Småland Coffee

Banging coffee and lovely staff. I love this place, it’s a gem.

Though it is an absolutely tiny shop, I really enjoyed the latte I got there. Great place for a cup of coffee to go.

For months, I whined.
I complained.
I whinged.
I cried.
I griped.
I moaned.
I moped.
I complained some more.
Because there were NO good coffee pitstops between my house and my place of work, which includes a walk down a street with four cafés open for breakfast, a jaunt through Waterloo station and a mile-​long walk through Aldwych and Holborn.
None.
The best option I could muster came from Pret.
I know.
Shocking.
But all that is behind me now that I’ve found Smaland. It is located only a tiny detour from my usual route out of Waterloo station, and now I must only skip on out through the Waterloo exit onto York Road and there it is — a beauty of a hole-​in-​the-​wall coffee shop with two incredibly friendly Swedish (I assume) baristas carefully and thoughtfully preparing both espresso drinks and homemade Scandanavian breakfast foodstuffs for commuters.
Sure, the coffee wasn’t the best I’ve had in London, but it was solid. And it was miles away in terms of quality from the aforementioned Pret java that I had subjected myself to for the last seven months.
After just one day of sipping this coffee as I walked across Waterloo Bridge in the misting rain, I knew for sure that I was already a Smaland regular.
If I had to give one criticism, however, it would be that Smaland doesn’t pull a strong shot — a standard that has been set in the Capital by all the antipodean-​style cafés I have come to love.

Smaland Coffee, with two dots over the first ‘a’ is a little hole-​in-​the-​wall coffee shop located near Waterloo station. Being Swedish, it serves up coffee the Swedish way, i.e. dark and bitter with a bit of a kick. I elected for a small cappuccino (£1.95) and, yes indeedy, the coffee was strong!
This place also serves up Scandinavian pastries and sandwiches, and I do believe I spied some delicious looking sausages. I couldn’t try any as I had already eaten, so this will be something to try in the future.
It can be a little hard to find because, well, it’s small, and, when I was there, it seemed like only no. 31 was numbered so I didn’t know which direction to walk down once I exited the York Road exit.
There is no space to sit down other than a table or two along the grey, drab walkway outside.
If you’re tired of the chain alternatives you get in Waterloo station and don’t wish to venture too far, then this is the place to go.

We’ve all found ourselves in a station at times dying for a caffeine hit but reluctant to pay a visit to one of the usual brands for an expensive bucket of brown watery tasteless rubbish.
Now at waterloo, YOU DONT HAVE TO!!! because just a short and simple walk away on york road there is Smaland Coffee (possibly the smallest coffee shop in london.) As you may guess from the name this place is scandanavian and has the obligatory blonde sexy accented beauty to prove it — but thats not the only draw!!!
The coffee is absolutely ruddy brilliant. Its made in the Swedish style, (very strong) but all the usual options of lattes and cappucinos exist if thats what floats your boat.
On closer inspection the beans they use are Matthew Algie which are well up there with the Illys and in my humble opinion easily supass the lavazzas of this world. In fact if you do love coffee and fancy a little schooling on beans and anything else coffee related the matthew algie website is genius. Very simple and i learnt a whole bunch of stuff!!!
But I digress, back to Smaland. As I mentioned before its tiny so they have just a couple seats under the very unatractive walkway outside, but I say this is a good thing as filled with the mysterious power of caffeine you can now go and explore the southbank (safe in the knowledge you are fully armed against Star****s), enjoy the river and a brisk walk or go back into the station and parade your coffee with a smug satisfied look as the other commuters look forlornly into there buckets of frothy brown milk. Its a win win situation.
Foodwise they have a selection of sandwichy stuff which i am yet to try but as soon as I do there will be a full disclosure.
For now though dear friends,
Adieu. xx

Smaland Coffee epitomizes the idea of a hole-​in-​the-​wall. Most places characterized as such would probably require quite a powerful explosive device to make a hole so large as to fit in things like chairs and tables and more than three people. Smaland is not large enough to hold any of these. If I took a pick to the wall like Tim Robbins a la Shawshank Redemption, I could probably carve out a space about the size of Smaland by hand on my own, especially if I were in prison and had nothing else to do.
Luckily, Smaland (with a tiny little circle on top of the first ‘a’, which I believe results in the pronunciation Smoe-​land as I was recently in Sweden) is big enough to make a really good cup of coffee. My white Americano was excellent. They also serve little Swedish pastries, bagel sandwiches, yogurt, and other things I did not try but looked tasty.
It’s located right next to Waterloo Station and a great independent alternative to all the big box coffee retailers in and around the station.
You may have a bit of trouble finding it because Smaland is figuratively the size of my closet. I say figuratively because I don’t have a closet. However, it is literally the size of many closets that are not mine. But none of those closets produce good coffee and so, off to Smaland.