% ARABICA London Covent Garden — Restaurant in London

I’ve been a loyal customer to this particular branch ever since their opening, as I had known the brand and had been a fan from its franchise in Asia.

All my visits at % Arabica had been pleasant, coffee was always top notch, my personal favourite being Dark Latte (expresso shot with dark Valrhona chocolate). This visit was no exception, I had to give credits to how lovely the coffee was, and I praised the barista for how exquisite her latte art was.

However, this one time, one of their staff (a European lady) was super rude, unreasonable and unprofessional. This has never happened to me before in all my visits so imagine the shock.

It was the most ridiculous thing, because of how unintuitive the queuing line was laid out (see photo for better illustration). There were only 3 other people, and I naturally went towards the person who was the closest to the entrance and queued behind (located towards the back of the shop). What happened next was that this lady yelled at me in front of all other customers, for being on the wrong side of the queue. I immediately told her this is unreasonable, how would I know I had to walk towards the back of the shop to queue on the right side of the stanchion? That’s simply not how it works, it was just purely unintuitive and there was neither a sign nor anyone in the queue who indicated to me that I was in the wrong place or queued the wrong direction. Her reaction was to shrug and to roll her eyes as if I was an idiot. Then she didn’t say anything further.

While I was waiting for my coffee, I observed quietly and I saw other people making the same mistake, and guess what? She didn’t lift a finger, nor did she say a single word to anyone. I don’t know what kind of discrimination this is, but I was definitely NOT happy about it!

This was definitely not the level of service I should get, no matter how popular this brand has become. And for those of you from management who are reading, please reevaluate the flow of your shop and how customers would instinctively engage with the space. And reeducate some of your staff to make sure they don’t tarnish the brand name any further. It would be unfair to the barista because they did such good jobs to make sure we...

I sent % ARABICA an inquiry after some disappointment with their coffee, but they never responded, even after trying again. Here is the message I have sent them:

Dear %Arabica team,

I purchased a 500g bag of your house blend from your Covent Garden location on Wednesday.

I had recently made myself an espresso using your coffee during a workshop at a design agency in East London. The coffee was exceptional—clean, balanced, and full of character. That experience really stood out, and I decided to go get myself a bag to enjoy at home. It wasn't available to order online, so I went to your Covent Garden location.

However, the beans I brought home from tasted nothing like what I had at the workshop. The coffee came out flat, heavy, and quite basic—more like a robusta-heavy basic supermarket blend. Like Lavazza at best. It really didn’t resemble the refined taste I had earlier in the week.

I’m wondering if there might have been a mix-up with packaging or stock. Or could it be that this %Arabica coffee I had in east London was some special bean? The bag definitely looked the same as the same as I purchase on Wednesday. The machines I used in east London were Niche Zero grinder and La Marzocco Mini, while the ones I used at home were Varia VS6 grinder with upgraded conical burrs and a Gaggia Classic Pro with the Gaggiuino mod (something that should get it very close to the La Marzocco), so I believe it should be ruled out that this huge discrepancy in taste comes from the machines. Could you help me understand?

On a side note, upon searching for your cafe locations, i found out you were founded in Kyoto, and I realized I’d actually visited it back in 2014 or 2015, near the temple in that touristy part of town - Kiyomizu I think. I remembered having an amazing Guatemalan coffee there, which was also a great experience, and still often comes to mind when I buy coffee beans - the hope it matches that...

I’ve wanted to try Arabica (%), the Japanese brand, for a long time and made the journey to Covent Garden specifically.

You’re greeted with a very modular / concept looking shop which is attractive, clean and typically Japanese (no surprises there!)

There is a small queuing system where they allow you to browse some of their (overpriced) merchandise whilst you wait. The staff were incredibly friendly and you have a smallish menu to view and make your order. Friends have recommended the matcha drinks however I am more of a coffee person so went with a Latte. It was a little pricey for a normal latte at ~£4.25 (even vs independent 3rd wave coffee shops). Once ordered you get a nice little receipt with your order number so you can be called later.

The coffee did take quite a long time to come (perhaps the queue) although seemed long considering they have 4/5 staff.

Coffee finally arrived and was worth the wait, great flavours and milk texture was perfect.

Couple of things they should look to do is change the queuing system because from the outside the queue can look incredibly long but really it’s just people waiting and there is no queue to order as the queue starts at the back of the shop. They also only seem to put 10 or so items down at a time (e.g. lids / napkins / straws etc) so once they run out you have to ask and they then add more which seems a bit tiring for the workers but I guess it is all part of the minimalist / concept effect.

Definitely recommend the coffee and look forward to trying some of the other types of coffee on the...