Week beginning December 4th - Rory - Baker, builder, dancer, sandwich maker

Rory left us this week. Most people would not know Rory, as he starts at 6:15 am each morning, leaves about 3 pm and worked nearly every weekend over the past 18 months and we kept him downstairs most of the time. This was of course because he worked in the kitchen. It is always hugely comforting to a) find someone to work in the kitchen b) that they are competent and skilled c) that they get up very early every day and d) that they are a really nice person too.

Rory was another one of those. We are very lucky that we have had and still have a team of chefs who all have the same qualities. Very lucky indeed.

He has gone back to Australia hopefully to follow his dream of dancing professionally, which he is very good at too. If you get to see the Kaffeine movie coming out in January, he also plays a feature role along with his girlfriend Jess.

Rory was also very good at building. He started collecting the wooden pallets that deliveries get made on and are left on the street. He took them home and made furniture for his house. He was then commissioned to build the new crates we have outside the shop. They look very good indeed. We call them 'The Rories' and we hope they last a very long time.

He would help with general maintenance work around the shop, unblocking drains or putting things back together if required and he was a very good delivery person for all our catering orders. The banter in the kitchen, the self made videos of him making thousands of banana breads, ANZACS, portuguese tarts, brownies and blondies. A true Kaffeine legend.

We will all miss Rorza very much and we wish both him and Jess all the very best for the future back in Australia.

Well done fella....


Please enjoy our 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
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Blueberry and bran 2.40
Savoury Scone: Sweet chilli and goats cheese 2.40
Buckthorn friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscuits 2.00

Lunch:
Soup: Butternut, orange and thyme 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Pancetta, glazed apricots, brie, red onion and rocket
Tomato, roasted courgette, basil pesto, mozzarella, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, chilli cream cheese, tomato and spinach
Red onion marmalade, grilled halloumi, avocado, rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Chicken adobo with camargue red rice and coriander
Baked cranberries, mature cheddar, roasted chest nuts, watercress, red onion and a thyme and mustard dressing
Roasted sweet potato with feta and mixed seeds

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad

Ham, manchego and rocket quiche

Week beginning November 25th - Food Safety

What is one of the most important aspects of operating a food business? To be very blunt, it is most probably making sure you do not make your customers very ill (or worse) with your food. It's quite a responsibility. It's also to ensure that for your staff and for your customers you are operating in a clean and hygienic environment. What amazed me when I first opened Kaffeine was that there is no legal requirement for staff to have food safety training, it is merely a 'recommendation'. Of course it is quite highly recommended, and you will get marked down quickly if none of your staff are trained, but it is not a legal requirement.

On our very first inspection by Westminster in 2009, we did not receive a very good score, as there were a few processes and practices we did not have in place. We worked very hard over the next year, even inviting the Westminster back for a visit and for advice and on our second unplanned visit, moved up to 4 stars. Then the process of rating changed and we received a new certificate giving us 5 out of 5. Nice. Very happy and very proud. That was in 2010.

We were told that every business in Westminster was going to be visited prior to the Olympics, but we were not, and the next visit we received was in July of this year. The man was shall we say, not very detailed, in his approach. It was quite an easy inspection. He certainly did not check everything. So I was a bit let down, not only because we are proud of what we do, but also because we want to make sure we are doing it correctly, that the Food Safety has confidence in us and that they have checked everything we do to ensure the safety of our customers. Basically that they test us thoroughly and competently to ensure we have safe food practice. To do this, council look at and rate you on three areas - food hygiene and safety practices, structure including cleaning and confidence in management.

We got the results and we scored 3 out of 5. So I was not very happy, neither was Chef Jared or Manager Claire. Part of council process is that you can request a revisit and appeal against the decision, which is what we did. I wrote a very long email to them, we were re-inspected by a very thorough and professional lady. I felt very comfortable that whatever score we received in review, the inspection was the best we could possibly get. She provided some advice where necessary, asked leading questions to our key staff but not really to me, inspected all our paperwork, invoices, processes and systems.

We work very, very hard to make sure all our food processes are safe and sound. We use the Better Food Better Business diary recommended by council every day. In fact we have one for the kitchen and one for the floor. In this we keep daily records of anything out of the ordinary that may happen, from a blocked drain pipe to food not of quality from the suppliers and being sent back to staff being off ill, to structural problems. It has training records, lists of all our suppliers, recommended methods and systems and practices and 'what do we do?' lists. Each new staff member must read through and sign off all the training modules. Each manager, assistant manager and any person who works in the kitchen goes onto the food safety level 2 course at Westminster Council. Both the lead chef and I have completed level 3 supervisory modules as well.

