini-chain of aesthetically pleasing cafes with cakes that actually taste as good as they look. In keeping with its OTT cake display, the iced coffees arrive to your table looking like a science experiment. Picture a glass filled with black coffee ice cubes, another beaker-type glass filled with warm milk, and another little glass beaker filled with condensed milk. Pour it all over the ice cubes and you’ve got a very sweet iced coffee. The coffee feels secondary in this little experiment, so we’d say it’s perfect for someone who likes theatre with their drinks, rather than someone who “just can’t” before their morning caffeine fix.
Order: Iced Spanish Latte
This impeccable Filipino takeaway-only bakery in Kentish Town has a selection of year-round iced specials, from a buko pandan frappé to an iced Milo mocha that’s luscious, chocolatey, and tastes like all the best parts of being a child as you finish it in four or five gulps. It’s the delightfully sweet iced Spanish latte that keeps us coming back though, and the sweet, gloopy, condensed milk that settles at the bottom of your cup makes it a slower, more deliberate affair than the mocha. Your only decision is whether to stir the milk in or scoop it directly into your mouth.
Order: Nitro Cold Brew
We’re not going to lie to you, we’ve had a pretty serious crush on Climpson’s nitro cold brew for some time now. While not technically an iced coffee, we'd be remiss not to include it. Only available at Climpson's industrial-looking kiosk at Old Spitalfields Market, the velvety coffee that gets pumped from the tap here looks like a glass of stout and tastes just as smooth and just as rich. It’s easily one of the best cups of coffee you’ll find anywhere in London.
Order: Iced Cappuccino
Decked out in contemporary Japanese pine furniture, this tiny Fitzrovia coffee spot is both relaxing and achingly cool, just like its iced cappuccino. Unlike a lot of iced coffee in London, the drink is served perfectly chilled so the baristas here don’t have to fill up your cup with ice, which often leads to a sub-standard watered-down brew. There are also cold brew options, plenty of matcha on the menu, and single origin beans. But the one thing you absolutely should know when you head here is that you’re going to want to get involved in the kashi, a stupidly tasty custard-based snack.
