Ade Bankole joined us in April 2024, a month after we opened. Ade was the first person working here who was not one of us, and the first reason the shop could open without both of us behind the bar. So we asked Ade to describe the first half hour.
In Ade's words
7:00. Lights on one bank at a time, machine on first, because it needs twenty minutes to get to temperature.
7:05. Chairs down, tortilla out of the fridge where Inés left it at 6:50. I dial in the grinder. Four or five test shots until Grulla tastes of cocoa and red apple again, then I write the recipe on masking tape on the hopper.
7:15. Joris brings the tray of buns from two doors down. We agree whose morning is worse.
7:20. Batch brewer on, music on. Doors at 7:30.
The nurses at 7:35
Most mornings the first people through the door are two nurses from the OLVG, straight off a night shift. One takes a Zhuravel decaf flat white so she can sleep. The other takes a double espresso and says she will sleep anyway. Ade starts both drinks when the door opens.
By 8:30 the regulars are in. Henk on Thursdays, a black batch brew. The builders who order four flat whites for the van. Bulba does his round of the window bench and then goes back to sleep. That is the shop working, and I like being the one who starts it.
The playlist rule
Nothing with words before 8:00. People are still waking up, and a song they know pulls them out of their own head. After 8:00, anything goes. I DJ on Fridays, so the Friday playlist is usually what I am working on for that night.
The best pour in the shop
I have competed nationally and I take latte art very seriously, so I will say this once, in writing, and never again: Ade pours the best tulip in the shop. Ade's are tighter and more even than mine, and the regulars have noticed.
If you are not sure what to order, tell me the last coffee you loved, wherever it was. I will find you something close.
Come in before 8:00 on a weekday and ask Ade what is playing. You will get the name of the track and probably the story of where it came from.
Inés, behind the bar
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