Languages spoken: My mother tongue language is Russian, even though I can speak English and Lithuanian as well. Also, I used to learn German and Spanish, but due to my goldfish memory – did not succeed. Yet.

What brought you to London?: Studies. London offers many opportunities in Biological Science,...]]> Place of birth: I am from Vilnius, Lithuania – multicultural capital of this tiny country.

Languages spoken: My mother tongue language is Russian, even though I can speak English and Lithuanian as well. Also, I used to learn German and Spanish, but due to my goldfish memory – did not succeed. Yet.

What brought you to London?: Studies. London offers many opportunities in Biological Science, which is one of the steps towards my mad dreams.

What first attracted you to knot?: Pretzels. To be honest, I didn’t know there are any pretzel shops in London. ”KNOT” seemed to be a unique place. And it is a unique place.

What’s your favourite thing about working here?: Baking. Seriously, I did not expect baking to be so fun. I can do it all day long! Of course, till is amazing too: chatting with customers or just seeing happy kids getting a pretzel… but there is just no. comparison. with. baking. Ironically, my surname can be basically translated as ”bread baker”!

What’s your favorite knot?: Classic. Reminds of my trip to Munich. However, I’ve heard the rumors about chorizo pretzel, but didn’t try one yet.

Favorite coffee drink?: Mocha or Americano (usually).

Favourite CD we play at the shop? Boomfunk Mc’s – Freestyler ( reminds me of my childhood ) and 3oh!3 – startrukk ( this song associates with ”KNOT” ).

One fun fact about yourself!: Well, I’ve broken 4 fingers while playing basketball. It is not fun at all, but at least it is a fact.

We start with the finest quality ingredients: water, butter, honey, salt and an organic high...]]> Being a pretzel shop, our pretzel baking method and ingredients are kind of a big deal.  People often ask what sets our pretzels apart from those sold in the shopping centres, and the answer is our artisan baking method of mixing, proofing, retarding, and rising again (well that, and everything else).

We start with the finest quality ingredients: water, butter, honey, salt and an organic high protein flour from an English Miller.

Our artisan baker mixes all the ingredients together slowly and allows the gluten to develop, and then lets the mixture rest to rise at room temperature for at least two hours.  After a while he comes back, punches the dough down, and then lets it rise again, this time in the fridge, to slow down the yeast and allow more complex flavours to develop.  He then brings the dough back to room temperature, forms it into pretzels, and lets it rise one last time before par baking the pretzels and flash freezing them for delivery to the store.

From there, it’s just some loving prep and addition of toppings by our team members at the oven in store, before our pretzels reach your mouth.  It’s a long, twelve hour process, but we’re pretty sure it’s worth it.

The beans are roasted medium, contributing to the coffee’s final medium body and acidity creating a well balanced clean cup.

Smell the aroma of fudge chocolate on the nose. Tasting notes include caramel, plum and vanilla with bright grape acidity and rounded complete mouthfeel.

Discover more on Union’s website here.

Languages spoken: Not to toot my own horn or anything but I’m...]]>
Place of birth: I was born in a wee place called Teesside in the North East of England. I haven’t met anyone in London that actually knows where it is yet, so I shall educate you on the matter: It’s near Middlesbrough, which is located below Newcastle and above North Yorkshire c:

Languages spoken: Not to toot my own horn or anything but I’m a bit of a pro at Pig Latin. oesday atthay ountcay? Eh but seriously though, I used to learn German & Spanish and sucked equally at them both. I failed to withhold a conversation with Dora the Explorer and learning German was probably worse because I’d refer to everyone as a plural female. Ja! Long story short, I only speak English and wanted this section to look as fancy as everyone else’s.

What brought you to London? I moved down here in late 2010 for University and to live closer to my Uncle c: I’ve basically said I wanted to move here my entire life, it was too stuck in my head to change plans!

What first attracted you to knot? PRETZELS. I wish it was a complicated story about a luxurious cruise and wearing a full suit of armour but it’s really not.

What’s your favourite thing about working here? I get to show off my expertise in cutting cheese! Plus the people are always smiley looking, it’s a nice environment to be around.

What’s your favorite knot?  Favorite coffee drink?  Favourite CD we play at the shop? 
My favourite knot at the moment is the Cinnamon .. which is incredibly unusual because I don’t normally like cinnamon! I always choose the hot chocolate over a coffee ^__^ Music wise, there’s some song about a duck that likes grapes that keeps appearing! I can really deeply emotionally connect with it because I like grapes too.

One fun fact about yourself!
I accidentally came to work with two un-matching shoes!? It would probably be acceptable if they were kinda similar, but one was a huge brown boot with a zip and the other was a silvery lace up converse. These early morning’s are doing things to me haha! I can also lick my elbow, Oscar winning stuff.

The thing is, our calendar was getting pretty packed with coffee lessons, Free Coffee Wednesdays and Secret Word Fridays, and we were thinking we’d rather spend more time actually talking with...]]> Hello folks.  We write this post with a heavy hand and a sad heart, solemn in the fact that Secret Word Fridays are no longer with us after a deep and long lasting relationship…

The thing is, our calendar was getting pretty packed with coffee lessons, Free Coffee Wednesdays and Secret Word Fridays, and we were thinking we’d rather spend more time actually talking with our customers and sharing our love for the products.  So, instead we’ve kind-of, sort-of, moved Secret Word Fridays to Wednesdays…basically, we’ll alternate the coffee lessons with pretzel lessons on Mondays, and on Wednesdays you will receive a free small pretzel or coffee after answering the corresponding question.

Fridays we’re just going to have some fun, chatting with our customers in stores and online.  We were asking regulars in Clapham their ideal holiday spot one morning last week, and it was lovely to see everyone interacting and getting into it.  Leading off of that we’ve decided to experiment with Icebreaker Fridays for the next few weeks.

And finally, we’re going to try and do more with this blog, posting on various industry topics that we think are interesting, wacky, important, or any combination of the above.  Please let us know what you think, and don’t hesitate to pass us along any ideas for subjects you think we should address!