Kaffeine Espresso Bar

February 11, 2013 marked the 2nd birthday of the PE Coffee Crawl!  My thanks go out to a wonderful group of Crawl regulars, numerous guests, faithful readers, a seemingly endless list of coffee shop owners, innumerable talented baristas, and very patient waitstaff members.  You have all helped to make the Crawl the success I never envisioned two years ago.  It truly has been a community effort!!!

So what more appropriately named place to celebrate the Coffee Crawl birthday than Kaffiene Espresso Bar, located in the Summerstrand Village on 8th Ave. in Summerstrand.  Since Thursday's Crawl also happened to fall on Valentine's Day I stopped into Kaffeine Espresso Bar a few days in advance to make a booking.  Kaffeine owner Sally Gibson was only too happy to oblige saying that the Crawl's birthday/Valentine celebration (complete with balloon trees) would add to the shop's festive decor planned for the day.

Meet the Owner
Sally Gibson

Kaffeine Espresso Bar was decorated and ready for the Valentine's Day crowd on Thursday with balloons, table decorations, and a sweets table set up for customers to purchase goodies to take home for that special someone.  And crowded it was........ it's a good thing I made a reservation.  Despite the busy-ness of the the shop, though, our orders were taken and served up by our lovely waitress, Andiswa, in record time.  Kaffeine's barista, Simpiwe (Bobby), impressed all at the table with his amazing coffee artwork.  Margaret was so inspired that she tried her hand at some coffee art.... check it out... not too bad for a first try!  Not only was Bobby's artwork incredible but my cappuccino was one of the best I've had in PE!  Quality ingredients and proper tools make all the difference......Kaffeine makes their own special blend of coffee, and the shop uses a Nuova Simonelli machine that was featured in the 2010 London Barista Championships!

Meet our Waitress
Andiswa

Meet the Barista
Simpiwe (Bobby)

Bobby's coffee art



More coffee art



Margaret's try at coffee art... not too bad!

In honor of our dual celebration the Crawlers, Beth Vieira, June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Margaret Zoetmulder, Colleen Le Roux, Brother Anstey Kay, Leanne Waller, all ordered one of Kaffeine's specialty cakes which are made fresh daily on the premises.  Sally told us that the carrot and red velvet cakes are the most popular choices among regular patrons.  As it was Valentine's Day I felt compelled to order the red velvet, and was informed by the Crawlers that since it is made with beetroot it counts as a vegetable!  Excellent, excellent, excellent red velvet cake!  Along with their delicious cakes, Kaffeine's menu offers breakfast, lunch and light dinner selections.  The shop is fully licensed as well.... the next time I go to Kaffeine I'll order wine with my red velvet cake.... that counts as a fruit and a vegetable, right?

This week's Crawlers
Colleen, Margaret, Leanne, Br. Anstey, Gail,
June, Stella, Beryl
not pictured- Beth

Red Velvet Cake with celebratory
birthday candles

Cakes galore for all to enjoy!

Kaffeine opened its doors for business on July 1, 2012 and has been open every day since.  The shop's hours are Mon-Sat, 7-7, and Sun, 8-7.  The coffee bar can be accessed directly from the Summerstrand Village parking lot or from inside the shopping centre.  Seating for ninety is available with tables on the patio and inside, and a lounge area at the inside shopping centre entrance.

Talk at the table, at this our 88th Crawl, centered around what monopolized the air waves last week, that being the Pope's announcement of his resignation.  What a shock to us all!  I imagine in a few weeks the Crawlers will revisit the topic as the Conclave gets underway.

Onto a lighter subject.....  A few weeks ago I was telling the Crawlers about a gift our daughter, Liz, gave to my husband just before his first trip to Africa in 2006.  Having just read The Hot Zone, a book about the deadly ebola virus, and concerned about her dad's trip, she got on the giantmicrobes.com website and ordered three cute "stuffed microbe" creatures.... Ebola, Flesh-Eating Disease, and Black Death.  Upon opening his gift Liz said to him, "Dad, if you see any of these, run the other way!"  So, just for fun I brought the three fuzzy fellows along with me to the Crawl on Thursday.  A good time was had by all as we read the Facts Sheet about each of these microbes and passed them around the table.  Fortunately, in the past two and a half years that we've lived here we haven't had to run the other way!

Our Giant Microbe friends

Happy 2nd Birthday and Happy Valentine's Day!

~Thank you to Sally, Andiswa, and Bobby for your hospitality as we celebrated two years of Coffee
   Crawling
~Happy Birthday to Beryl Dawson - Feb 22

Until next week,

Ellen

Kaffeine is also a Wi-Fi Hot spot!