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The Review - FOOD AND DRINK - THE MARKET PLACE
Published: 13 March 2008

George Constantinou at the Camden Coffee Shop

Wake up and smell the Mountain

GEORGE Constaninou left his home in North Cyprus in 1968. His destination: London. Ten years later he took over his uncle’s business, The Camden Coffee Shop (11 Delancey Street, NW1).
Founded in 1950, this is not a café but a coffee retailer. Various beans are freshly roasted daily, then sold to the general public, either whole or ground to order.
The shop is lost in time – the grinders, roaster and other equipment look worn but are sturdy and can still do their job; from another age, they were built to last. One dates from the early days of the last century, others the 1950s. There is not an electronic gizmo in sight.
His uncle concentrated on continental blends and George has now extended the range. Columbian, Kenyan, Brazilian Santos (a very dark, aromatic coffee) along with his pride and joy, the Mountain blend, are displayed together with several others.
George wanted to sell Jamaican Mountain Blue – one of the most expensive coffees in the word and subject to the same kind of classification and controls as top French wine. The selling rights went to bigger companies. It took a long time but by blending various beans, he believes he has created a similar-tasting coffee, at a fraction of the price. He named it Mountain blend.
“I always tell customers it is not Blue Mountain,” he assured me when I visited his shop earlier this week.
His freshly roasted coffee is surprisingly cheap. From £1.75 for 250g, it costs less than the leading brands and is similar in price but of superior quality when compared to the supermarkets’ own labels.

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