Coffee Appreciation

food and cellular phones should be banned from public transport

They've already done away with booze. My god man, have you no heart?!

Little review of Kaffeine

they pour a really good espresso but,

Milk work is shabby - they are doing the milk at about 40 degrees, When I asked them they said they aim for 55 which in my experience they've never hit, I asked them to make it a bit hotter [about 55] this morning and the server didn't tell the barista. when I asked the barista to make it about 55 degrees that got translated to a 50% fill of a cup. I've not seen a single barista there touch the jug as they're foaming to gauge the temp.

bit shabby really which is a shame as they're using good beans [SM Winter espresso] and making good espresso but deffo not listening to what the customer wants

Think I'll give the Scandinavian Kitchen a go instead tommorrow

Try Tapped & Packed (I always thought it was called 26) on the corner of Percy Street & Rathbone Place. Not a connoisseur, but they seem to take great care of their coffee.

just picked up 2 bags from coffee man on delancey. lovely chap actually.

Even though coffee machines do make good coffee (I've got one, takes the recommended 15 - 20 secs pour time) any Italian family will use a stove pot to make their coffee. Then it's down to the quality of the coffee. As always, how you like your coffee to taste is down to personal preference.

Little review of Kaffeine

they pour a really good espresso but,

Milk work is shabby - they are doing the milk at about 40 degrees, When I asked them they said they aim for 55 which in my experience they've never hit, I asked them to make it a bit hotter [about 55] this morning and the server didn't tell the barista. when I asked the barista to make it about 55 degrees that got translated to a 50% fill of a cup. I've not seen a single barista there touch the jug as they're foaming to gauge the temp.

bit shabby really which is a shame as they're using good beans [SM Winter espresso] and making good espresso but deffo not listening to what the customer wants

Think I'll give the Scandinavian Kitchen a go instead tommorrow

TBH I always thought the coffee was better at Kaffeine - food and scandi sweets at Scandinavian Kitchen is awesome though!

Shame that you got a bad day - I always had excellent coffee there. I think Time Out voted it best central London coffee when it opened too.

it's happened a couple of times now Dan but to be fair I sent them an email this morning
[highlighting the positives as well as mentioning the milk] and I received an email from the owner a couple of hours later

Even though coffee machines do make good coffee (I've got one, takes the recommended 15 - 20 secs pour time) any Italian family will use a stove pot to make their coffee. Then it's down to the quality of the coffee. As always, how you like your coffee to taste is down to personal preference.

What is with the ongoing assumption that 'italian' = stylish, gourmet, etc?

It gets on my nerves no end- although not as much as the article I read (or perhaps it was a review of an espresso machine or something) that suggested espresso tasted better if you drank it standing up while wearing a 'gray business suit'.

Not a dig at you personally, btw.

And I'm not staying that italians don't make good coffee. I just want to see data. Lots of things tend to cost more because they're Italian, doesn't necessarily make them better. And you can't necessarily lump a nation together; there are conniseurs and those who don't care in any population.

I've had good coffee in Italy, I've had better coffee in London.

My sister lived in Naples for a few years. She was in London at Xmas and I sent her to try Notes for a good coffee. She texted to say she wasn't very impressed...

... that said, I'm pretty sure she'd prefer Starbucks.

and I received an email from the owner a couple of hours later

telling you to do one? ;)

I don't know much about making coffee but I do know quite a lot about drinking it, and the taste — some of the best coffee I've ever had is in Milan. I was there for 3 weeks on a work trip, and the average quality of coffee is so much higher there than the UK.

One thing I've noticed is that once you leave London, the standard plummets (with exceptions obv - I'm talking average here) - everyone else in the country seems to think coffee is like a brown milky soup. I'm regularly in Manchester and I send back 80% of the coffee I get there, it's abysmal

it's happened a couple of times now Dan but to be fair I sent them an email this morning
[highlighting the positives as well as mentioning the milk] and I received an email from the owner a couple of hours later

Good move sending that e-mail. As a coffee business which relies on its reputation for quality you want to know about it if somebody is disappointed. The old phrase 'If you enjoyed it, tell your friends. If not, tell us' definitely rings true.

My favourite livener is a macchiato in the morning. I've got to the point where I can get what I deem to be a great shot using a stove top and a grinder but I cannot think of a way to quickly, cheaply and efficiently get a spot of foamy milk.

Anyone got any ideas?

get one of those bodum plungy milk frothy things.. Not great but does foam, for about 30 seconds.

I prefer just a dash of hot milk if I'm at home. No point trying to fake it

One thing I've noticed is that once you leave London, the standard plummets (with exceptions obv - I'm talking average here) - everyone else in the country seems to think coffee is like a brown milky soup. I'm regularly in Manchester and I send back 80% of the coffee I get there, it's abysmal

Very true. If you can get out towards Gatley though, things are a changing.

http://www.wearecoffeefix.com/

Edit - uses Hasbean, and has a mobile unit too - discovered that at Macc Treacle Market one Sunday.

anyone have tried these?

Hah, no, but I do have some dirty cheap Malaysian coffee at home. Meant to post some pictures - it's like drinking tar

the coffee in italy isn't all that.
there's great coffee and there's poor coffee just like over here.
they do use a fair bit of cheaper robusta beans though.

It gets on my nerves no end- although not as much as the article I read (or perhaps it was a review of an espresso machine or something) that suggested espresso tasted better if you drank it standing up while wearing a 'gray business suit'.

My feeling is that coffee is best consumed strong (ie. espresso) on a patio in Italy in full team kit.

Kopi Luwak is indonesian. coffee beans taken from luwak (kinda mongoose) shit, literally. in some countries they are sold up to 700 quid per bean... YES for a single bean

Yummy.

Just seen a McDonald's advert in which the phrase "here's to good coffee" was used.