One of the most fascinating social experiments based on coffee house business has more or less collapsed in a whirl of internet ‘flaming’ and abuse. The Jonathan’s Card project was begun by an American, Jonathan Stark, as an experiment in the use of payment methods. Effectively, he took the image of his Starbucks ‘card’ from [Read more]

Independent coffee shops opening over the past few years are beginning to report healthy survival rates.  The latest of the speciality coffee stores to celebrate two years in business is the Urban Coffee Company of Birmingham, which has thrown a party for regular customers. Urban’s Hannah Wolsey has said that over the last year, the [Read more]

There has been another of the regular police warnings about thieves who target customers in coffee shops. The area involved this time is Hertfordshire, where there has been a spate of thefts of mobile phones, wallets and purses, almost all from victims sitting at tables having coffee.  Police suggest that customers in coffee shops tend [Read more]

There will be another tea and coffee festival for consumers in London this year. Yael Rose, whose event at the South Bank Centre in spring was well received by the beverage trade, will run another event at the same venue in November, and probably follow with a third at the South Bank in March next [Read more]