The leading information and business resource for the UK's cafè bar market

A vibrant and essential networking and business opportunity for every café bar operator in the sector, the Caffè Culture Show (15th & 16th May – Olympia, London) has become a focal point for the industry, offering practical support and advice for all aspects of café bar and coffee shop operation. Visitors to the show will… [Read more]

Eteaket (Stand G42)       This is a Scots company which is playing a part in the current trend for a new kind of tea-bag, allowing for larger portions of the filling, and claiming ‘blends that are far more exciting than anything else out there’.  Typical is the Blooming Marvellous, a green tea with fruit,… [Read more]

Quick Fire Tableware (Stand A16)         One of the most practical recent advances in ceramic tableware was the move by Quickfire to individually-decorated items. Decorated cups and saucers always used to involve a minimum quantity – now Quickfire does singles. The interesting use of this has been to allow customised table-numbering, a… [Read more]

Drink Me Chai   (Stand E13/15)   One of the big crazes of recent years was ‘bubble tea’, which started a whole new kind of café in the Far East, and achieved a certain interest in Britain. This drink featured tapioca ‘bubbles’ or balls in the base of the drink, to be sucked up through a… [Read more]

Thanks for Franks (Stand K43)         This is the man who set out to change the entire concept of the flapjack in the British trade, having learned his trade in America. He argues the cause of flapjacks made entirely from fruit and seeds which contribute to the taste, and no ‘bulking-out’ components… [Read more]

The Handmade Cake Company (Stand E6)            This is one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic catering bakeries, whose name alone allows for some caterers to take more credit for bought in items than they might deserve!  The company recently brought out the most eye-catching new cake in the hospitality sector –… [Read more]

ICTC (Stand B5)   The brand here is Finum, which involves a patented ‘tea control’ system. This is a, non-electric, glass tea maker featuring a device to allow ‘complete control’ of the infusion process, which the maker says is suitable for foodservice use in hotel or café. Essentially, this appears at first to be a… [Read more]

Marley Coffee (Stand H51) We have reported for some months that this coffee, imported by a division of the Sea Island rare and exotic coffee company, has been making itself known in such diverse places as big-name stores and street carnivals. It is perhaps time that the brand made an appearance in front of the… [Read more]

Wenlock Spring (Stand B24) Bottled water for the children’s market is an often-missed opportunity, says Wenlock Spring.  The new 250ml sports cap bottle has been designed to be the suitable size for lunch boxes, and school canteens.   “Often a 330ml bottle of water is too much for a young child to drink, and the smaller… [Read more]

WEGA   (Stand G12)         This brand promises ‘a technological jewel’, the new Sphera machine. The brand also promotes Wegaconcept, an environmental programme – Wegaconcept can obtain energy savings certified at 47.6 per cent on standby and 30 per cent in operation, says the company.

The Phat Food Company (Stand J35)  The concept of porridge through coffee shops is still one that divides opinion – some people see it as an obvious profit-maker, and others cannot see it at all.  The new Phat Porridge is an add-water one, using all-Scottish oats and a little Demerara sugar in a 65gm pot…. [Read more]

The New London Tea Company (Stand G32)         This is quite literally a ‘new’ company – it is the rebirth of the London Tea Company, under new owners.  “The new owners are the world’s largest tea company – the biggest tea company you’ve never heard of!” says marketing manager Paul Maxwell, himself… [Read more]

The Coffee Machine Company (Stand F10)          This company has been a pioneer of what is now a familiar and favourite tactic at trade shows – the idea of ‘come and try the machines for yourself, and bring your own ingredients if you want to’.  This year, visitors are invited to get behind… [Read more]

The Artisan Bakery (Stand L25) When so many cafes are working on largely the same sandwich fillings, is it the standard of bread which may make all the profitable difference. “Bread is the handcrafted element that we’re most proud of,” says the company. “People enjoy our bread for what it really is – we use… [Read more]

Teapigs (Stand K22)         Expect some creative hard-talking from the Teapigs stand – this is the company which pioneered the imaginative uses of matcha in the British coffee-house sector, and it has not failed to notice that the matcha sector is now beginning to get crowded. Now that the catering trade has… [Read more]

Sielaff UK (Stand G30)         The vast competition in the wider catering trade is in fully-automatic espresso machines. Sielaff has taken the challenging route of arguing just how much it can do in a remarkably small footprint – ‘give us one square metre, and we’ll show what we can do for your… [Read more]

Seab Globaltraders (Stand J37) A very specific coffee supplier – it offers green coffee beans of Ugandan origin, both Arabica and Robusta.

