The London Coffee Festival was slightly mental…

May 19, 2026

The London Coffee Festival was slightly mental…

First of all, a massive thank you to the Sanremo Coffee Machines team for having us at The London Coffee Festival.

The machines were incredible to work on all weekend. Beautifully designed, ridiculously smooth to use and somehow still reliable while we were being absolutely slammed for hours.

More importantly, the people behind them were brilliant. Every time things got hectic, the Sanremo team stepped in, helped keep service moving and made the whole weekend feel easy, even when it definitely was not.

At one point, things got so busy that we ended up staying for both sessions. That was not part of the plan, but the queue had other ideas.

Which is still slightly confusing to us.

The whole Flat White or F*ck Off concept was built around simplicity and speed. One drink, no menu, no overthinking. We always imagined it working best in commuter spots where people just want a proper coffee without the usual nonsense.

So seeing a constant queue at a festival packed with coffee brands was unexpected.

But after speaking to people over the weekend, it became clear the queue was not just about coffee. People wanted to see the brand in real life. They wanted photos, merch, flat whites and something to laugh about with their friends.

We heard “this is brilliant” and “I can’t believe this is real” more times than we could count.

A lot of people also discovered that the coffee itself was actually very good, which helped.

Huge credit goes to Paris Ackland for that. The flat whites coming off the bar all Saturday were unreal. Some genuinely looked too good to drink.

We also massively underestimated how much merch we should bring. Most of it disappeared far quicker than expected, which we are taking as a good sign.