Kaffeine.

Kaffeine

The two-group machine came out and a three-group went in because Peter Dore-Smith wanted the wait from ordering to drinking held under four minutes.

Why go

For a bean relationship that has not moved in seventeen years. Kaffeine opened on Great Titchfield Street in August 2009 with two baristas, 1 chef and 1 part time service person (Peter Dore-Smith), pouring Square Mile, and Square Mile is what it still pours. That roastery was founded in 2008 by James Hoffmann and Anette Moldvaer, the 2007 World Barista Champion and World Cup Tasters Champion, so the supply line has competition credentials behind it rather than a delivery schedule.

The kit tells you what kind of operator he is. The shop opened with a 2 group Synesso Cyncra and Anfim Super Caimano grinder, and when waits started creeping up he refurbished and put in a 3 group Cyncra and Mazzer Robur-E which sped up speed of service, and kept wait times down to a maximum of 4 minutes from time of ordering to drinking (Square Mile). The kitchen writes a new menu every week; the one posted when this was checked was five days old and ran Wildfarmed sourdough with Estate Dairy cultured butter, filled croissants, and a pecan pesto and cheddar scroll they bake themselves.

Order this / avoid

• Order: an espresso, then whatever the week's menu has. The kitchen makes the peanut butter in house, and it is what survey reporters keep naming.
• Avoid: settling in. The seats are tight and the room is built to move people through.

What locals & experts say

• Harden's survey reporters, across four separate years, on whether it holds: So good that they keep up the high standards they set themselves over the years, and They still do some of the best coffee in London, with proper flavours.2 The same survey carries the complaint: It can be a bit of an awkward sit down but you can't have everything!
• Square Mile Coffee Roasters, on what Dore-Smith did before opening: he and his wife started what would end up being almost 2 years of R&D which finally lead them to Great Titchfield St in Fitzrovia.3 That is the roaster's own blog and unbylined, so it carries the roastery's voice.
• No chef has named it in the 622 rows of London industry recommendations held here.

Good to know

• Sites: two, both in Fitzrovia and five minutes apart. This page is 66 Great Titchfield Street W1W 7QJ, the original. The Eastcastle Street shop opened in March 2015, is larger, and writes its own weekly menu.
• Award: Best Independent Cafe in Europe at the Allegra Strategies European Coffee Awards, November 2010, presented at the European Coffee Symposium in Rome. Sixteen years old, and real.
• Also on offer: coffee classes, including one-to-one barista training, and catering delivered free in Fitzrovia and Soho.
• Timing: weekday daytime trade. No bookings.
• Hygiene: there is no FSA record for this premises, which is missing data rather than a finding.4

Verdict

should-visit — Peter Dore-Smith opened this on Great Titchfield Street in August 2009 with two baristas and one chef, pouring Square Mile, and he has poured Square Mile ever since. Square Mile was set up in 2008 by James Hoffmann and Anette Moldvaer, the 2007 World Barista Champion and World Cup Tasters Champion, so the bean relationship has a competition lineage behind it rather than a wholesale account. The detail worth knowing is what he did next: the two-group Synesso Cyncra came out and a three-group plus a Mazzer Robur-E went in, bought to hold waits to a maximum of four minutes from ordering to drinking. The kitchen rewrites its menu every week, and the version live when this was checked was five days old. Harden's reporters have surveyed it across four years and keep saying the same thing, that it does 'some of the best coffee in London, with proper flavours', while also warning that 'it can be a bit of an awkward sit down'. It won Best Independent Cafe in Europe at the Allegra awards in 2010, which is real and is sixteen years ago.