Second Shot is somewhere that’s been on my radar ever since it opened on 21^st May 2016 (which means that I missed its third birthday by just four days!). A small multi-roaster café, with limited seating outside and not much more in the small, but uncluttered interior, it’s right in the heart of Bethnal Green, around the corner from the underground station and midway between Cambridge Heath and Bethnal Green stations on the overground line.

When it comes to coffee, Second Shot stands on its own two feet, up there with some of the best in London, offering a different roaster on espresso and filter, along with a small brunch menu and a selection of cake. However, where it differs is that it was set up by founder, Julius Ibrahim, as a social enterprise to employ people affected by homelessness, providing jobs in the short-term and careers in the longer-term.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Second Shot is at the eastern end of Bethnal Green Road, just before the railway bridge and literally around the corner (and across the road) from Bethnal Green tube station. On the north side of the street, it’s a compact place, with a single floor-to-ceiling window running the full width of the front, an integrated glass door on the far right-hand end. If you want to sit outside, there’s a row of four chairs, two either side of a low table, on the pavement in front of window.

Inside, the seating is just as simple. To the left of the door, you have a three-person window bar, offering similar views to the chairs outside, but without the traffic noise. Alternatively, a bench, generously provisioned with cushions, lines the left-hand wall with three two-person tables in front of it. Finally, a solitary two-person table occupies the middle of the room.

All this is to your left as you enter, leaving a clear path from the door to the counter which runs the full width of Second Shot along the back wall. On your way, you pass a set of retail shelves, stocked with bags of coffee (from old friends, Neighbourhood Coffee, while I was there) and reusable cups. The counter is just as simple, with the cake in a display case to the right, the Nuova Simonelli espresso machine left and the till in the middle. Filter coffee, meanwhile, has its own spot behind the counter against the back wall.

During my visit, the espresso, served from a standard menu, was a Peruvian single-origin from Cast Iron Roasters, while a Brazilian single-origin from Neighbourhood was on batch brew, with more options from Neighbourhood on pour-over. The filter options change as and when Second Shot gets through each bag of coffee, while the espresso changes every three months or so.

I had a shot of the Peruvian single-origin, served in a handleless blue cup. This proved to be a very fine, well-round and well-balanced espresso. I paired this with a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, in the shape of an almond croissant. Sometimes almond croissants can be poor, overly reliant on the almond and sweetness to mask other shortcomings. This, however, was an excellent, a flaky croissant with a hint of almond, enough to give the flavour, but not so much that it dominated the experience. Definitely worth waiting three years (and four days) for!

July 2019: Second Shot now has a second location, in Marylebone. You can see what I made of it when I visited three weeks after it opened.

You can see what fellow coffee bloggers, Jess EatingEast and Bex of Double Skinny Macchiato, made of Second Shot when it opened in May 2016.

If you enjoyed this Coffee Spot, then take a look at the rest of London’s speciality coffee scene with the Coffee Spot Guide to London.

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