Week beginning September 30th - London Latte Art Smackdown - Prizes and Judges

Very exciting news this week. The London latte Art Smackdown heats kick off this Tuesday and we have had very generous support and encouragement from some of the top coffee people in London with offers of judging and prizes.

Coffee Hit, Union Hand Roasted, Square Mile and Gorilla Tampers have all donated prizes for first, second and third and all proceeds from the £5 entry fee goes into the prize pool as well. 

The first heat is this week and three more heats will take place every week thereafter, with the final to be held at Square Mile at the end of the month. Eight baristas per heat, top 2 go to the final.

A massive thank you to all the sponsors and judges for being so kind and generous.

Union Hand Roasted
1st Place 1 x 12month ‘Roastmaster’ subscription
2nd Place 1 x 6 month ‘Roastmaster’ subscription
3rd Place 1 x 6 month ‘Roastmaster’ subscription

Square Mile Coffee
1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies.

1st Place - 12 month espresso or filter subscription.
They will also be invited in to roast some coffee themselves, under Jess's supervision and that roast will be gifted to their cafe.
2nd Place - 12 month espresso or filter subscription
3rd Place - six month espresso or filter subscription

Gorilla tampers are going to sponsor a one off tamper to first place.

Coffee Hit
1st Place - Comandante Hand Grinder, Clever Coffee Dripper, Filter Papers & La Marzocco T Shirt
2nd Place - Bonavita Temperature Controlled Kettle & La Marzocco T Shirt
3rd Place - Clever Coffee Dripper, Filter Papers & La Marzocco T Shirt

Judges include Glenn Watson SCAE (every night) and weekly judges are Andrew Tolley from Taylor Street Baristas, John Gordon, James Hoffman and Jess MacDonald from Square Mile along with Arianna Pozzan and Halina Klos from Union.

This is not just an opportunity for the baristas of London, it is a great opportunity for all of us to be able to get together and talk, drink, have fun.

If you wish to compete, or know someone who does, please call us direct or come into store to secure your place.

Remember too the London Cafe Christmas Party on the 9th November. Limited number of 250 tickets for this will go on sale at Kaffeine this week. 

Prizes, Glory, Drinking and Dancing. Happy days....

Please enjoy the menu this week, as we have enjoyed putting it together for you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissants 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Nectarine and coconut 2.40
Savoury Scone: Red onion marmalade with goats curd 2.40
Blackberry friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Iced Vo Vo's 2.00

French retro baguettes 5.00
Roasted courgette and red onion, curried crushed peas, yoghurt garlic sauce and rocket
Tuna with fresh tartar sauce, cucumber and watercress.

Foccacias 5.30

Roasted aubergine, sweet chilli, goat’s cheese, Thai basil and rocket
Ham, pear baked with crushed black peppercorns, mature cheddar and spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90
Paella salad with chicken, prawns and squid
Roasted crown prince squash, beetroot, parsnips, pumpkin seeds with a basil and tansy dressing
Raw Brussels sprouts with parmesan, apple, mustard-cress and buckthorn dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Wild mushroom, gruyere and tarragon

Week beginning September 23rd - The London Latte Art Smackdown & London Cafe Party

I have been thinking abut this for quite some time, and when I spoke to my staff about it, they were (are), very excited by the idea.

I personally feel very fortunate to remember what you may say was the early beginnings of coffee community in London, primarily driven by Square Mile, from 2006 onwards.

My current staff talk about those days because they heard about them in Poland or Australia or NZ and wished they were here. Like old crusty ravers sitting in a corner reminiscing about the 'good old days', we now talk about them with a fond 'oh, do you remember when?'

Square Mile in particular used to hold espresso tasting nights on a Wednesday at their original roastery, then came the legendary Ultimate Barista Fighter competitions. These events really brought together, influenced, encouraged and inspired a whole load of people to keep furthering their careers in the coffee industry in London and the U.K.

The harsh reality is, those days are over and are but a warm fuzzy memory. These two events are not to recreate those old events, these two events are a simple effort to bring together the coffee community of London as it is now, and to celebrate what we have all achieved so far, for the young coffee people to have a party, and for the old coffee people to sit in the corner and reminisce and do Dad dancing or pull a few latte art moves.

The simple premise is -

London Latte Art Smackdown Knockout:
Four Heats to be held at Kaffeine every Tuesday night in October from 7:30 pm
8 baristas per night can compete
£5 entry per barista, paid in advance at Kaffeine only. 

The barista can choose the night to compete, or we choose for them
Top 2 from each heat will go through to....
The final.
To be held at Square Mile Roastery on Tuesday 29th October
Prizes donated already by SQM, Union and Coffee Hit for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 

Entry fee also goes to prize pool.
Obviously at Kaffeine we can only fit 30 or so people per night at a push, so please don't bring everyone.

