Ziferblat

A wonderful little hodgepodge of a coffee shop, where you pay 5p/​min (£3/​hr). Included in that price is espresso (with a proper espresso machine and locally roasted coffee), ~10 varieties of tea, fruit and cookies — as much as you want. They also have a ‘Secret Hideaway’ room with pillows and couches, a collection of interesting books, and a panoramic view of a busy shoreditch street corner. Feel free to adopt a clock while you’re here — mine was a plastic red one named Margot — to round off the time-​based theme.

I’m a fan of the Ziferblat concept although it does feel a little bit odd for the first maybe 20 minutes or so. We had an origami meetup so it was a nice atmosphere to catch up and natter while getting a bit crafty! Would definitely consider future meetups if they’re held here.

Great space to spend a few hours reading, playing board games, or doing something crafty. You can use the wifi and there is tea and coffee as well as biscuits, you just pay an amount based on the amount of time you stay.

Rightly classified on Zomato, Ziferblat is a unique dining place. On my blog, I am not sure where to fit this in. It is not a restaurant or a café but a place for «hire» where you can momentarily call it yours to work, study, relax, explore, play, organise and attend events, eat cake and biscuits and have a a cup of tea. It is a space for (great) ideas to happen, develop and evolve.
This Ziferblat concept was founded by Ivan Meetin in Moscow as a community for poets aspiring to progress their work. Originally, it started in an adult tree house but as the popularity grew, he needed to find a more established place. Today, Ziferblat has 14 venues around the world and I was very pleased to have spent some time here with a lovely bunch of blogger ladies organised by Zomato.
Ziferblat has a minimal charge of 6p/​minute or up to two hours for £6.00. You are allowed to use the kitchen which is equipped with microwave, a fridge, kettle and you can help yourself to the various choices of tea — bottomless. It is furnished very simply like one’s cozy living room. A room full of clocks feels like an Alice in Wonderland moment.

I had read a lot about Ziferblat and it’s concept of charging by the minute. It actually feels more like entering a really nice flatshare (where someone else does the washing up …). The welcome is very warm and friendly, and we filled in a checking in slip rather than being handed a clock. Part of the induction includes directions to the kitchen where you can help yourself to anything you like (much better stocked than your average kitchen). Unless you are a coffee addict and/​or cookie monster you will probably not get your money’s worth of food and drink, but that’s not really the point. Instead you find yourself in a friendly environment not unlike home from home, including board games on a rainy Thursday night.

A café that doesn’t sell anything but time?
It’s a weird concept but it works, if you’ve ever wanted to study or work somewhere but don’t want to be alone (very co-​dependent as you can see). Ziferblat charges 3p a minute for your presence. There’s a great kooky Grandma’s feel to it, and you almost expect Babushka to wiggle her way over with a plate of cookies. Unfortunately, food isn’t served here, but customers can bring their own to share or to consume selfishly.
Tea and coffee are available for you, as well as wifi. You pick up a clock and take your pick of chairs for which there are all kinds, from the cushy leather ones you know you’ll pass out in, to the hard wooden chairs that will force you to stay awake and leave with a bum bruise.
Great communal atmosphere and maybe you will find me in the kitchen, avoiding my work.

Well, what can I say? This place has a very unique atmosphere. You’re buzzed into someone’s flat, handed a clock and left to make yourself at home after a quick tour.
The pricing system is 3p/​m capped at £9/​d which is good if you want to spend the entire day there!
Plenty of free tea and coffee, but customers can bring their own and can leave what’s left over for someone else to use. Microwave is also available, along with the obligatory free wifi.
It’s a very novel idea of bringing your home to London, but maybe it’s a bit strange having strangers waking about ‘your’ house

Ziferblat is a pay per minute café in Shoreditch. The first of its kind in London. You note down the time as you come in, then pay 3p for every minute spent there. Then you calculate the cost as you leave (seemingly harder for me than for most people), and throw some coins in a suitcase at the door.
During your time you can help yourself to tea, coffee, biscuits, Crunchies, carrots or toast in the kitchen area. You can even bring your own snacks in so it’s perfect place if you are looking to make yourself at home with friends from various corners of London too lazy to travel to each others hoods. Which is exactly what we did under the pretence of ‘craft club’ with very little actual craft. As you may have guessed good food and coffee isn’t really the point of the place, I’d view it as paying for the venue — a laid back, unfussy social space centrally located.
It would also probably work out well if you were planning to spend a long time at your laptop using the free wifi or were to read a book — you could spend all the time you wanted without feeling guilty that you’ve only nursed the one coffee.
There’s a relaxed weekend vibe, and Anna who explained the concept at the door as I came in was very friendly. She’s from Russia herself and told me that the original Ziferblat started in Moscow. There were many imitators that sprung up following its launch but none of them managed to quite capture the atmosphere of the original. Many haven’t survived. I expect we might see a few copycats in London in time too. The Moscow Ziferblat hosts special evenings such as film night — they don’t do this in the London yet as it’s early days but it might be on the cards once it gets less busy. Due to the novelty factor and publicity, it might not be for a while though. There were a number of groups queuing for tables as we left, However I would go back — perhaps when the hypes died down a little — I feel like it might be the perfect solution when you want to see friends but not feel the need to pay big.

Our clock was called Wilby. That alone makes it awesome.
For a fiver (actually I was only there for about £4 worth of time but whatever…), I had lots of clipper tea, biscuits, chocolate and toast. Our table was not the most comfortable (it was super busy and all the good comfy tables were gone) but it was a great chilled place to just hang out with friends if you didn’t want to stay at home. With unlimited tea and wifi, it was great for our non– crafty craft club. You’re also welcome to bring your own picnic, but beware, there are no microwaves!
Why not 5* then? The lady sitting behind us was interviewing candidates for something, and some hipster felt compelled to play the guitar while listening to something on his laptop. Yes. You get regular people playing chess, reading and stuff but also rather odd East London hipsters who you want to strangle too.
Obviously Ziferblat is a resounding success– as we stumbled out to go home for a nap, there was a queue all the way down the stairs– pretty much out the door.
Truly, this is a sitting room away from home.

Upon entering it really feels like you have intruded on a slightly awkward house party.
Welcome to Ziferblat, a newly-​opened café in Shoreditch where «everything is free, except the time you spend there». Visitors pay 3p per minute for a seemingly unlimited supply of tea, coffee, toast and wifi. One catch, you make your own food and drinks and do your own dishes in a friendly, social scene. The timing system isn’t quite working yet but instead a suitcase sits at the door open for donations. Excellent concept, I really hope it catches on as I think its a great idea!