Week beginning March 26th - Rare Tea Company

We really are very happy, and so, it appears, are our tea drinking customers. We recently changed from a very good tea supplier, to one that we felt matched the Kaffeine profile and was able to provide that little bit better product that we are always searching for.

It took some time, our lead barista James researched six different tea companies, all loose leaf suppliers, and we contacted them via email with a view to them providing us with their tea. Some replied immediately, others took some time.

We had a few conditions. Obviously, it must be good, but also, it must match with what we are doing with service and be able to be served as a take away drink, so it needs to be able to go in a tea bag.

We had tastings and samples with several of the companies on the short list and it was a close call between two of them.

In the end we went with the Rare Tea company, with the lovely Henrietta Lovell in charge. Henrietta also knows some of our customers, they did some of her branding and videos, and in her words, she would be honored to supply Kaffeine.

http://www.rareteacompany.com/news-and-reviews/videos/

But still it was down to taste, as well as the packaging, the ethos and passion and the service provided.

We have been using it for three weeks now. Henrietta has recommended special teapots for our use and also special tea bags for the takeaway component.

James has learnt a lot about tea in the lead up and the process of selection and he held a tasting for all staff one evening, showcasing all the new teas on offer, how they should be brewed and how they should be served.

We serve our 'in' teas in the tea pots and work to a specific time for brewing. As we serve it to the guest, we explain that it is a 1 pot serve, but you are welcome to have a fresh pot once done, so that we do not over extract the tea by it sitting in water too long.

We also tell them that the second cup will be even better than the first. Our guests really appreciate it, this little extra time to explain a great product and how to get the best out of it.

And, it tastes amazing, seriously, it is very, very good tea.

In this industry, people have been saying for a long, long time that tea is starting, or needs, to make a resurgence,and we believe that the Rare Tea Company is one of those that is finally and really leading the charge.

Ask us about it, we love it.



Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Bramley and Calvados muffins 2.00
Tomato and mozzerella savoury muffins 2.00
Lime friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Watercress and salmon

French retro baguettes 4.70
Roast ham with gherkin, guyere, apple butter and spinach
Pears with onion jam, brie and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Smoked salmon with aioli, red onions, capers, rocket and dill
Tomato, roast courgette, peppers, mozzarella, oregano mayo and spinach

Salads 4.90/5.90
Poached chicken, pickled melon rind, walnut and olive dumplings and feta
Roast beetroot with horseradish, orange soured cream and rocket
Edamame in a hot and sour dressing

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Corn bread with slow roast tomato and caper sauce

Week beginning March 19th - Nothing to read here, (except the menu) move along

Hello, bit behind this week (see, how does Jamie keep up I do not know!), so here is the menu for this week.

Next week back on track with news about the Rare Tea Lady.


Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Bramley and Calvados muffins 2.00
Tomato and mozzerella savoury muffins 2.00
Lime friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Cotechino and curly kale

French retro baguettes 4.70
Roast ham with gherkin, guyere, apple butter and spinach
Roast beef with Carmen pears, cardamom mayo, red onion and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Glazed sweet potato with brie, spring onion and spinach
Harissa with tomato, rocket, mature cheddar and red onion

Salads 4.90/5.90
Smoked salmon with kiwi, baby spinach, kecap manis and strawberry/pepper dressing
Roast cauliflower with caper dressing
Poached chantenay carrots with fresh peas and spiced flaked almonds

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Savoury Rabarberkage Tart

Week beginning March 12th - Jamie Oliver

News this week that Jamie Oliver has snapped back at a reporter in Australia when she asked about his recent 'weight gain', and then recent pictures of him looking shall we say ' a bit worn out', and perhaps a bit heavier(but who knows in this day of doctored photos) have made me write this.

All I wish to say is that I am fascinated by the man and what he has achieved and I have a lot of respect for that. All my life I have worked in hospitality and am now 42 years old, I have one business and one concession and one two year old and a very very loving and supportive wife.

He has goodness knows how many businesses, tv programs, books, endorsements and amazingly of all, four children, at the age of 36. I just find it incredible. I am sure he has loads of help in achieving all this, nannies, P.A's, cooks, cleaners, managers, accountants etc etc, but just to be able to employ, keep, motivate and inspire all those people alone is a major job. Read last weeks blog on recruiting and keeping good staff for an outline.

Now I don't know him, never met him, but I'm exhausted with what I am so very lucky to have, so I can only just begin to imagine how he feels.

Some people may think that having a cafe (or Jamie Oliver's life) is 'living the dream', it is, it's amazing, I am very, very lucky but it is not just a dream, it is very, very hard work.

Personally, I credit Jamie (as well as a lot of others) with how amazing the food industry is these days in the UK, it is fantastic, we must be truly grateful. I hope that he and others like him will continue to push good, simple cooking, greater food knowledge and a passion for hospitality and excellent service in the UK and across the world.

I mean, who would't want that? Good on you Jamie, I hope you continue.