Routin  (Stand D10)         Another flavour company which is beginning to get vocal is Routin, the French brand, which wants to talk about how it has created a unique research laboratory based on the concept of a ‘field of odours’, which precisely analyse the 2,000 aromas it holds in stock. This, says Routin, is necessary… [Read more]

Regency Coffee (Stand D22)         Regency Coffee is making its first appearance at the show.  Regency of Manchester is a long-established supplier, and one which really does have some extremely unusual products to talk about. Typical are two quite unexpected names in coffee, which both come from the same family. When the… [Read more]

Rational (Stand J6)         The puzzle of the best choice of cooking equipment for coffee shops will be debated at Rational, who say that limited space means a system has to be multifunctional, but customer expectations mean it has to be able to produce quality results, despite staff often having limited cooking… [Read more]

Point One (Stand K8)           Point One, whose work is extremely well known in the bar trades, wants to discuss with café owners the options for stock control, stock reporting, the ability to see a current stock position at a glance, and strategies for incorporating promotion and loyalty programmes into a… [Read more]

Pentair Foodservice (Stand G20) Pentair has a new water-conditioning technology which combines mineral adaptation, mineral stabilization and corrosion inhibition, with a view to enhancing the performance of hot drinks and ice machines and to avoid problems caused from aggressive water. The challenge, says the company,  is to find a balance between protecting an operation’s equipment… [Read more]

Nisi’s Artisian Bakery (Stand C12) What product had 43,000 sales in the Olympic athletes’ village last year? It was the Nisi chocolate chunk biscotti.  This artisan bakery has taken three Great Taste gold awards, for the ginger macaroon, the limonetti and the roasted hazelnut biscotti. 

Nelson Catering Equipment (Stand H24)         What is the most ‘ergonomically specified’ warewasher in the UK?  It is the one from Nelson, says the company, claiming ‘exceptional’ reliability, extreme quietness for front-of-house siting, and the ultimate layout for space-saving. Nelson will be promoting itself as a one-stop-shop for cafés looking to improve dishwashing… [Read more]

Monin (Stand D30)         One of the recent major moves by the British distributor of this major French name in flavoured syrups was the appointment of a ‘brand ambassador’, a development mixologist whose job is largely to guide the catering trade to ever more creatuve and profitable ways of using the brand’s syrups… [Read more]

MATCHAFACTORY (Stand C30)         The major tea story of recent years has been matcha. The interesting thing about this is that it is not a leaf which is brewed by steeping, and then disposed, as in conventional teas.  This tea features leaves ground to dust, which means that they dissolve in water,… [Read more]

Manitowoc (Stand E30) Manitowoc will be hosting live cooking demonstrations with the company’s development chefs, with the aim of discussing how a planned cooking strategy allows coffee-house operators to create a menu of good food, fast, in situations where lack of space has previously prevented such business. The showpiece equipment allows a range from paninis,… [Read more]

Lotus Bakeries (Stand B25)         Lotus is, of course, the little caramelised biscuit which are produced in quite astonishing quantities – millions a day.  A great new arrival for this year’s show is the Lotus Lid, which is a way of attaching the giveaway biscuit to a takeaway coffee. For the hotel and… [Read more]

London Bio Packaging (Stand B16) A most unexpected new addition to the disposable packaging market is the palm leaf, of which apparently sixty billion fall naturally to ground each year in India. The resulting tableware is compostable, microwaveable, can be used in the oven and will hold liquids. No chemical or resin is involved. “The leaves… [Read more]

La Cimbali UK (Stand D6) The whole theme will be ‘consistency for the operator –  the absolute assurance of serving drinks of the same quality and standard every single time, by every member of staff, at every ‘customer touchpoint’. If the customer gets a cracking drink from your head barista one day, and a terrible… [Read more]

Kokoa Collection (Stand A17)        A pioneer of the concept of ‘single origin’ hot chocolate in meltable disc form, as opposed to generic powders, this year the company will discuss how to develop a full chocolate menu, which can incorporate such unusual items as the Pretty in Pink – it doesn’t look like… [Read more]

Jura Products (Stand) D20         The display here is of the Jura Giga X7 Professional, a Swiss bean-to-cup machine which allows for two thermoblocks and pumps, which means that two coffees can be prepared at the touch of a button. With a speed of 26 seconds for two drinks, the machine is put forward as… [Read more]

International Paper (Stand F32)       This is the maker of the Ecotainer takeaway cup, and it is at Caffe Culture to show off its green credentials, claiming that the cup is the ‘greenest to date’ in the sector.  It is said to require less energy to produce than a conventional paper cup,  with inner linings… [Read more]

Fruitbroo (Stand H12) This promises to be an entirely new kid of hot drink for the coffee bar – ‘insanely flavourful’ alternatives to other hot drinks. The founder is a former director of Clipper, who has said that part of the logic for the drink lies in consumers drinking too much coffee and hitting their caffeine… [Read more]

