Lords Cricket Ground - Season Two

For 3 and a half years I worked at the most prestigious cricket and sporting members clubs in the world, the M.C.C. at Lord’s Cricket Ground. For an Australian who grew up playing cricket in the front yard with my brothers, but not very well, it was a dream come true. As a hospitality career person, it was also a dream come true.

I was responsible for the recruitment of all the casual catering staff for all the major and minor matches, up to 600 on the busiest days, as well as all the functions held throughout the year. It was an amazing time, but, Kaffeine opened in 2009 and so luckily my career changed.

Last cricket season and again this season, we have had the opportunity to return to the ground for the major matches, to provide espresso and filter coffee in the premier outdoor dining area that is the Harris Gardens. Sponsored by Veuve Cliquot, it is a fantastic place to see and be seen, in the gardens, opposite the pavilion, listening to the jazz band playing when the cricket is on a break, eating, drinking and being very British.

It is also a great opportunity to have world class coffee at a world class venue. So this is what we do.

We have a 2 group Linea rented from the wonderful people at Coffee Hit and our own Caimano grinder. We also have 4 20 litre Bunn Bravilor filter coffee machines where we grind the Square Mile espresso blend to a ratio of 60 grams per litre using our DIP DK 30 grinder, set just below ‘filter’ on the grind adjustment.

At 9 am, gates open and by 9:15 am we have our first customers and then for the next 90 minutes it is hectic, as the game starts at 11 am.

Over this time we serve up to 600 drinks, two thirds of this being filter. As you may know, filter is an easy coffee to make, as long as you follow a few strict guidelines. We grind the coffee just before brewing. We only brew up to 10 litres at a time (this is approx 50 coffees in our 8 oz cups). We ensure all the machinery is flushed and spotless each time, we do not turn on the heating element within the machine as it overcooks the coffee and we wet the filter paper before each extraction.

What we are trying very hard to do, it to give the customers the type of coffee that they deserve. Either a very well made espresso drink with care and attention, speed and efficiency, or, a much much better filter coffee then they have ever had before, that is well balanced, flavoursome, in a drinkable temperature range and where they say ‘hmm, that tastes good’.

Is it one small step to a better coffee world? We hope so, and we hope it is a step towards showing that it can be done. We also still have a bit to learn and to play with, but we very much enjoy it and when Australia play in the One Day International on Friday June 29th of this year, or the Ashes next year, we are going to be very excited indeed.

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