Nov 7, 2017
Kaffa Coffee.
Kaffa Coffee.
Kaffa Espresso Bar, Damansara Uptown.
- First Impression - 9/10
From the outside, the cafe looked really cool, hip and funky. I like the whole vintage American style going on. I like the interior deco and the general concept of this cafe. Also another earthy warm cafe. (seems like all cafes lately are built this way?)
- Ambience - 7/10
The mood of this cafe is nice, simple and relaxing. Soft music, better brighter light than some other cafes. However, this cafe is pretty small and it can be quite packed with no seats. To make up for lack of space, they have long tables which are pretty close to each other. I don't like sitting near to other people where you can practically be part of their conversation. The whole cafe concept is nice though, just too small for my liking.
Coffee experience
- Latte Taste - 6/10 The latte was weaker then what i would have liked. You could taste more milk than you can taste the coffee. It's smooth though, very smooth but not strong enough for a pick me up. Quite a mellow cup of coffee. Again, it comes with plain water which is a plus.
- Latte Art - 7/10
- Overall Experience
Minus the awful traffic outside, minus the terrible parking at the cafe, It can be a nice place to hang out. Best to come here during non-peak coffee hours. But I must point out that I didn't like the Latte cups at all... I know its meant to be cool, but it didn't do it for me. This cafe is a 50-50 for me. If i'm around the area, perhaps i'll drop by, but i wont make the trouble to come here to have a good cup of coffee.
Busy weekend!
Busy Green Street Coffee weekend! Tomorrow at 4pm we're meeting with Samuel Demisse of Kaffa Coffee, an Ethiopian importing company based in Maryland that sources some great tasting Ethiopian coffees. We're meeting up with Sammy then heading to Urban Outfitters at Jericho Cafe to do a cupping of his new crop Ardi. Shoud be rad! We've been sourcing coffee from him and glad he can come to Philly to share some more on his coffees! Next up on Saturday, we'll be at DiBruno Bros, sampling our Santa Elena El Sal and Tom is going to be dishing out cold brew to the masses! Finally, on Sunday Molly Dwyer, our interncoolperson, is going to sling whole bean bags, cold brew and hot coffee, hot coffee, at Creekside Coop in Elkins Park. It doesn't get more coffee filled than that for a weeked in July!
Never stop searching
I nearly thought it was all for naught this Monday, back on the coffee shop beat, searching for the perfect place to rest my feet and caffeinate my veins. I again trekked many miles: From Stamford Hill, to Clapton, to Hackney Wick and round the Olympic Park, then on to Homerton, Hackney Central, London Fields, Cambridge Heath, Bethnal Green, and finally from Shoreditch High Street back up to Dalston. It was another eight hours on my feet and I only found one coffee worth a damn (which was a lovely, flavoursome, just-about-perfect espresso from Venetia’s whilst sat in the mid-day sun on Chatsworth Road). I was starting to think there might simply not be enough worthwhile coffee shops to visit in London – an outcome I hadn’t even vaguely imagined to be possible.
Taking a break from the beans for a while, an exhaustive search through the bottom-rack crates in Wayside Community Centre Charity Shop, just a few doors down from Venetia’s, netted more lemons than gems, but the 50p paid for a Bobby Hughes instrumental remix of Phased by Santessa made me forget about my dirty knees and look forward to giving the tune a spin once home.
I covered a large part of southern Hackney in the afternoon, turning up little more of interest than the still further gentrified Broadway Market and a disappointing return to Brick Lane Coffee (certainly in need of a facelift). Some beetroot soup at the noteworthy Little Georgia Café provided the necessary fuel to keep on moving.
It always pays to keep your eyes and mind open as I made the final few steps home to N16 and noted a small black sign with green lettering, upon which it said “The only real coffee in London.” Clearly, I would have to investigate. Situated in the courtyard of Gillett Square, just off Kingsland High Street, is the tiny stall, Kaffa Coffee, named, I would learn, after the Kingdom of Kaffa in what is now Ethiopia and was the origin of Coffea arabica, which grows wild in the mountain rainforests. Marcus, a jovial man with 700 coffee trees planted back home on his family estate, ships the green beans to UK and roasts them himself on stovetop, although he declined to show allow me to assist next time he is roasting, for his method remains a highly-guarded family secret. From the vintage double boiler Gaggia machine, he draws me a long espresso in a pre-heated, handleless cup with an Ethiopian flag on the side. When he places it on the somewhat precarious-looking wooden counter, I immediately notice the greenish-brown crema and take a sip before deciding sugar would only distract from the experience. It was a very enjoyable cup it was indeed and I will be back – probably to again ask him for a job if not make a proposal for him to provide the beans for Digger’s Delight. At £1.20, this is the best value and best coffee of the day. You can come round on Saturday afternoons when they have a pre-clubbing BBQ and every Sunday the women come round to prepare coffee in the traditional Ethiopian way. It's right next to Vortex Jazz, so best to come extra early for the show and grab a coffee along the way.
And, fittingly, here's what Marcus was playing - Ethiopian jazz:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uwlEp1pmvg (Mulatu Astatke - Gubèlyé)