Tuesday 6 December 2016

Week beginning December 5th - Sam 'Boni' Boniface - Lead Barista - Kaffeine Legend

It has been a month since he left, in fact it took a while to get him to leave, as he kept coming back to cover shifts or to do more classes just after his actual real final day. He was meant to finish up at 4 pm on a Friday afternoon (we try to get finishing people to finish at 4, so they do not have to close) but another staff member was ill and had to go home, so on his last day he stayed back and closed the machine. Then a few more shifts over the next few weeks to help us cover staff, and a few more classes as and when required until his plane left a few weeks later to go for an extended holiday back home.

But that is Sam. Sam 'Boni' Boniface. Originally from NZ, with a German passport so he can stay in the UK or EU and a great talent at making coffee and a real desire to work hard, please everybody and just be a general all round nice person.

Sam worked for Kaffeine for just over two years first as a barista then as senior barista and since April 2015, as Lead Barista of Great Titchfield street. He also ran the cricket for us over two seasons, leading the operations there for the major matches of the seasons in 2015 and 2016 as well as leading the very popular latte art and one on one classes that we offer.

However, there is only so much Kaffeine can offer an employee and Sam has chosen to follow his coffee career still in London, but with another company that will see him involved in roasting and all the components that come with that.

The good thing is he will still be in London, and hopefully we can still catch up and talk business and hopefully play golf (he's off a 2 handicap).

Sam, you worked over a great period of time in Kaffeine history and have worked with some amazing people, who I hope will remain your friends for a long time to come. You deserve the best because you strive to be the best, well done mate, well done indeed. You will be sorely missed.

I asked him to write about his time at Kaffeine, and below is his unadulterated version of what it is like to be a lead barista in a busy cafe.



Life as a Lead Barista at Kaffeine

Whilst I was in New York finishing up my travels through America, I applied for a barista position at Kaffeine and had landed an interview the day after my arrival to London. "Fresh off the boat…" as Peter would often refer to it. Researching Kaffeine I learnt that standards and expectations were very high. At the time I still had no idea about Kaffeines 'legendary' status amongst the London coffee scene or anything about the London coffee scene all together. My coffee knowledge was fairly substantial, I had learnt how to make coffee quickly but not to this level of precision. Shortly after a trial shift I was offered a barista position and at this point I knew I had to work extremely hard to prove my worth amongst a highly efficient, skilful and accomplished team.

I quickly realised that there was a thriving coffee scene in London that has been establishing itself for over the last decade. Cameron McLure is a New Zealander who founded and co-owned one of London's first artisan coffee shops that opened in 2005 and is located on Berwick Street, 'Old' Soho. It sits amongst the bustling and vibrant street vendors, fabric stores and vinyl shops. Flat White was sharing an antipodean cafe culture with London that remains iconic today and has spurred inspiration that resulted in a substantial growth of independent and speciality coffee shops in central London.

This is one place that helped to spark imagination for Peter Dore-Smith and undoubtedly led to the opening of Kaffeine in 2009. Between that time, a couple of very well known champions developed a coffee roastery named Square Mile that is supplying London with some of the best coffee on the market. For more than seven years Kaffeine has been serving Square Mile's signature blend called Red Brick which is comprised of a seasonal selection of coffees that have been very carefully put together to create an espresso that is robust with milk and delicious on it's own. The hunt for a decent cup of coffee was beginning to change, however, the next important task was learning how to brew coffee properly in order to fully showcase the beauty of this exotic ingredient.

Baristas and roasters are constantly developing and refining their techniques to get the most out of their product. The versatile nature of coffee is well understood now and this allows coffee makers to pursue flavour in coffee and find creative ways of achieving that.

By the time I had started working at Kaffeine (July, 2014); the efficiency of making coffee, the processes that helped maintain machinery and the revision of extraction ratios had already been done. There where many cafes for me to visit and more due to open. To me it seemed like the industry had hit a boom and It almost felt like I had missed it, so there was a lot for me to catch up on. It took me about 5 months to learn the job properly and a lot of patience from my colleagues was necessary. However that 'true blue' Kiwi work ethic installed within allowed me to see through my first promotion. I was enjoying the challenge of working at Kaffeine and living the London life. There was a camaraderie and banter behind the bar that helped to alleviate some of the stress and pressure of the job and created a more anthemic environment to work in. This environment provides that high level of barista theatre required when handling competently crafted coffee. 