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Ugli fruit with cardamom and chocolate muffins 2.00
Manchego cheese with linseed and dates savoury muffins 2.00
Lime friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Spring Onion and Pea

French retro baguettes 4.70
Bufala mozzarella with tomato, spinach and salsa verde
Pancetta, green olives, melon mayonnaise, figs and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Italian roast ham with poached cape gooseberry, brie, tarragon, rocket
Mushrooms, welsh rarebit and spinach

Salads 4.90/5.90
Prawn with red grapefruit, avocado, spinach and nutmeg & cherry brandy
Tofu with kim chee, radish, soya bean sprouts
Roast potato, red peppers, onion, courgette and oregano dressing

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Chicory, pear and gorgonzola

Week beginning March 3rd - Ashlea

We wish we had found her earlier in her two years here in the UK, but hey, we are lucky to have had her here for the past six months or so. One of our fabulous staff members, Ashlea, is leaving next week to go back to Australia.

If you know our store, you may recognise Ash as being the rather tall young lady working behind the espresso machine, but also making herself very useful on the till, the floor, and at our concession at Lend Lease.

Recent twitterings have stated about the fact that it is hard to find great baristas at the moment, and yes, that can and it will be the case. There are a lot of new openings in the cafe world at the moment and not just good baristas, but good staff are in demand.

But, this is a problem across all areas of hospitality and has been forever. I imagine it is a problem in almost every industry. Recruiting, training and keeping great staff who have passion, enthusiasm, skill and commitment.

At Kaffeine we are extremely grateful for the staff that work for us who have that passion, enthusiasm and commitment, but what is even greater satisfaction for me, is the knowledge that people like Ashlea will continue to grow and be successful and be a great asset to any of her employers for the rest of her career.

If anyone in Melbourne is reading this, look out for her. I suggest you employ her as soon as possible. Good luck Ash, we will miss you.

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Plum and brandy muffins 2.00
Conference Pear and Blue Cheese muffins 2.00
Passionfruit friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Celeriac and Parmesan

French retro baguettes 4.70
Roast duck with clementine mayo, red onion, spinach and grilled peppers
Aubergine, sweet chilli, goats cheese and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Coppa cotta with figs, pecorino, honey and mustard mayo, gherkin and rocket
Plum tomato with olive tapenade, parmesan butter, spinach and capers

Salads 4.90/5.90
Squid cooked in potato flour with chilli, toasted almonds, red onion, lime & garlic mayo & baby spinach
Purple sprouting broccoli with pancetta and anchovies dressing
Honeydew, rocket, pickled ginger, toasted peppercorns and coconut & coriander dressing

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Tomato, onion, apple and cheddar

Week beginning February 27th - Can I bring my own?

So what do you do? You are running an independent business, one which your family relies on to make ends meet, one on which your employees rely on to provide them with a wage and a good place to work.

You are very proud of your products, your company, your branding and your staff and rightly so, a lot of hard hard work has gone into it. Your staff are proud to work for you, and equally proud of the products they serve and the place they work.

Then, a customer brings into your store, another coffee, or tea, or food, from another business, perhaps a chain store, and promptly sits down and starts to eat or drink it. Sometimes they are meeting someone else and have 'just happened' to have bought that drink on the way. Other times it is a blatant 'let's eat my lunch here as well while I have a coffee'.

We see this is being a bit funny really, the cheek of some people, while some of our customers who do it have a bit of an embarrassed laugh and ask us to throw it out. 'Ha ha, oops, yes it's a Costa, yes please throw it out'

We deal with it in two main ways. Firstly, I'm sorry, but it's not allowed. I mean seriously. If I was to take my own lunch or bottle of wine into our esteemed and respected friends across the road at Riding House Cafe, or any reputable establishment for that matter, and sit down and eat/drink it, I'm sure they would be the same. Like...'What is he doing??'

We are, as we always try to be, polite and respectful to the customer. If they have met someone else who has bought one of our drinks, we will ask politely if the person will kindly empty their drink into one of our own branded cups and then they are fine to continue with their meeting.

If they have brought their own food, then I am sorry but I must ask you to pack that away and eat it elsewhere.

We do not try to embarrass, we do not belittle and we do not try to offend. Twenty five years of experience in dealing with customers in hospitality comes to the fore as well as staff trained how to deal with the situation. However, there is no way that you are going to sit in our cafe, in our business with another branded cup of of coffee or your own lunch and think it's okay. We will approach you and ask you politely to either remove the said item, or continue on your way. I think that's fair, don't you?

