Gecko Coffeehouse is a vegan café in Shoreditch, in East London, and everything on its menu is plant-based, from the bakery to the brunch plates. The food runs from an açaí bowl, protein pancakes and blueberry matcha pancakes to avocado and sage sourdough, portobello tacos, sandwiches and the Gecko Breakfast of vegan sausages, harissa potatoes and butter beans. The affogato is made with Gecko’s own ice cream, topped with espresso or matcha.

The house espresso is a rotating single-origin coffee, roasted in-house in small weekly batches on a Bellwether electric roaster, and it changes with the season. The current one is a washed Colombian with tasting notes of milk chocolate, nectarine and vanilla. It goes into espresso-based drinks from flat white and cappuccino to cortado, macchiato and americano. Hand-brewed filter comes in three tiers: a chocolatey house coffee, a fruity guest coffee and a premium guest coffee, with the guests coming from other roasters around Europe. There is cold brew, and the matcha is organic and ceremonial grade from Kyo’s Matcha, served as a latte, a strawberry matcha latte or a salted tahini matcha.

Gecko runs an events programme in Shoreditch: cuppings with Curve from Margate, Square Mile, Bailies, Catalyst and Mission Coffee Works, a latte-art throwdown, supper clubs, evening brunches on some dates and summer dinners from Thursday to Saturday with Mediterranean-inspired food. Daytime is walk-in only, with no table bookings. Beans from Gecko and the guest roasters are sold in the café; the online shop sells event tickets only.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Gecko Coffeehouse