Monday 29 July 2013

Week beginning July 29th - Emergency, emergency

Two of our regular and very lovely customers, who are residents to the area, were in recently and sitting on what is known as table five. This table is in line with the espresso machine and is perfect for doing what I intended it to do, allowing the customer (if they wish) to watch the staff in action at the same height. From this table you can sit with your back to the wall, watch the flow of customers entering, deciding on food, paying and collecting their coffee and then leaving or taking a seat.

You can also watch the baristas pouring the milk, doing the dishes and interacting, the floor staff taking orders and using the till and the general ebb and flow of a busy cafe where, when you are being smashed at 9 am, serving a customer every 10 seconds or so and all staff know their place and their jobs and there is a connection, a knowing, a feeling and an understanding amongst all staff of what needs to be done, how to do it and how to do it efficiently, professionally, without any fuss or often any words and most importantly, as a team and it all works and it is beautiful.

One of these customers is a doctor, and he commented after the 30 minutes that they were sitting watching, how well the team all work together under such pressure, in fact he related us to being as professional as any other medical team he had ever seen. Quite a compliment, we were very flattered, as this is what we strive for and is one of the joys of hospitality.

But what happens when something goes wrong? This, I believe, is the true test of any great team, leader and staff. When you are in the middle of a flow and something breaks and with a minimum of fuss, all is fixed and you are back on track again. How do you train staff for this? How do you train yourself? Most of the time it is over several problems that the same thing might happen and you get used to it. Possibly it comes down to training your managers as part of their induction. What is important is that as much as possible, no-one panics and the problem is fixed as soon as possible.

Here is a list of things that could go wrong at any one time in a cafe:

The power goes out completely in the whole street
The power goes out just to your store
The power goes off to the espresso machine only
The water goes off completely in the whole street
The espresso machine loses steam pressure
The espresso machine 'turns itself off'
The grinder stops working
The espresso machine pump stops working
The Reverse Osmosis water system stops working
The pump on the RO unit nstops working
Water comes flooding out of the pipes under the espresso machine
Water comes flooding out from underneath the dishwasher
The dishwasher stops working
The sink tap breaks
The till (we use an Ipad with an app as a software program) stops working or crashes
The chef in the kitchen below comes upstairs and says 'ah, there's brown water coming through the ceiling' (this will be coffee water and is not so bad)
The sewer pipes block and overflows (this is bad)


Last week I wrote about the cricket. On the Sunday, two of our baristas, Claire and Jess, did 300 espresso drinks in 150 minutes. They kept up, but the grinder did not. It simply overheated and said 'that's it, I've had enough, I'm stopping'. So Claire, as dockets are flying out of the printer, purged the last of the decaf in the decaf grinder, swapped the hopper over directly from the espresso grinder and kept going. It took about 30 seconds and the customers in the line watched with amazement. I did not even know till after the rush. 'So yeah Peter, the grinder stopped working but I fixed it.'

Once, we had a gentleman on an interview for a barista. Nick was 6 foot 8, so he made an impression when he arrived. He made it past the 1st stage interview to the 'let's get you on the machine stage'. I handed him over to James 'Obi Wan' Broadhurst, our lead barista and Nick's first touch was the grinder, which promptly stopped working. James jumped in and within a minute had the espresso changed over to the decaf and we were off again. Imagine your first touch in an interview you break something! It was a funny story later after he got the job.

Occasionally the pipes under the machine clog up and water will flood out of the drip tray. For this we have to stop everything, take the right hand side off the machine and usually clean the pipes out. James was the master at this, it could be done so quickly and efficiently no-one even noticed. Last week this did not work and we had to pull out the milk fridge, take off the entire drain hose and unblock it in the sink. We were out of action for about ten minutes.

When the till goes down, it is straight onto manual dockets, hand written, that we keep in a drawer downstairs. If the espresso machine loses power, there are a list of checks to do first.
Check if it's actually on
Check the switch at the power board
Check the fuses
Call Square Mile Coffee (we used to call them first - 'OMG the machine has stopped!', 'Is it on?' 'Oh, no, sorry')

It makes it all fun, and getting things fixed straight away is great, a wonderful satisfaction that you fixed it yourself. Eventually, you know to stop panicking and work methodically and with a thought process that is logical and simple and clear. And no-one even notices. Well, at least we hope not.