We check and record our fridge temperatures, we check all our deliveries for any problems, we have detailed, listed, and structured daily and weekly cleaning and deep clean tasks that are signed off by the staff members responsible. We have an accident reporting book and complete first aid kit, we have a professional pest control program, professional laundry for our cloths, colour coded chopping boards and colour coded cloths for cleaning. We have a professional refrigeration maintenance company, we only use reputable, traceable suppliers who are also professionals in their trades.

We have hand wash basins with soap, hot water and  towels, we have a separate, enclosed rubbish storage area, tea towels for drying dishes and cloths for ovens, aprons for the chefs and aprons for the staff. Our food is all labelled in the fridges, covered and dated and rotated FIFO, our fridge seals are changed when they wear out, we use professional dishwash machines and have dish detergent and rinse aid for the machines. The machines are deep cleaned very week. We have blocked each and every tiny little hole that we can find where rodents may enter (the width of a pen) and we search for (and block) new holes continuously.

We sanitise our work benches regularly, use throw away cloths and go though loads of paper towels, sweep the floors all the time and mop after each service, we have colour coded mops for different areas (kitchen, floor, toilets), have a bins with lids.

It is an ongoing, continuous, absolutely important and integral part of running a food business. It is common sense, it is good business practice.

We got an envelope a few weeks ago in the post from Westminster. We gently, carefully opened it and inside was a certificate. Five out of five.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, as we have enjoyed designing it and bringing it to 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
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Chocolate and raspberry 2.40
Savoury Scone: Courgette and chilli cream cheese 2.40
Buckthorn friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscuits 2.00

Lunch:
Soup: Fish chowder with young alexanders 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Bresaola, gjetost, red currants, spinach, lemon mayonnaise

Aubergine and mushrooms with thyme, dijon, gruyere and rocket

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, onion marmalade, brie, rocket

Red pepper salsa, mozarella, tomato, spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Slow roasted beef with pear, black mustard and gorgonzola.
Raw beetroot with mature cheddar, dill, lady smock and watercress.
Honey roasted fennel with salad burnet yoghurt dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad

Sweet corn pie with baked kumara topping

Week beginning November 18th - Just the menu

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
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Plum and carrot 2.40
Savoury Scone: Tomato, Parmesan and oregano 2.40
Chocolate and buckthorn friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscuits 2.00

Lunch:
Soup: Chicken, sweet corn and acorn soup 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, gherkin, Dijon, Gruyere, red onion, rocket
Roasted crown prince, chilli mayonnaise, Camembert, spinach and coriander

Foccacias 5.30

Smoked salmon, aioli, dill, red onion, capers, spinach
Mixed wild mushrooms, thyme fondue, roast chestnuts, rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Tandoori lamb with couscous, three corner garlic, cucumber and yoghurt dressing
Sharon fruit, gherkin, gruyere, basil, red onion, rocket, hazelnuts
Sweet piccolo parsnips roasted in juniper

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad

Four cheese with orange and black pepper jelly

Week beginning November 11th - The London Cafe Party

It is especially after a busy day, with a bit of caffeine in your stream, that your mind is racing and you start to think of all the possibilities and 'what if we did this?' scenarios. Or at 3 am when you can't sleep.

Music has always been a big part of my own life, and it is very, very important to the feel and atmosphere of Kaffeine. We make playlists that play all day on our Ipods, basically DJ sets that go with the flow of the day. Of course, house, breaks, funk, soul, hip hop and electronic music is a big part of this and we are very proud of the music that we play. It's important for the customers, but also important for the staff who work here every day and listen to it all the time. It helps to motivate, to encourage, to make them smile and possibly even dance a little bit and to make the working day even more pleasant and fun.

Current and previous staff have shown an affection for music, some more than others including former lead barista James 'Obi Wan' Broadhurst and Justin 'Cool Hand' Luchterhand who also set up playlists for the Ipod from their own collections.

So when I approached our current staff with the idea of having a party, they were shall we say, a little bit excited.

Therefore, the idea for a London Coffee party was conceived. Of course it could have been just the 13 of us at The Social tonight, dancing around our handbags, but no, we have over 150 people from the London Coffee Scene and a few friends as well, coming along.

Staff from Taylor Street Baristas, Square Mile Roasters, Workshop Coffee, Artisan Coffee, Climpsons and Sons, Terrone Coffee, Prufrock Coffee,  Dose Espresso, The Goods Yard and many others will be drinking and dancing all night long. What a great opportunity for London Coffee people to relax and have some fun.

Set Times are:
Funk, Disco and Soul
Billy 'The Kid' Tahtis from former legend cafe Taste of Bitter Love - 7 pm to 9 pm

House
Matt Craig - 9 pm to 11 pm
Matt Grey - 11 pm to 1 am

The boys may mix it up a bit and have a bit of back to back, we will see.

I very much wish that old schools staff such as Justin, James, Amy, Missy, Sam, Big Nick, Ashlea, Matthew and others were here for the party. We will think of you tonight, cos we miss you.