A key element in any hospitality or coffee establishment today is to keep developing with time. I am still learning how quickly trends can shape the direction of the industry, whether it be the use of new equipment or a new method of brewing. Bulletproof had established itself by creating an interesting way to drink coffee. Combining espresso and "Brain Octane oil" (grass-fed butter) providing a slow release of caffeine in to the blood stream and seemed appealing to the market. Now you can buy a turmeric latte or a pumpkin-nitro latte. You can have your coffee with soy milk; almond, rice or oat milk… It is quite extraordinary and a little bit overwhelming for a business owner to decide what or not to sell. One of the more important changes that Kaffeine has adopted recently is a guest espresso program. It seems very worthwhile since there is opportunity for every stage in coffee production. There is a lot of incredibly roasted coffee on the market that has been fairly sourced either by the roastery or reliable traders. This level of traceability is valued by the roaster, barista also many of today's consumer and even more so by the producer of the coffee. It makes every stage of the process distinct and very important and It is this traceability that has helped to govern the quality of the final beverage. 

It wasn't long after my first promotion that I received the duty of Lead Barista and teaching coffee classes at Kaffeine. This was a wonderful opportunity to revise what I had learnt from fellow professionals and also build confidence in myself to deliver a teaching program that clients felt was well worth while. As much as I found teaching hugely rewarding, balancing a Lead Barista and training position was intense and I'm sure most if not all previous LB's would feel the same way. The work load was high and the hours were long but I didn't expect anything different. There are copious amounts of responsibilities to learn and figure out, maintain and develop upon, everything on top of everything, as some days it felt like. And with out the help and support of some revered colleagues
the job would have been a lot harder. Arriving to work before sunrise and some days finishing two hours before midnight was quite often the reality of this job.

The following day may have been a seven-seven shift and so on until the next day off. However, personally, these challenges are what made this work so satisfying and for me the reward is experience, knowledge and self-assurance that I was able to learn, teach, manage and prosper in one of the most intense coffee jobs in London. 

A recollection I am particularly proud of was working at the Marylebone Cricket Club more commonly know as Lord's. This is a very prestigious venue in it's own right and growing up as a back yard cricket superstar this was a wonderful opportunity for me to spend some time at the 'home of Circket'. I was lucky enough to be taking through the Lord's Pavilion which is only accessible to MCC members during a test match and demands a strict dress code. It also features the players dressing rooms, honours boards and The Long Room described as "…the most evocative four walls in Cricket". It was my responsibility to get Kaffeine set up in the Harris Gardens and the Media Centre and this required a huge checklist of things essential for five days of coffee making, continuous on site management and extreme morning rush hours. 

During the Ashes test in 2015 coffee numbers in the Harris Gardens would hit 1000+ on a busy morning between 08:30am/ 11:30am. We would serve both batch brew filter coffee and espresso based coffee and during that five day test we would grind 95+ kilos of coffee. We would hit similar numbers in the 2016 international tests and ODI. There would be a pleasant 10-15 minuets each morning after our preparation for service where we would see spectators eagerly running to there seats before getting there morning coffee. The calm before the storm. These are fond memories for me and I must say a special thank you to Chloe Turner for her helping hand and running of the Media Center during this years busy Cricket season. 

I'd like to refer to an analogy and compare my experience of working at Kaffeine to that of a young chef who wants to run a restaurant; the road to success will be difficult and the first few years of the endeavour will be tough. At first you are a sponge soaking up knowledge and experience which might go on for years before you might become successful. Every job that needs doing for any purpose will need to be carried out with speed, caution and competence. Pedantry never made an interesting book but these principals will be very similar for any successful business and in order to achieve that each position or role in the business needs to have a level of importance. This occupation allowed me to gain a little bit of insight into what it will take to own something one day and the practical knowledge I walk away with is extremely valuable to me. Now I look forward to continuing on my own venture and perhaps create more healthy competition for Kaffeine in the future.

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Week beginning October 10th - #smackdown16 - The Finals

I was nervous, so I assume the competitors were nervous too, but who knows? Some openly showed it, some admitted it, some just cruised in, had a few pints of lager and said 'let's do this'. This year we were in the wonderful upstairs room at Square Mile with loads of space, easy access to the beer, lots of room for the DJ and the competitors and a Go-Pro camera set up over the table with projection onto a big screen so we could all see.

We started late, but we anticipated we would, as the last barista arrived at 7:45 but that just built up the tension and anticipation in the room. Our judges huddled around to discuss the finer points of latte art and the intricate rules of competition and when you look at the judging line up, it was hard not to be impressed or perhaps intimidated.