We hope you enjoy the weeks menu, as we have enjoyed putting it together for 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: Apricot and almond 2.40
Savoury Scone: Puttanesca 2.40
Chocolate and passion fruit 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
Ham, melilot mayonnaise, golden kiwi, gruyere, rocket
Mozzarella, aioli, plum tomato, spinach

Foccacias 5.00
Chorizo, roasted red onion, courgette, brie, pesto and spinach
Roasted aubergine, sweet chilli, thai basil, goats cheese and rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.50
Hot smoked salmon, mouli, carrot, red onion, celery, cabbage, sea rocket
Roasted candy striped beetroot with dill and horseradish soured cream, and wild pea flowers.
Peach, golden samphire, fennel, toasted almond with red wine vinegar dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Chicken and wild cherry on pumpernickel pastry

Thursday 25 July 2013

Week beginning July 22nd - Cricket update - Our dreams almost came through

It came down to the final over of the Sunday, the fourth day of a five day Test, the busiest Test Lord's had ever experienced, to see whether we would be back there on the Monday. We really did not want to be. It had been a long four days already, and Australia had one wicket left to lose, so we could have come back for nothing. But we did not, we finished up and were home by 9 pm. Nice.

Now of course IF Australia had put up a good fight we could have been back on the Monday, and IF the game was in the balance, as it was at Trent Bridge and IF both teams had a chance of winning but England had the best chance and there was a full days play guaranteed, and it was 33 degrees (it was) and at 10 am the announcement came that Princess Kate was in labour (it did) and a baby was expected today and then late afternoon England won and the baby was born and the crowd went wild and we all showered in Pimms and Champagne at the greatest cricket ground in the world at 6 pm on a hot Monday night...If that had all happened then well that would have been proper amazing. But it didn't, England won and we all went home on the Sunday. Oh well.

No, I do not really support Australia any more. I think England deserve to win, and really, this is where I live, run a business and raise my family and my son and daughter will be considered English, just as my wife is considered Australian even though her parents are from Malta.

And seriously, you cannot get any better atmosphere than a winning England on a summers day. Brilliant.

Our dreams did not quite come true, but it was what we were hoping for. Either way, the Test match at Lords was the most successful ever for the Club and also the most successful ever for us. We made over 1000 drinks each day, 85% of those were made in the first 2.5 hours of each morning. The club blessed us by opening the gates 30 minutes earlier so that gave us more time to serve customers. For those who work in coffee, this is what we had on espresso - a 2 group Linea and 2 Anfim Caimanos, one of them with a digital timer for espresso.

We were busy every day, but on the Sunday the two baristas, Claire and Jess, made 300 espresso drinks in 2.5 hours. That is one every 30 seconds. It was the most intense two hours ever. It was so intense, that in the middle of service the espresso grinder stopped working as it was too hot and overworked. Claire simply swapped the hopper over with our decaf grinder which luckily was empty and continued on (more on this next week).

We even had a special visitor on the Thursday, not quite in our area but just across the drive is where the Queen parked up her car as she went in for morning tea in the Members Pavilion. She did not pop in for coffee, nor did anyone from the club send out for some to be delivered to her. I have met her before so I'm sure she would recognise me.




However, the Australian team did hear about us and the head of security came down each day to get deliveries. The girls got a shirt and a cap and I was lucky enough to get a team signed floppy hat. We also sent up coffees and ANZACS to the BBC Test Match Special broadcasters in the media centre, which is pretty cool to be able to do that as well, and get a mention on the radio in the afternoon on the Friday.

