Batch Baby sits on the ground floor of the Rose Lipman Building on De Beauvoir Road, in east London, near Regent’s Canal. Founded by Saskia and Tom in 2021, it brings a changing cast of guest roasters into a room of high ceilings, exposed concrete and deliberate 1970s design references. It is a distinctive setting for a café with an appetite for other people’s coffee.
Batch brew and espresso-based drinks anchor the offer, with guest coffees available both to drink and to buy. The selection is central to its appeal: roasters from London and further afield take their turn on the shelves and behind the bar. This is somewhere to take an interest in the beans as well as the drink, whether that interest ends with a cup or follows you home in a bag.
The café’s involvement goes beyond choosing what to stock. Its 2026 Bird Baby collaboration with Skylark centred on a Colombian Sidra grown by Angela Rojas. Batch Baby also co-organised Bloomtown with Coborn, bringing a free coffee festival, cuppings and talks to the building. A guest-roaster shelf is one way to share an enthusiasm; inviting a festival round is a more expansive gesture.
Food stays within the agreeable territory of toasties and pastries: a light lunch or something alongside a second cup. Coffee remains the main attraction, but there is enough here to make a catch-up more than a quick drink. The high-ceilinged room helps set that unhurried intention, although seating can get crowded and waits do occur; spacious architecture does not guarantee a spare chair. Come for the coffee selection, with time to enjoy whichever roaster has caught Batch Baby’s attention.