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.70
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.30
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.50
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.70
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.70
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.30
Banana Bread 2.20


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.70
Pain au chocolat 2.30
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Lemon curd and cream cheese muffins 2.00
French onion and cheese muffins 2.00
Passionfruit friands 2.00
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.30
White chocolate blondies 2.30
Portuguese tarts 1.90
ANZAC cookies 1.70
Afgan biscuits 1.70
Lamingtons (Thurs/Fri/Sat only) 2.50

Lunch

Soup 3.70 or 4.20
Spiced carrot, chilli and coriander

French retro baguettes 4.70
Pancetta, apricots, brie and spinach
Aubergine, sweet chilli, goats cheese and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.90
Ham, white bean and sage sauce, gruyere, pommery and spinach
Plum tomato with oregano, roasted chillies, mozzarella and rocket

Salads 4.90/5.90
Crab, pomelo, kohlrahbi, pickled horseradish, frisee & parsley & lemon dressing
Sharon fruit with gherkins, parmesan, red onion and mustard dressing
Roasted sweet potato with yellow curry dressing and coriander

Tart 4.00 or 6.90 with salad
Red onion tarte tatin

Week beginning February 20th - The blackboard of knowledge

The blackboard of knowledge is what is has come to be known as, our A frame blackboard outside that we use not just to advertise our wares, but to try to make someones day as they walk past, or, to attract attention in some sort of abstract, out there way.

I started off by downloading about ten pages of coffee quotes from the internet, everything from Seinfeld to Napoleon to Star Trek. We could not use all of them, as there may not have been enough space, or we just did not like them.

As time has gone on, we got a bit more inventive, and basically made things up that, for example, if a certain famous person came in, what might they say in relation to coffee, or we go off by misquoting a famous line from a movie.

People stop and take photos, others stop, look and then come in, others have actually asked, 'who comes up with all your stuff?'

We try very hard to not be repetitive, some places I know have the same thing every day (their menu), others follow a same theme. Our goal is to add a bit of personality and thought into what we do with it, and to perhaps make people think. On top of the ten internet pages, we know have about three pages of our own quotes to use and we come up with different stuff all the time. We find it a lot easier to come up with stuff after work at 7 pm, rather than before work at 7 in the morning.

I find myself thinking of ones at all different times, on the tube, watching tv, reading books to my daughter, so I put them in my phone straight away otherwise I forget.

Here are some of our favorites.

"She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories"
(this had a number of people come in and say, fantastic, I will sing this all day now)

"You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge"
(opening line from Straight outta Compton by NWA - used to try and show that we are the street, but others (chains?), are not)

I only love you because you make good coffee

Oh help, oh no, it's a piccolo

If I promise to make you great coffee will you love me forever

On a hot summers night, will you offer your throat to the wolf with the iced coffee
(Meatloaf, Bat out of Hell)

Local evacuation point

Sticks and stones will break my bones but coffee will never hurt me

And on the first day He made coffee

Let's get out of these wet clothes and into a dry cappuccino
(James Bond)

You'll always find us making coffee at parties
(IKEA advert)

Nobody puts coffee in the corner
(obviously, Dirty Dancing)

If you have any good ones, please let us know, get your saying up in lights....

And with that we say thank you, please enjoy our menu for this week.

Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Yellow Plum muffins 1.80
Courgette and Cheese muffins 1.80
Passionfruit friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Ribollita (Tuscan bean soup)

French retro baguettes 4.50
Manchego with pear, aioli, tomato and basil
Ham, gherkin, gruyere, dijon, red onion and spinach

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast aubergine and butternut with Salmoriglio and rocket
Roast Beef tomato and apple ketchup, aged cheddar and spinach

Salads 4.50/5.50
Roasted Vegetable salad with rocket and tomatoes
Pecorino with raw sprouts, celery and pancetta
Edamame with Chilli and sticky sesame

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Red onion tarte tatin

Week beginning February 13th - Rare Tea Lady

We are very happy this week to announce that we have begun a partnership with the Rare Tea Company to supply us with some of their wonderful loose leaf teas.

One of the big challenges we have is to be able to provide an amazing tea, that we are proud to serve, but also to be able to provide it is a takeaway format. We also want our customers to be able to experience a wonderful tea in the store so we have special teapots just right for the purpose.

We will be using special pouches for the takeaways and tea pots in house that we will portion the loose leaf tea each time.

Our first tea that we are serving will be the RAF blend tea, a good strong tea which was made specifically for the RAF and which Henrietta donates 10% of proceeds to the RAF itself.

More details will come about over the next few week as we bring in the blends. If you do come in, please ask our lead barista James about them, he is now as passionate about tea as he is about coffee.

We are very happy indeed.



Breakfast
Porridge - served w choices chopped dried fruit, muscovado sugar, golden syrup or honey 2.50
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 3.30
(add 30 p for granola or yoghurt)
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Ciabatta Roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.50
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.50
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.50
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cinnamon and raisin toast 2.00
Banana Bread 2.00


Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.20
Almond croissants 2.70

Baked Treats
Blueberry muffins 1.80
Tomato, herb and cheese muffins 1.80
Passionfruit friands 1.90
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch

Soup 3.50 or 4.00
Mushroom and Tarragon

French retro baguettes 4.50
Tomato, mozzarella, rocket and chimichurri
Ham, apple butter, gherkin, gruyere and spinach

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast chicken, apricot, brie, spinach
Aubergine, sweet chilli, goats cheese and rocket

Salads 4.50/5.50
Chicken Adobu with red rice, coriander and rocket
Roast kumara with yellow curry dressing
Blood Orange, feta, pomegranate, radicchio and poppy seeds

Tart 4.00 or 6.50 with salad
Fennel gratin