But now it is back to reality. we have a special on Royal Lamingtons, to commemorate the birth of Prince George as well, 3 days only, get in quick. Please enjoy the menu, as we have enjoyed putting it together for 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: Strawberry daiquiri 2.40
Savoury Scone: Red pepper and feta 2.40
Chocolate and passion fruit 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
Smoked salmon, lime cheese, cucumber, thai basil, spinach
Hummus, grated raw carrot, red onion, rocket, sprouts

Foccacias 5.00
Ham, fresh raspberries, mature cheddar, rocket
Herb and garlic ricotta, red onion, pine nuts, spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.50
Sea aster cooked in brown butter and white wine, capers, water celery and dried red dulse baked salmon
Cantaloupe, pancetta, toasted fennel seeds, chicory, sambuca dressing
Common purslane, fat hen, cucumber, avocado, mint and satay dressing.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Raw layered kohlrabi with lemon and parsley goats curd

Thursday 18 July 2013

Week beginning July 15th - The #Ashes #soexcited

We've got 100 kilos of espresso, a 2 group La Marzocco Linea, 3 grinders, 5000 cups, it's 30 degrees and we will be wearing sunglasses.

So starts our week this week as we prepare for one of the most famous sporting events in the world, the Ashes at Lord's Cricket Ground. Some of you may already known that prior to Kaffeine I was one of the key staff members of the catering department and since 2011, we have been serving espresso coffee and filter to the patrons of the Veuve Cliquot champagne and seafood area, in the Harris Gardens.

The last Ashes in 2009 was my last game there, as 4 weeks later we opened Kaffeine, so this game in particular is very important to me and very, very exciting. We cannot wait.

We set up on Wednesday, leaving Kaffeine in two minibus taxis with all our equipment, are set and ready by midday when we run through a few coffees to test the equipment and look after the wonderful chefs and kitchen porters in our area. Back to Kaffeine for some more office work and normal day to day stuff, then Thursday morning we are back at the ground at 7 am for a 9 am gates opening.

By 11 am when the first ball is delivered, we should have done about 90 litres of filter and 300 espresso drinks and then we go onto lunch service with 150 covers booked in for the restaurant. Two girls, Jess and our manager Claire smash out the espresso and I work with the M.C.C. staff out the back on the filter coffee.

This year we will also be selling iced coffees and ANZACS and hope to be able to drop some off to the boys in the dressing room, as we did in the first Test with New Zealand. Exciting times? Yes indeed,and we are going to be loving every minute of it.

Check our twitter feed for details and updates @kaffeinelondon

PS AS it is so hot this week, we have a 'raw' menu on for you. It reduces the heat in the kitchen and the cafe and tastes absolutely delicious.

Please enjoy.

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: Rose petals and raspberry 2.40
Savoury Scone: Vegemite and cheese 2.40
Salted caramel and chocolate 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
Ham, dijon, gherkin, red onion, gruyere, rocket
Pear, basil pesto, Camembert, spinach,  

Foccacias 5.00
Smoked salmon, aioli, red onion, dill, capers, spinach
Pancetta, goats curd mayonnaise, tomato, oregano, rocket,


Salads: 5.50/6.50
Smoked salmon, orpine, English affilia, kohlrabi, lychee, with a brie and lime dressing
Shredded hogweed buds, Gorgonzola, crow garlic bulbs, pumpkin seeds, common purslane.
Raw purple and orange cauliflower, peanuts, chilli and fish sauce.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Raw vegan lasagne

Week beginning July 8th - Just the menu this week

Rather behind with cricket planning and a few hours on the floor, so just the menu this week.

Please enjoy.

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: Gooseberry 2.40
Savoury Scone: Goats cheese, sweet chilli and lemon verbena 2.40
Salted caramel and chocolate 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, tomato, avocado, aioli and rocket
Roasted courgette, crushed peas, tomato mayonnaise, red onion and spinach

Foccacias 5.00
Ham, white nectarine, mature cheddar, onion jam and spinach
Aubergine, goats cheese, sweet chilli, thai basil, rocket
Salads: 5.50/6.50
Slow cooked beef with roasted courgettes, peppers, Cornish potatoes, gruyere crisps, wild fennel stems, wild cabbage seed pods and saffron soured cream
Smoked mozzarella, watermelon, pickled almonds, red onion, tree mallow cheese with a pommery mustard and honey dressing
Raw cauliflower with ramson capers and lemon

Tart: 4.40 or 7.50 with salad
Prawn mousse with lemon and chilli marmalade in peanut pastry