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.

left: old menu. right: new menu

The trouble with his old menu, according to Gwilym, was that the coffee names mythologised what were, from his hands, fundamentally the same drink: a double espresso blended with varying quantities of milk he steamed and textured in the identical manner. Furthermore, the terms were confusing and meant different things to different people from different places. It was problematic to figure out what each customer’s understanding of a flat white or a cortado was and frustrating when what the barista champion served measured below – or above – each one’s expectations.

His new 4-6-8 system is simpler and clearer, except for metric minds who don’t really know what ounces are and don’t wish to do conversions before they’ve had their caffeine fix. For these aliens, Gwilym first takes out his three white paper cups and then performs his usual coffee magic show.