Glenn Watson - Lead Judge
James Bailey - Head of Quality at Workshop Coffee
James Hoffmann - Director of Square Mile, author of World Coffee Atlas, World Barista Champion 2007
Andrew Tolley - Director of Taylor Street Baristas, World Barista Judge, World Sensory Judge, 2nd Place World Tea Brewing Championships 2016
Gareth Jones - Head of Training - Square Mile Coffee
Ali Scott - Head of Wholesale - Square Mile Coffee
Dhan Tamang - UK Latte Art Champion 2014, 2015, 2016, currently ranked 4th in world
Dan Fellows - UK Barista Champion 2016, Head of Wholesale at Origin Coffee
Jeffrey Young - Director of Allegra Strategies and London Coffee Festival

MC legend Ross 'Browns of Brockley' Brown picked up the roving mic and we had very special guest DJ Billy Tahtis on the decks with old school and new school hip hop tunes getting everyone in the mood.

The top 16 competitors were:

Daniel from Kaffeine
Jakub from Prufrock
Julius from Second Shot
Wendy from Second Shot
Alex from Origin
Zain from Saint Espresso
Zoe from Prufrock
Nick from Coffee Lab
Jack from Origin
Tom from Store Street Espresso
Csaba from Chief Coffee
Paul from Origin
Sam from Kaffeine
Radu from Coopers Coffee
Joseph from Climpsons
Will from Origin

We stayed with the original format of two cups per barista, pouring at the table then choosing their best one, with left over Estate Dairy milk poured into a glass as part of the assessment process. The music was amazing, Ross built up the crowd and heckled the baristas and about 60 people crowded around to watch

Into the second round were:
Will from Origin
Radu from Coopers Coffee
Jack from Origin
Daniel from Kaffeine
Wendy from Second Shot
Alex from Origin
Paul from Origin
Zoe from Prufrock

Into round two we made it harder and it was one cup, one shot, one pour with barista against barista and we ended up with a final four, or a final three plus one, as three of the boys from Origin Coffee made it to the final four, against Wendy from Second Shot Coffee.

For the final four, we made it harder again, with the baristas steaming their milk at the same time on the machine, as our lead barista Paulina poured two cups of espresso. They then made their way to the table and poured at the same time in front of a cheering crowd.

This time, it was Will and Alex who made it through to the final, both Origin boys, whilst Paul and Wendy battled it out for third place.

The cash was laid out on the table with £150 for third, £350 for second and a massive £500 for for place and in a very tight contest, Paul came in third, leaving Will and Alex to battle for first place.

They poured, they put down their cups, the judges discussed and conversed and then at the very height of tension, this happened.



I did not see it happen, but word on the street is that a very high class, very much world class latte art champion knocked over one of the cups, the Go Pro camera and there was massive spillage before the judges even had the chance to decide. The choice was given between the competitors to go for the photo replay or to pour again and Will took the decision to pour again.

So here we were, another re-pour in the final of the Latte Art Smackdown reminiscent of last years re-pour between Nico Halliday and Dhan Tamang.

Finally, the judges decided and it was Alex who came through. A special note here..In one of the heats at 7:30 pm, as we were about to start, there was one spot available and Alex turned up and went in at the last minute, won through to the finals and then won the whole competition.

We ended with a 1, 2, 3 for Origin Coffee and in the final drama for the evening, when handing over trophy for third place just like a dropped baton in the 200 metre relay, the trophy slipped through hands and smashed onto the concrete floor.

Please can we say a very big thank you to all involved, to the competitors, to the judges, to the sponsors, to Square mile for hosting the final, to the MC and the DJ and to the Kaffeine staff who worked each event. Brilliant. Already looking forward to next year.

Once again, we have some great photos up online for your to see all the action so please check out these ones here and do share them across all your social media channels with #smackdown16.

The Final
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157674809499026/with/29550658963/

Round Four
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157674503223506

Round Three
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670935448013

Round Two
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670649014324

Round One
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157673553185596


Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine




Monday 3 October 2016

Week beginning October 3rd - #Smackdown16 - Round Four

It was the biggest crowd of the whole four weeks. There was seriously no more room at the inn as about 50 people crammed into Eastcastle street to watch the final heats and see who the final four would be to go to Square Mile on October 7th.

