The Kaffeine Movies - Two short films showcasing what we are all about
Kaffeine 2014 from Kess Bohan on Vimeo.
Things had moved on since our original film in 2009, the specialty coffee industry in London was booming and many people say that Kaffeine had a huge influence on this. We also like to think that the original film, something that really had not been done before, had also inspired people.
This time I approached Kess directly and asked if he would mind doing another movie for us, something that really showed Kaffeine for what it is today, a bit more grown up, much, much busier and with a bit of a different personality. It also was to reflect the current staff that we employed and well as the many wonderful customers who support us.
At the time, we had a young man called Rory who was working for us in the kitchen and his girlfriend Jessica was a professional dancer, so Kess had this idea to incorporate them into the movie as well.
We talked about music for the piece and he emailed me and said he had found a wonderful track that would be brilliant to go with it. It was by a new young English singer called Tom Odell. “You’re joking’ I replied, he is one of our customers!
Tom Odell is represented by a music management team just down the street and he often came in for coffee when he was in the area. We approached the management team and asked if we could use the song and they agreed, with the proviso of providing them with £500 of credit for coffee.
A Short Film About Coffee : Kaffeine from Kess Bohan on Vimeo.
I met Kess Bohan through friends back in early 1996 when I had just moved to London and we ended up living in a share house together. I was working as waiter in various restaurants and Kess was doing some stuff with film or tv, stuff I did not really understand. It was the height of the rave scene and we shared a house and great times for about a year. I moved back to Australia in 1998, then when we returned to London in 2005, I caught up with Kess again.
When we opened Kaffeine in August 2009, Kess came along one day it of the blue and said, ‘I’m not very busy at the moment, I thought I might take some photos for you’. So off he set, taking photos in what was our third week of operation. At the time, our lead barista Catherine was in Greece on holiday, and so we were so very fortunate to have John Gordon filling in for just that week. John was the current UK latte art champion and was very well respected in the fledgling London coffee scene, and well as a masterful barista.
Bear in mind that my wife was 5 months pregnant, I was working 70 hours per week having just opened our first business and I was a bit tired and emotional anyway and then he sent me this. I remember I was at home in the evening and watched it. And I cried. It still touches me to this day.
In February 2010, I was invited to talk at the Allegra UK Coffee Leaders Summit. It turned out this was to be in front of 450 of the highest possible people in the UK coffee industry and below. I believe I made a pretty good speech, it seemed well received, and one of my USP’s was being this independent bloke making a heartfelt presentation to a room with majority corporates. At the end of the speech, I showed this film, and I cried again. So proud, so very, very proud and so lucky to have a friend like Kess who cared so much to do this for us.
Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine Ltd
66 Great Titchfield st.
15 Eastcastle st.
