Costa Rica’s well-known for its coffee, and you can taste some of the best right here in London.

We wanted to find out more for our World in London series, so we tracked down coffee expert Andrew Tolley of Taylor St Baristas, who was a judge at this week’s UK Barista Championship.

“It’s more complex than wine in terms of the flavours you can pick out of coffee,” he told us. “You can travel the world in a cup.”

Tell us about your Costa Rican coffees

“The high quality Costa Rican coffees have a nice Demerara sugar sweetness up front with a tangy green apple and balanced finish. Santa Lucia has some really nice taste notes. We choose coffee from some of England’s best roasters, Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, Square Mile, Has Bean and Peter Jones Gourmet Coffee.”

How long have you been in business?

“Five years. We started in Richmond in a little coffee concession inside a food store, Source Food.”

How did you become a barista?

“I’ve been making coffee since I was about 18. I worked my way through uni and got more and more heavily involved.”

Do you run coffee courses?

“We do home barista courses where we teach people how to taste coffee and prepare coffee in different methods – how to make a flat white or a latte. It’s based around tasting all the different flavours in coffee and how to explore them at home. They keep on selling out.”

What makes a great coffee?

“It has to be within about 20 days of roast – so fresh. Coffee that’s got clean, distinctive flavours and that suits your mood for the time of day. It’s hard to describe, because there are so many different flavours in coffee.”

What’s your advice for budding coffee connoisseurs?

“Go into a café and talk to the barista and try different things.”

Please share any other ways you can get a taste of Costa Rica without leaving London in the comments below

I don’t think the primary export that comes to mind when thinking of New Zealand in London is cafés, coffee and baristas. But that is what you’ll find when entering one of a new breed of independent cafés populating London these days.

Café culture has been strong in NZ for a long time. We like nothing better than relaxing alone and watching the world go by, or chatting with friends with a flat white or long black in hand. These are served with a healthy dose of love, maybe a bit of quirk, and, dependent on the time of day, eggs on toast, a savoury muffin (we do love a good savoury muffin) or a sweet treat.

Many cafés roast their own beans with strong rivalries between your local favourites. For me, it was always Café L’affare, but that’s an aside. In London, I’m lucky enough to be near Nude Espresso on Hanbury (who roast nearby in the Truman Brewery, I think) run by a guy I recognise on sight from Wellington but can’t quite place. If we spoke long enough we’d sort it out, as is often the way with Kiwis abroad.

NZ barista’s can also be found in many of the best cafés and coffee houses in London. Our twang could serve you in Monmouth; the excellent (but Aussie) Milk Bar, Flat White, and Lantana; or the “Sacred Café line” – six locations including Stanford’s bookshop and Carnaby Street.

I’d love to know more NZ links in London’s coffeehouses: hook me up!

This morning on my way to VL Towers, I popped in to Polo Bar opposite Liverpool Street Station.

I’d never been in before but was fascinated to discover this place is a London institution! Open 24 hours a day, it’s a real London caff run by Italian immigrants and their first and second generation families.

Over coffee and a delicious bacon buttie I chatted to the charming Philip who used to work night shifts in Polo and shared some lively tales. One involving a stolen salami and a very contrite, very hungover customer the next morning seemed to perfectly sum up the wild yet life-affirming experience of working behind the counter in a 24-hour cafe.

Philip now works closely with Stefano Ispani, CEO of Ponti Group, which owns Polo Bar (plus numerous other Ponti’s Italian eateries around town).  His late father, Peter Ispani, ran Polo Bar back in the day, and it retains the feel of a family business. To honour its heritage, there’s been a full refurb that takes Polo back to its 1950s roots – funky green railway tiles, rock’n'roll memorabilia and comfortable but stylish mid-century style furniture.

To celebrate the re-opening, you can get one of Polo’s tasty bacon rolls FREE for 24 hours from 7.30am tomorrow morning (Thursday 2 Sep). Say hi if you spot me in the queue!

As our World in London series continues, we come to our friends in Canada. Writer and comedian Ryan Millar tells us the best place for Canadians to get their caffeine and sugar fix in London:

When I first rode by 56 Haymarket, SW1, I did a double-take. Across four busy lanes of traffic I glimpsed a frosted Tim Hortons logo. I couldn’t resist stopping. There are more than 50 Tim Hortons in London, Ontario, but I wasn’t expecting any in London, England? I had to get a taste.

Doughnuts and coffee have a peculiar magnetism on the Canuck. Almost any journey made by a Canadian – be it a quick pick-up from hockey practice, a family road trip to Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump, or – evidently – a cycle through central London to the Royal Academy of Arts, can be waylaid by Tim’s coffee and doughnuts.

The coffee is earthy and spicy with notes of nostalgia. And the panoply of baked goods is a feast of fruit and sugary deliciousness, perfectly formed to feed a nation. How else to explain that Tim Hortons is, by some accounts, a bigger fast-food retailer in Canada than McDonalds, and a bigger coffee chain than Starbucks?

And it’s now available right in the centre of the swirling metropolis of London, England – just a two minute walk from Leicester Square and half that to Piccadilly Circus. For any Canadian feeling far from home, the comfort of comfort food can be sweet in both the “double sugar” and metaphorical senses.

However, the Haymarket Tim Hortons isn’t a full-blown outlet. No such luck. It is just a small wall display in the Spar supermarket. The doughnut selection isn’t huge (What? No crullers?) and the coffee comes from a self-serve machine on the counter.

But there’s no mistaking it – this is a Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut. And that’s enough for me.

Check out Ryan’s brilliant blog www.roadstorome.blogspot.com for more musings on life in London.

And let us know where else in London you can get an authentic Canadian in the comments below…