Franke Coffee Systems  (Stand C20)       This brand is already known for the quality of its fully-automatic machines, and this year we see the FoamMaster, for which the claims are, candidly, quite remarkable. “There are virtually no limits to the practical applications and systems in which Franke fully automatic coffee machines can be used,”… [Read more]

Euro Food Brands (Stand E11)       The sole distributer for Illy coffee in the UK, Euro Food Brands supplies over five thousand hotels, restaurants and cafés in the UK.  Apart from the coffee, an interesting item this year will be the ‘astonishingly good’ Belgian biscuits from Jules Destrooper, including their almond, apple or… [Read more]

Erlenbacher  (Stand F35) This is a German baker known for inventing new variations on cake – last year’s brilliant idea, was the cakewich, a triangular sponge sandwich and filing. It stacked vertically for display and takeaway sale. The brand has now come up with Sunshine Cakes, which are baked in an octagonal design and presented… [Read more]

EILLES TEE (Stand E35)         This brand offers 42 loose-leaf and broken teas in ‘aroma protective’ bags, and 25 teas in the now-familiar pyramid bags.  Its newest idea is a ‘Tea to Go’ concept for takeaway.  The tea bag is actually fixed to the lid of a takeaway cup and when the consumer thinks it… [Read more]

Easy Apps (Stand E12) A poll on small businesses and their use of technology (to be accurate, an American one) says that  40 percent of small business owners reckon their operation would not survive without the relatively new phenomenon of mobile ‘apps’.  Apps, it is said, ‘tap into a new digital marketing channel that is… [Read more]

Ditting Mahlkoenig (Stand K23)       The practice of efficient coffee grinding is vital for both quality and economy, and there have been recent interesting innovations, yet grinders remain an unglamorous product sector. Nevertheless, operators need to know the latest developments to ensure the best product  – and here there will be 25 high-end… [Read more]

DaVinci Gourmet  (Stand K20)         In the flavoured syrups sector, an interesting recent move has been the resurgence of the giant Kerry operation, which owns DaVinci.  The brand has always been a significant one, in that it is such a familiar name to see on the back bar, but for a long time… [Read more]

Capital Coffee Roasters  (Stand C7)          No longer do all espresso machines look the same.  There has been a recent interest in quite futuristic designs, and this is the very latest, from ECM. “We saw this machine in Germany, and thought ‘this is as geeky as geeky can get!’, says Capital. “It’s a… [Read more]

Breckland Orchard (Stand A24)         This is the soft drinks company formed by Claire Martinsen to produce her new concept of ‘posh pop’. She has recently been reported as saying that a major problem with the catering trade is that its energy runs out before thinking of soft drinks – so cafés, pubs… [Read more]

Bonzer  (Stand G7)           The Pro-Fondi Eazi Group cleaner is a portafilter cleaning gadget which is intended to be less abrasive, quicker,  cleaner and quieter than the conventional knock-box. The waste grounds go into a waste bag housed drectly under the counter, beneath the machine. within the counter underneath the Pro-Fondi. The bag is able… [Read more]

Bondi Chai Tea Latte (Stand A6)           The Bondi Chai Latte is a powdered product, and the company tells us that a major feature of it is the concentrated portion size, as a result of which the operator uses 10gm, which it claims to be lower than other similar powders. It claims… [Read more]

 Bluebird Global Ltd (Stand A23)  This is an American EPOS system which works through An I-pad. That in itself is no longer unusual, but this won has won some awards, although they haven’t told us exactly what for.  Bluebird only tell us that they are ‘leading the future cafés, restaurants and pubs into easier, fail-safe,… [Read more]

Big Train / Falcon Sales & Marketing (Stand K27)        The last we heard, the situation of this colossal American company in the UK was still not determined – it’s a massive operation which makes smoothie and frappe business and the like, and which in America is huge. The Falcon company has been at… [Read more]

 Beyond the Bean – (stand E14) It is well recognised that the ‘ambience’ of a coffee bar is not something which readily translates into other venues – the rattle, hiss and bang of espresso production doesn’t do a lot for the atmosphere of a fine dining restaurant.  The modern contributor to all this noise is… [Read more]

 MAD ABOUT COFFEE (Stand A19)         This company is  a specialist servicing company for espresso machines, but doubles as the British distributor for one of the world’s notable espresso training books, the Barista Bible by Christine Cottrell of Australia.    The original edition was praised as being comprehensive, but noticeably Australian in… [Read more]

The nominations for this year’s Lunch Business Grab and Go Awards are now open. Whether you are a contract caterer, coffee shop or independent outlet operating in the food to go market, we are encouraging the industry to enter the awards, taking place on 26th September at the London Art House. The next issue of Lunch… [Read more]

