This is a coffee house for the well-heeled.
You have to be rich to live in Kensington.
Rich can mean nerdy, and some of the occupants are.
Rich can mean counter-cultural and some of the occupants are.
Rich can mean old - and many of the occupants are.
This is actually a plus because it is an age-diverse coffee house -
in a world where many coffee houses and bars pitch themselves to one and only one age cohort exclusively.
The coffee house itself is decorated "old English inn" "chalkboard-specialty-drinks" stylish; it is a nice room to be in.
Pretty much anyone with a bank account or a parent with a bank account will fit in -
whether you are a workaholic or you are just killing your day waiting for nighttime entertainment.
How are the food and coffee?
The naked espresso is bitter (which is good) but not all that great tasting.
This is not an ou-la-la coffee connoisseur place where you pick your own exotic bean from a choice of 23 nations.
You take the coffee you get at Higher Ground...which is meh.
So by all means, Starbucks it and make your drink as fancy and as Italian syruped as you like,
They were offering free samples of their chocolate cake when I was there.
An honest serviceable chocolate cake with lots of chocolate buttercream.
If I lived in the neighborhood, I would certainly hang out at Higher Ground.
But then, if I lived in the neighborhood, I could have my chauffeur take me to any coffee house I wanted.