We thought at the same time, we should also have a party. Not connected to the Latte Art, no real reason or concept except to just have a few drinks and a dance as an industry. But because it is close to Christmas, we thought we may as well call it a Christmas Party. So this is what we are doing.

London Cafe Christmas Party
Saturday November 9th
The Social, Little Portland Street, W1
8 pm to 1 am
250 tickets only available in advance at Kaffeine
£5 entry
House in the basement, 80's on the ground floor

It is hard enough running an independent business and not having the support or connections that other, much larger companies do. Hopefully these two events will be the beginning to bring together the independent industry of London and to start to inspire and motivate a whole new generation.

Enquiries can be directed to us via email.

In the meantime, please enjoy the menu for this week, as we have enjoyed bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.50

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.50
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.70
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.30
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.80
Pain au chocolat 2.40
Almond croissants 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Blueberries and oats 2.40
Savoury Scone: Smoked salmon, capers and wild chervil cheese 2.40
Blackberry friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 1.80
Chocolate chip cookies 1.80

French retro baguettes 4.90
Mature cheddar, pickled vegetables, ham, rocket
Tomato, mozarella, basil, aioli and spinach

Foccacias 5.00

Speck, tomato, avocado, pickled radish mayonnaise and spinach

Roasted squash and red onions with herb ricotta and rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.50
Baby lobster, sea buckthorn berries, hedgebed, creamed pea dressing

Roasted piccolo parsnips and chantenay carrots with saute cavalo nero and wet walnuts

Brussels sprouts with rosemary, hazelnuts, russet apples and cooked in apple cider

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Four cheese quiche with roasted cherry tomatoes

Week beginning September 16th - The Art of Peripheral Vision

When I was 21 years old, I moved from an outer suburban pub to a 100 seat cocktail bar adjoining a brand new 300 seat restaurant in the inner suburbs in Melbourne. It was my first real city job. I started as a barman, and the bar manager's name was Eddie. He admitted many years later that he was not that impressed with me on my first few days, but all the same, after a month he had removed his assistant manager and promoted me to the position.

Over the next 5 years in particular, Eddie and I worked together in a number of restaurants and bars, and after travelling to the UK in 1995, when I came back in 98 I managed his own restaurant in Toorak in Melbourne for three years. I proposed to my wife at the closing party we had for the restaurant in front of 150 people and Eddie was a key speaker at our wedding.

Eddie taught me many, many things, and he is and has been a wonderful influence on my life and my hospitality career. We also had a huge, huge amount of fun together.

One very important thing he taught me was all about peripheral vision and the necessity of this quality in Hospitality. That is, the ability to see everything, while focussing on one thing.

- To know that a customer is about to walk in the door while you are serving a table.
- To see a piece of food on the floor (and pick it up)
- To know that a table needs something while you are making coffee for another
- To see the cobweb hanging from the roof while making a drink
- To notice the light bulb gone, or the fork under the table, or the napkin on the seat
(There are so many more, I will leave it up to you)

Effectively, to be able to see things out of the corner of your eye and be able to act upon it, thereby making your service more efficient and the customers experience all that more special.

In a book I highly recommend, Nicholas Lander's 'The Art of the Restauranteur', kindly given to me by two of our favourite customers at Christmas, he interviewed Danny Meyer and noticed that not only Danny, but most of the restaurateurs he interviewed all had this quality. They all sat facing the restaurant area when being interviewed and all of them had this 'roving eye' and were always scanning what was going on.

You could try this yourself. Drop a slice of lemon on the floor in a restaurant and see how long it takes to be noticed by the staff. Then drop a two pound coin.

I recently wrote about the 'one percents' and the effect this has on your business. I also spoke recently to a very intelligent and great coffee person about 1%'s and how quickly they can add up to make for an overall bad experience. I firmly believe, and Eddie taught me this a very long time ago, that the art of peripheral vision, and acting upon it, will greatly reduce these 1%'s, helping you to achieve your goal of 100%.

http://kaffeinelondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/week-beginning-august-19th-one-percents.html

Ed, this and many others are for you and because of you. Respect and big love.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, as we will enjoy bringing it to you.


Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.50

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.50
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.70
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.30
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.80
Pain au chocolat 2.40
Almond croissants 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Blackcurrant and pear 2.40
Savoury Scone: Apple, mature cheddar and dijon 2.40
Blackberry friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 1.80
Chocolate chip cookies 1.80

French retro baguettes 4.90
Pancetta, avocado, tomato, aioli and rocket
Smoked salmon, lime cream cheese, cucumber, thai basil, spinach

Foccacias 5.00

Roast chicken, salsa verde, brie and rocket
Grilled courgette, red peppers, red onion, feta, olive tepenade, spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.50
Roasted chicken with pickled rainbow radish, blanched common purslane stems, boiled baby potatoes, rocket and jalapeno dressing
Turkish brown figs, profiteroles filled with goats cheese, basil, walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette
Purple sprouting broccoli with garlic and tansy dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Pumpkin, mustard and gruyere