Unfortunately, two of our pre-planned judges could not make it on the night, but we were still honoured to be able to have lead judge and superstar photographer Glenn Watson and last minute saviour, the Director of Curators Coffee Catherine Seay in the mix and then I jumped in myself to be a judge and to put even more pressure on the competitors as well as MC'ing the evening.

We dropped the lights again, and kicked off with Faithless Live at the Brixton Academy for tunes. The atmosphere was electric, with cheap beer, free food, anticipation, excitement, 90's rave music nerves and good humour and we soon kicked off into the final round of 16.

In the end, these guys got through to the finals.

Daniel from Kaffeine
Jakub from Prufrock
Julius from Second Shot
Wendy from Second Shot

So this Friday we move over to the roastery at Square Mile for the finals with the top 16 baristas competing for prizes, cash and glory. We have an SCAE certification course as well as trophies donated by Victoria Arduino, coffee subscriptions from Square Mile, prizes from Coffee Hit and cash donations from London Coffee Festival and Estate Dairy, making the total cash prize pool £1000 to be split between the top 3.

Judges invited along for the evening include:

Glenn Watson - Lead judge four years in a row and superstar photographer
James Hoffman - Director of Square Mile and author of The World Coffee Atlas
Maxwell Colonna - Dashwood - Director of Colonna and Smalls Coffee, UK Barista Champion 2012, 2014, 2015 and author of Water for Coffee
Dhan Tamang - UK Latte Art Champion 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 - Currently 4th in the world
Dan Fellows - Origin Coffee - Current UK Barista Champion and curernetly 9th in the world
Andrew Tolley - Director Taylor Street Baristas, World Barista Judge, World Sensory Judge and runner up in the 2016 World Tea Brewing Championships
Phil 'Bassplayer' Wain - Editor of London's Best Coffee
Catherine Seay - Director of Curators Coffee and original Kaffeine barista
Paul Radin - Director of Coffee Hit
Shaun Young - Director of Noble Espresso and The Estate Dairy
James Phillips - Director of Dose Espresso
James 'I won the first year' Bailey - Head of Quality at Workshop and World Coffee Masters Champion 2015
Ben Townsend - Former Director of The Espresso Room and trainer at London School of Coffee

We will have legend Ross 'Browns of Brockley' Brown as main MC and very special guest DJ Billy Tahtis on the decks with old school and new school tunes.

Once again, we have some great photos up online for your to see all the action so please check out these ones here and do share them across all your social media channels with #smackdown16.

Round Four
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157674503223506

Round Three
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670935448013

Round Two
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670649014324

Round One
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157673553185596

Have a great week and if you are competing on Friday, please be sure to check in when you arrive.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine





Friday 30 September 2016

Week beginning September 26th - #Smackdown16 - Round Three

It was a bit of a late start on Friday as either people were running late or they were all at the pub next door getting beers in. However, just on 7:30 we had a full house again with people ramming into our Eastcastle street store to watch 16 brave and fearless baristas competing in Round Three to get into the finals.

We were honoured to have another incredible trio of judges for this round as lead judge and superstar photographer Glenn Watson kept everyone in line and he was joined by the current UK Barista Champion and ranked 9th barista in the world, Dan Fellows from Origin coffee alongside one of the originators of the London Coffee scene, former owner of The Espresso room and still heavily involved in the SCAE events and a trainer at the London School of Coffee, Ben Townsend.

So we started a bit late, but we dropped the lights and kicked off once again with Underworld Live at the Roundhouse for tunes. The standard was again very, very high and even though the judges are amongst the best in the world, they still had a mammoth task deciding, especially when it came to how to hold the cup when you are pouring. Watch out for this if you are competing, watch out for it general. If you are reading this and work in coffee, it was a great reminder tat part of your training program is to discuss and teach the how's and why's of how to hold a cup - no fingers on the rim!

In the end, after two intense rounds, these guys got through to the finals.

Alex from Originb
Zain from Saint Espresso
Zoe from Prufrock
Nick form Coffee Lab

This week we are again honoured with our judges as Glenn returns to be lead judge and is joined by a former manager of Workshop espresso, a barista at Noble espresso, a writer for Sprudge and the winner of #Smackdown16, Nico Halliday. As we write we do not yet have a third judge, but will have confirmation by the time we kick off.

Competitors this week include:

Daniel from Kaffeine
Edgar fromThe Attendant
Two mystery baristas from Curators
Pariwatan from Sodexho
Matt and Dan from Artigiano
Dan from Press London
Stephane from saint
Two mystery barista from Second Shot Coffee
Two mystery baristas from Prufrock
Kat - Freelance barista
Dan form Baxter Story


Once again, we have some great photos up online for your to see all the action so please check out these ones here and do share them across all your social media channels with #smackdown16.

