Kaffeine Legend - Catherine 'Cathosaurus' Seay - Opening Staff Member

When she applied for the position of barista in July 2009, I was struck by how professional her CV was, and I had seen a lot of CV’s in my time at Marylebone Cricket Club. When she interviewed she came across as someone who had immense pride in herself and in whatever she applied herself to.

When she started work here, in August 2009, and we went to Square Mile for training, she took notes, listened, asked questions and then went back to Kaffeine and put it all into practice.

Over the first month or so, she worked six days a week, making coffee, learning and growing, and providing service and hospitality to our few customers. When we invited certain customers to get behind the machine, she was patient and explained all about the coffee process to them so that they went away amazed at the passion and detail that goes into making great coffee.

When baby Layla was born six months after we opened, and I took 8 days off, she managed the shop and we had what was at that time, a record week. When new staff stated with us, she taught them all she knew and set the highest standards possible for every coffee to be perfect.

She took care of our Synesso machine, polishing and shining her, even calling her Nessie, and she took care and pride in everything else about the shop. When we were nominated for best cafe in Europe, she went to the conference and awards dinner in Rome, and went up on stage and collected the award.

And by the end, after we had grown from one barista working per day to three, she was teaching her own classes after work on espresso as well as home brewing methods and we had gone from 2 kilo of coffee of coffee per day to over 12.

It is with sadness that Catherine leaves Kaffeine, but we are happy as well, because we want her to progress and expand her career, whether it be in coffee or in any other profession. I am sure that whatever she does, she will be extremely successful.

Catherine (Cathosaurus) Seay.

August 2009 to November 2011

Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine Ltd
66 Great Titchfield st.
15 Eastcastle st.