kaffeine

66 Great Titchfield St / Tube: Oxford Circus, Goodge St

Price: £12

Food:

Prawn, Mango, Tomato & Avocado Baguette (Toasted)
Banana Bread with Butter

Drink:

Flat White (Origin Coffee)
Flat White (House)

What we thought

We have been meaning to come here for a long time now, their strong reputation for consistently great food and of corse, coffee, makes this one of London’s finest and most sort after coffee meccas. Founded in 2009, Kaffeine has been at the forefront of the cities coffee and food boom over the last four years. This is a cafe that prides itself on ” excellent, professionally made espresso coffee and loose leaf teas, our seasonal, fresh food and baked items, and service standards that are based on genuine hospitality” and it delivers exactly that. The decor is what you expect, hanging lights and lots of wooden tables which evokes a Scandinavian vibe very simple but comfortable and easy on the eyes.

We took a seat in the window, and are shown the menu for the espressos that are available, this is something that we found unique to Kaffeine, it is rare that you get offered a menu offering a range of beans and origins. We decided to go for one of each, a guest single origin expresso from Sweden and the house Square Mile Red Brick. The single-origin blend was fruity and sweet, where the house blend was smokey with a really smooth finish. Luckily we both preferred our own, meaning no sharing for once! The one thing that we found frustrating was the water, which sounds petty I know. We ask for two glasses of tap water and they arrive in what could only be described as thimbles, two sips and it’s gone. Meaning at least three trips back and forth to the jug for a refreshment.

As always we were were feeling greedy and let temptation get the better of us, and ordered a couple of things from the food menu. We decided to share a baguette, we have always found that baguettes are a bit of a risk, if they have been sitting there all day, they become stale very quickly, like floury cardboard. They gave us the option to toast our baguette, so we took it, on reflexion we felt the option to toast bread was maybe an indication that this sandwich had been made first thing. The filling was prawns, tomatoes, avocado and mango, a little un-adventururous but still very pleasant. We also ordered a slice of banana bread, this was slightly crisp on the outside but rich and soft in the centre, this was served warm with butter and complimented the coffee beautifully. The portions were very generous and we left feeling very satisfied with our brunch.

Overall we really enjoyed our first experience of Kaffeine, the menu changes weekly and we will definitely be going back again. The coffee is by far the best we have ever had anywhere, let alone in London, they understand coffee but don’t shout about it, ending up with a perfectly modest and humble flat white.

Rating

Food: 7.5/10

Coffee: 9/10

Atmosphere: 8/10

Service: 7.5/10

Value: 7/10