Round Three
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670935448013

Round Two
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670649014324

Round One
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157673553185596

It is also a great indication of the depth of talent and number of baristas in London and across the Home Counties that we filled all 64 places a week before the heats started and still have 15 people in the waiting list in case of any drop outs.

Unfortunately 64 is the maximum number we can have to make it a short, sharp competition, so look out if you missed out for next September when #smackdown17 is on.

Have a great week and if you are competing on Friday, please be sure to check in when you arrive.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine






Tuesday 20 September 2016

Week beginning September 19th - #Smackdown16 - Round Two

Well we put all the beer in the fridge this time. There was no way were were gong to be caught out again. We weren't, but we just had enough as over 60 people crammed into Eastcastle street or even stood on the benches outside and watched through our wonderful arched windows.

We were honoured to have another stellar selection of judges for this round as lead judge and superstar photographer Glenn Watson kept everyone in line and he was joined by the author of the World Coffee Atlas, Director of Square Mile Coffee and 2007 World Barista Champion James Hoffmann. Unfortunately Director of Dose espresso and coffee legend James Phillips was unable to make it on the night, but we hope he can make it for the finals, instead were were able to bring in 4 times UK Latte Art Champion and currnently ranked 4th in the world and owner of three cafes and a training academy in Winchester, Dhan Tamang to be a guest judge.

In a sure sign of the commitment of some of the UK's baristas, we also had two of them drive four hours from Sheffield to compete, as well as a competitor from Oxford and others from Winchester. This is massive, and the quality of everyone was exemplary. Each year the standard gets higher and higher.

But we got started bang on time, so once again we killed the lights, dropped Faithless Live in Brixton for some tunes and kicked off. The standard was again very, very high and even though the judges are amongst the best in the world, they still had a difficult time and often different opinions on their choices

In the end, after two intense rounds, these guys got through to the finals.

Jack from Origin
Tom from Store Street Espresso
Csaba from Chief Coffee
Paul from Origin

This week we are again honoured with our judges as Glenn returns to be lead judge and is joined by one of the originators of the London Coffee industry when he opened The Espresso Room back in 2009, Ben Townsend alongside the head trainer of Origin Coffee and current UK Barista Champion Dan Fellows.

Competitors include:

Alex from Origin
Brenda from Department of Coffee
Shaun from Noble Espresso
Marco from The Attendant
Two mystery competitors from Curators - is Catherine competing?
Bartek from Store Street Espresso
Colina from Kaffeine
Zain from Saint Espresso
Johnathan from Terrone
Ben from Coffee Lab
Two mystery competitors from Prufrock
Nick from Coffee Lab
Joey from Upshot
Angelique from Cuisine de Poilane

Once again, we have some great photos up online for your to see all the action so please check out these ones here and do share them across all your social media channels with #smackdown16.

Round Two
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157670649014324

Round One
https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157673553185596

It is also a great indication of the depth of talent and number of baristas in London and across the Home Counties that we filled all 64 places a week before the heats started and still have 15 people in the waiting list in case of any drop outs.

Unfortunately 64 is the maximum number we can have to make it a short, sharp competition, so look out if you missed out for next September when #smackdown17 is on.

Have a great week and if you are competing on Friday, please be sure to check in when you arrive.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine







Saturday 10 September 2016

Week beginning September 12th- London Latte Art #Smackdown16 - Round One

So that was massive. The people cleared out, the room was empty and we went 'wow, so that was amazing'. The biggest crowd ever to come to a smackdown at Kaffeine rammed into our Eastcastle street store last night to cheer on their baristas as they battled for cash, prizes, an SCAE qualification course, huge trophies and never ending fame and glory.

We put 75 beers in the fridge in anticipation and after about 30 minutes we had run out and had to put more in the freezer for quick chilling. We killed the lights above the crowd, put on Underworld Live at the Roundhouse for tunes and kicked off. BOOM.

We were honoured to have lead judge and photographer Glenn Watson, World Barista Judge, Director of Taylor Street Baristas and World Tea Brewing Championship runner up Andrew Tolley and the editor of London's Best Coffee and 'superstar in his own mind' Phil 'Bassplayer' Wain as judges in what was also the highest calibre of latte art ever seen. With a superb prize pool donated form sponsors from Square Mile Coffee, Estate Dairy, Coffee Hit and Victoria Arduino it is no wonder.

