Kaffa Coffee
The beans come off a plantation in Kaffa, the Ethiopian province Markos Yared named the shop after and the one tradition credits as coffee's birthplace, and he roasts them on site in Gillett Square (Hackney Citizen, 2015).
Why go
Markos Yared started Kaffa in 2004 as a Camden stall and moved it to Dalston about four years later, running it with his wife Haile (Hackney Citizen). They serve the coffee the Ethiopian way, black and strong in a small cup with a flag in it, which is the correct format for a bean roasted dark on the premises. The food is a single vegan set plate: wot and alicha spooned onto injera, with rice and an avocado salad alongside. Jake Missing reviewed it for The Infatuation in July 2025 and found The stews are satisfying and the injera bouncy with a little zing
(The Infatuation). Twenty-plus years in, the operation is still one family, one hut and one square.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the set plate, and make sure the gomen is on it. Missing's line is
Every plate shimmers with beetroot and glows with wot.
2 Drink the coffee black, which is how it comes. - Avoid: arriving starving. The same review notes "portions here aren't as hulking as other Ethiopian spots."
What locals & experts say
- Hackney Citizen (28 January 2015): the shop
uses beans grown on a plantation in the Kaffa province and roasted on site in Gillett Square,
pouringa black, strong, rich coffee served in a small espresso cup with an Ethiopian flag.
1 - Jake Missing, The Infatuation (4 July 2025): on why it works as lunch,
you don't feel KO'd after eating a plate,
with the portion caveat above.2 - The Little London Vegan (July 2023): a 100% vegan, Ethiopian-owned kitchen that
serves up an assortment of Ethiopian dishes including stews, alicha, wot and gomen with rice, injera and salad,
at £8 takeaway and £9 to eat in.3 - Local rec: on Jeff's list, his words below.
Good to know
- Timing: nobody publishes hours for this counter and the business has no website. It runs as a daytime counter on Gillett Square; check @kaffacoffeedalston before a long trip.
- Booking: none taken. Walk up, order at the hut, sit on the benches outside.
- Price: £8 takeaway and £9 to sit in as of July 2023. Expect a little more now.
- The room: decking and benches on a public square, Ethiopian jazz, reggae and blues. Recorded as wheelchair accessible and dog friendly.
- Dietary: the kitchen is described as entirely vegan by two independent write-ups. No gluten-free claim is made by the venue, and injera outside Ethiopia is often cut with wheat flour, so ask if that matters to you.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 4, Hackney, last inspected 24 November 20234.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Ethiopian owned and run coffee and vegan food shop. Looks interesting." REAL.
Verdict
should-visit — Make the detour, because the coffee is cheap enough that the detour costs nothing. Green beans come from a plantation in Kaffa, the Ethiopian province that gave coffee its name, and the hut on Gillett Square roasts them, which is a shorter supply chain than almost any coffee bar in London can claim. Markos Yared has run it since 2004, and the kitchen puts out one vegan set plate of wot and alicha on injera for single figures. It is a set-menu counter rather than a kitchen with range, so it stays under a must-visit.