Never in my time in Cambridge did I envisage myself finding an excuse to escape to the library. Taking a coffee break has always been an opportunity to take a break from its confines for a caffeine fix. But a new café on East Road is about to change all that.

At The Espresso Library, the same diligence and fastidiousness expected of a first-class student is applied to the preparation of each cup of coffee. The attention to detail and care expected in a well-crafted essay underpins their philosophy about coffee: the beans have been carefully chosen, with guest blends adding variety to the menu, and the execution is immaculate. The drinker is left thoroughly satisfied and eager to return for more, rather like the reader of a thought-provoking piece of literature.

The architect of these cups of creativity is an absolutely stunning custom Slayer machine, appropriately coloured light blue to signal its loyalty to university caffeine addicts. For the masterminds behind the café, John Gull and Malgo Dzierugo, if they were going to provide coffee to some of the most astute minds in the world, it had to be on a par with their levels of discernment and selectivity – there are only six Slayer machines in the UK.

“We chose to go for a Slayer because we felt it delivers the ultimate experience both in terms of the flavours it extracts and the way it looks – it’s a Lamborghini of coffee machines! It’s also quite an experience to work with – more creative and engaging for the barista, since you need to really watch the shot every step of the way, from loading it up, through pre fusion to full pressure. There is no cruise control when it comes to this baby!”

Espresso Library also gets top marks for its menu of brain food: nourishing breakfasts of porridge with homemade almond milk and avocado and soft-boiled egg on sourdough are followed with wholesome lunches of lentil and ginger soup, roasted beetroot and goats’ cheese salad, and pulled pork brioche buns. For those in need of an afternoon pick-me-up, gooey carrot cakes and divine salted caramel macarons promise to sweeten even the toughest of essay crises. The café space will also be used to host pop-up dinners by guest chefs for those wishing to deepen their culinary knowledge.

And it doesn’t end there. As well as an encyclopaedic knowledge of coffee, members of staff at the café are avid fitness fans and run regular cycling outings. For the more culturally inclined, there are changing art exhibitions – currently on display is Martin Bond’s A Cambridge Diary, a project which involves capturing a portrait picture every day from the streets of Cambridge.

Although we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, since opening its doors on Monday the first chapters of The Espresso Library have been very encouraging indeed. I know I’ll be delving further into its collection of coffees – and if the flat white continues to captivate, I’ll keep demanding a sequel.