This is the first party of it's kind. After the success of the London Latte Art Challenge, we hope that this will be a success too and we can have many more.

Drinking, dancing, good times. What more can you ask for?

Please enjoy this weeks menu, 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
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Cranberry and almonds 2.40
Savoury Scone: Red onion, cheddar, mustard and thyme 2.40
Chocolate and buckthorn 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

Lunch:
Soup: Fabada - Spanish stew with chorizo, rape greens & cannelini beans 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Pancetta, baked apple, brie, pommary mustard and rocket

Hummus, aubergine and carrots roasted in dukka, halloum, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Chorizo loaf, roasted fennel, manchego, spinach

Mozzarella, tomato, puttanesca, rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Glazed ham, baked plums and onion, roasted chestnuts, mature cheddar and watercress

Raw Chinese potato, celery, red chicory, candied walnuts, pickled radish with ginger and chilli fish sauce

Potatoes roasted in mustard, olives and coriander

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad

Fish and three corner garlic cakes with hollandaise and cranberry salsa

Week beginning November 4th - London Latte Art Finals and London Cafe Party

Nervous anticipation last Tuesday night as we rolled up to Square Mile roastery for the final of the London Latte Art challenge. We knew we had arrived at the right place as stereotypically, there were quite a number of fixed wheel bikes, tattoos and bearded men hanging around. Square Mile's new events room was ready, the two group Synesso was set up in the corner, and importantly, the free beer stand was just as you entered the room.

When you are talking about the legends of coffee in London, you could not get many more in the room at one time. We had the 2007 and 2009 World Barista Champions James Hoffman and Gwilym Davies, 2011/12/13 Dutch Latte Art Champion Esther Maasdam, 2010/11/13 UK Barista and 2009 Latte Art Champion John Gordon, 2013 UK Latte Art Champion Dhan Damang, 2012 UK Aeropress Champion Shaun Young and 2009/10/11 US Cup tasters Champion Ben Kaminsky amongst the crowd, and probably other champions in their field that I cannot remember or had the chance to say hello to.

Importantly, we had over 100 industry people packed into the room ready to rumble. Technical difficulties stopped us from projecting the first heats onto the white walls, but Ben and John got this going in time for the finals.

The legend that is Ross 'Brockley' Brown was compere for the evening and after a short intro from me, we were on the way.

I can't remember who was up against who in the heats, but, in what is now known as 'etchgate', the man from Prufrock, Jeremy Challender pulled out an etching into his latte art against Elyse from Talkhouse that won him though to the finals. The crowd and the judges were unsure if this was allowed, as throughout the comp we did not allow etching or animals, but as the finals were judged on 'being awesome', the judges let it through.

Timothy from Curators was against Ryoto from Prufrock for 3rd and 4th places and in a fantastic achievement, young Timothy won third place on the podium, then for the final it was Jeremy from Prufrock against James Bailey from Workshop.

We set up the now empty beer bar in the middle of the room to allow for maximum viewage and with the projection now working, we were able to see the final pours.

All heats so far had been one against one, but the final was the best of three throw down and it was James Bailey from Workshop who pushed Jeremy out of the way and said 'move aside, this prize is mine', beating him on the first two pours and taking the cash, the prizes, the trophies and the glory.

The photos from the finals are here, the photos from the rest of the heats are below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/sets/72157637103201375/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/sets/

A huge, huge thank you to the sponsors of the prizes - Coffee Hit, Square Mile and Union Hand Roasted, a massive thank you to the judges Andrew Tolley from Taylor Street, Lena and Arianna from Union, James and Jess from SQM and for being here every week judging and taking amazing photos, Glenn Watson.

Another big thank you to all those who came to Kaffeine and Square Mile over the past five weeks and supported not only the baristas, but also the scene in London.

Now for some drinking and dancing!

Christmas Party Details.

We have sold 106 of the 150 tickets available. Seriously, get in fast if you wish to come.
Tickets are now on sale at Kaffeine and on the door on the night. All London cafe staff welcome.
November 9th at The Social, Little Portland Street, W1. 7 pm to 1 am.
You can pay in person or over the phone by credit card & we will keep them here for you to pick up.
£5 per ticket, 150 tickets only.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, 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
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Blueberry and bran 2.40
Savoury Scone: Courgette and feta 2.40
Lemon and rose 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

Lunch:
Soup: Hungarian beef stew with pickled walnuts 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, cranberry compote, Camembert, red onion, rocket
Roasted courgette, crushed curried pea's with mint, feta, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Red onion marmalade with mature cheddar, dijon, rocket

Smoked salmon, aioli, capers, red onion, dill, spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Tenderstem broccoli with pancetta, hollandaise, pine nuts and slow roasted garlic

Pineapple, toasted Brazil nuts, gorgonzola, coriander and chicory

Swede roasted in peanuts with fresh cranberry dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad

Salmon and watercress pie