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One attribute that separates exacting chefs from merely attentive ones is an intolerance for the slightest imperfection. It is also a trait shared by kitchen tyrants who berate underlings for sprinkling 16 grains of coarse sea salt on the left half of a dish and only 15 on the right half.
Gwilym Davies & Jeremy Challender
The London-based baristas Jeremy Challender and Gwilym Davies, co-directors of Prufrock Coffee, possess the same perfectionism, if not the sadism sometimes associated with it. When asked what makes Davies, the 2009 World Barista Champion, special I refer to his habit of pulling beautiful espressos and then enumerating their minute faults. I’ve never found cause to send back a coffee prepared for me by Davies but he has. Twice he’s taken back my espresso before I’ve had a chance to sip it. You might conclude this was due to my having overestimated Davies’ skills as a coffee preparer or, more likely, his having overestimated mine as a coffee taster. But I think was more about fussiness and an uncompromising formula for greatness: 50 imperceptible adjustments = 1 big difference.
The Prufrock difference debuted with an espresso trolley rolled into Present, a menswear boutique in Shoreditch. (Prufrock has opened a second menswear boutique espresso bar at Woodhouse in Notthing Hill.) Now it can be experienced in a real coffee shop at 23 Leather Lane, midway between Clerkenwell Road and High Holborn, with plenty of space for not only tables and groovy Ron Arad Tom Vac plastic chairs but also a siphon and pour-through brew bar. During a recent visit there were some 25 people in the new Prufock Coffee Shop and none were in a rush to leave. The only one who seemed genuinely unhappy with the coffee was – you guessed it – Davies.
Such a lovely place, glad to see it getting recognition.
I do love the place, right next to the office. The coffee is amazing, and they’ve done a great job with the decor.
However, I have yet to find a place in London that serves up a real, Italian cappuccino. Theirs was a nice latte. Not enough foam, on a cup way too big to ever really be a cappuccio.
Monique – You can ask them for a smaller cup. But, you’re right, they don’t do the foam thing. That said, I personally prefer Italian cappuccinos where the frothy steamed milk is fully integrated into the coffee and there is no bubbly foam spooned on top.