Winners through to the finals from round 1 are:

Will from Origin
Sam from Kaffeine
Radu from Coopers Coffee
Joseph from Climpsons

This week we are honoured again to have Glenn back as lead judge, to be joined by Director of Square Mile Coffee, World Barista Champion and author of the World Coffee Atlas James Hoffman as well as one of the pioneers of the London coffee scene, founder and Director of Dose Espresso James Phillips.

Competitors in Round Two include:

Joao from Lab espresso
Jack from Origin
Paul from Origin
Luis from The Attendant
Sam from Upshot
Chloe from Kaffeine
Tom from Store Street
Jaspher form Oxford
Evan from Cuisine de Poilane
Chad form Chief Coffee
A mystery competitor from Notes - (might it be fabio himself?)
Tom from Overeasy
Katrina from Saint Espresso
and another mystery competitor from Climpsons

Photos from last night are already up on Flickr - check this out and remember #smackdown16 across all social media channels.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/getnoticed/albums/72157673553185596

I'm off to get more beers in. See you next Friday.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine












Sunday 28 August 2016

Week beginning August 29th - London Latte Art Smackdown 2016 #smackdown16

It is back again, now for  the fourth year and as per last year, there are a massive 64 places available. The London Latte Art Smackdown, sponsored by Square Mile, Coffee Hit, Victoria Arduino, The London Coffee Festival and Kaffeine, runs over five weeks starting with four rounds of heats from Friday the 9th of September at our new store on Eastcastle street and finishing with the final on Friday the 7th October in the event space at Square Mile Coffee Roasters. Yes, it is now on a Friday, hopefully allowing for a bit more of a sleep in/recovery on the Saturday morning.

It is pretty simple. 64 spaces, £10 entry, maximum of four entries per company, 16 entrants per heat, knock out rounds to get the top 4 to go through to the final, making another 16 competitors for the finals. Kick off is from 7:30 pm sharp each Friday night and we usually finish up about 9:30 pm.

The rules: They get tighter each year, but again we keep it simple.

A Kaffeine barista will be pouring double shots for you into 2 x 5 oz 'flat white' Acme cups.
You steam your milk and split your jugs.
You pour your preferred pattern, but we only allow rosettas, tulips or hearts.
Cup handle must be presented to the right of the judges, with the base of the pattern at 6 o'clock
You choose your best looking and presented drink and put it forward for consideration
You pour your left over milk into a glass to measure your 'wastage'
You remove your second drink.

The barista you are battling against then goes through the same process and the judges will then confer.

The judges, who include some of the complete legends of the London Coffee Scene are looking for:
Consistency
Colour
Symmetry
Dribbles (or lack of)
Milk wastage
Fullness of the cup
Formation of pattern
and many other things that they make up as they go along.

The judges, of which there are three, will then make a decision and on the count of three, point to the winning cup.

The winner goes through to the next round.

The prizes? Well all entry money goes into the pot, so that's £640. The Allegra London Coffee Festival have kindly put in £250, so that is £890 all up in cash. Last year Coffee Hit donated 1 x Baratza Grinder and a Rhino Hand grinder for 2nd and 3rd and Square Mile organised trophies and even more prizes, not to mention the glory and accolades and hopefully a bonus from your employer that comes with it. Along with this, Victoria Arduino will again be helping out with prizes, last year the winner Nico Halliday walked away with a single group espresso machine. NICE!!!

The judges confirmed so far include Dan Fellows (UK Barista Champion) from Origin, James Hoffman from Square Mile, Ben Townsend formerly of Espresso room, James Phillips from Dose, Andrew Tolley (World Barista Judge) from Taylor Street Baristas, former winners James Bailey of Workshop and Nico Halliday from Noble, multiple UK Latte Art Champion Dhan Tamang and lead judge for the fourth year, Glenn Watson.

Spaces are filling fast already, with most spaces on the first three heats already gone. To get involved, the best way is to come into our Eastcastle street and say 'I'm want to compete' and we will help you out.

At the heats, we will have light snacks for free and cheap beers available to purchase if you so desire and Square Mile are already in talks with one of London's iconic beer suppliers for the finals. Guests are welcome to watch and to support you on your way.

Also, it is not just limited to London baristas, anyone can enter. And seriously, every year now someone misses out on entering. Do not be late. Enter today.

Any queries, please email me direct. It's going to be brilliant, we look forward to seeing you.

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine