London School of Coffee is only a five minute walk from Norbiton station, you can catch an overboard train from Waterloo station, full details of train times are available from National Rail Enquiries.
If you are travelling by car please contact us to arrange parking, there are limited spaces available at £10 per day, unfortunately Kingston is not a great place to park due to traffic restrictions, so please contact us if you are coming by car.
If you have flown into Heathrow, you catch buses 285 or 111 towards Kingston, and alight at the Bentalls Centre, Kingston upon Thames, it will take approximately 1 hour. From there it's best to take a 5 minute taxi ride to Princeton Mews, 167-169 London Road, Kingston.
How to get in: on the security keyboard next to the gate press CALL then press 2 and the gate will be opened from the school office, the entrance for which is just inside on the left. If the security keyboard fails, please call us on your mobile phone.
John Thompson has over 15 years of experience in speciality coffee, working on projects from the field through to retail. His work at origin has spanned several continents, and he is fortunate to have worked closely with growers in several countries to develop long term relationships, sustainable buying programs, and quality improvement initiatives. His time spent as a Cup of Excellence international juror, and certification as a Q grader complements this work.
As part of the buying team at Taylors of Harrogate he carried out social audits on coffee estates and developed sustainable buying solutions with growers. John has extensive manufacturing experience including an extensive and working knowledge of roasting technology, profiling software, and the packing process in a food production environment.
John has recently worked with the SCAE in developing the Coffee Diploma system, leading the green coffee section of the program. As a certified SCAE trainer he runs our coffee diploma courses in cupping, sensory skills and green coffee.
For clients interested in on site training and consultancy, John now works with a range of clients across the globe on behalf of LSC primarily on sourcing, sensory and coffee roasting related projects.