Win a stay the boutique The Bermondsey Square Hotel and make your visit to The Caffè Culture Show a truly memorable experience  .   We’ve teamed up with The Bermondsey Square Hotel to give you the chance to win a night’s stay at one of London’s top boutique hotel’s – including transport to and from The Caffè Culture Show. … [Read more]

A remarkable row has cropped up over the recent craze for ‘coffee in suspense’, the practice which originated in Italy and which has now been taken up by several British coffee shops after becoming widely-spread over the internet.  At the same time, an imaginative variant of the idea has been created to benefit Shelter from… [Read more]

Bewley’s of Dublin, which has a long history as the most influential coffee company in the Irish trade, has won what is believed to have been a competitive battle to acquire Bolling Coffee of Yorkshire, creator of the high-profile Grumpy Mule retail brand and a long-established successful supplier to foodservice.   It has been known for… [Read more]

The JD Wetherspoon pub chain has made the catering trade’s biggest move yet in the advance of filter coffee.  It has put into practice a huge project which involves nine hundred pubs using Lavazza coffee through a brewing and grinding system devised by Bunn, the American specialists in filter brewing equipment. The coffee trade has… [Read more]

With the Caffè Culture Show just two months away, plans for this year’s seminar programme are well and truly underway.  The Caffè Business Theatre offers FREE to attend seminars dealing with some of the most significant issues faced by owners and mangers of hospitality related companies.  This year’s programme is packed with sessions designed to… [Read more]

Two major aspects of news have gripped the international coffee trade in the past month – the matter of price, and the question of leaf-rust which has caused trouble in several countries. There have been constant reports in the American press about big companies dropping their coffee prices as the result of falls in the… [Read more]

It is nothing new for the coffee trade to wring its hands in despair and complain about the standard of coffee served in the average hotel  -  now, one of the world’s most famous coffee brands has actually come out and said something about it. Douwe Egberts has been conducting research on what makes hotel… [Read more]

The national high street continues to be in trouble – twin pieces of research have shown that multiple retailers suffered an extremely high number of closures last year, and that independent operators might not be enough to sustain a balanced retail picture.  At the same time, there have been fierce arguments as to whether the… [Read more]

Jaguar, a significant importer and distributor of spare parts to the coffee machine trade, has made a big gesture to encourage entries to the Beverage Standards Association’s annual accreditation scheme.  This year, it may possibly subsidise a hundred entries from beverage operators who might not otherwise have been able to put themselves in for recognition…. [Read more]

CaffeCulture.com has launched a new ‘Businesses for Sale’ service, giving registered users the opportunity to advertise their café and coffee bar businesses on the site completely free of charge.  The new service has been launched in response to a survey which asked users what the most useful additions to the site would be.  The service… [Read more]

Visitor registration is now open for the Caffè Culture Show (15th & 16 May 2013, Olympia London), the UK’s leading trade event exclusively catering for the café bar market. Whether you’re an independent café owner or a professional within the hospitality and catering sector, the Caffè Culture Show provides you with an invaluable resource. Running… [Read more]

Guatemala has declared a state of agricultural emergency after a coffee tree fungus blighted about 70% of the national crop. Coffee is the main export of the Central American country and coffee growers have warned that thousands of jobs may be lost is the disease cannot be brought under control.  Coffee rust causes trees to… [Read more]

An Australian company is about to launch a milk-steaming jug with an integral thermometer, an idea which was mooted a year ago by a British-based company. The Latte Pro features an integrated thermometer on both sides of the jug, and is said to be durable, dishwasher-safe and suitable for commercial café use. The manufacturer has said… [Read more]

There have been a number of recent stories in the catering trade press which appear to suggest that Lavazza is on the verge of  a wholly-unexpected large-scale campaign to take over the nation’s high streets with the latest giant chain of coffee-houses – one story said that Lavazza ‘has announced its ambitious plans to take… [Read more]

  Cafés and coffee bars throughout the UK have been invited to take part in National Doughnut Week, which runs from 12-19 May.  For most of its 22-year history, the Week has been confined to bakery businesses, and has raised around £750,000 for the Children’s Trust, a national charity that provides specialist care for children with… [Read more]

The latest ‘barista academy’ has appeared – and one of the men behind it was perhaps only the second barista trainer in the history of the British speciality coffee trade.  He is Jon Skinner of M.A.D. (Making A Difference) Training Solutions, working in partnership with Gordon Howell of the award-winning coffee shops Harlequin/the Attic of… [Read more]

Cooper & Co, the tea and coffee merchant on Jersey, says it may have achieved a ‘first’ among independent coffee operators by being very early adopters of the Apple Passbook system, which allows customers to pay at the till using a mobile phone. The service was launched in December, and is reported to have won… [Read more]

A scam involving a vast amount of roasted coffee, aimed at foreign roasters but originating from Britain, has come to light.  Kimbo Coffee, working with Waitrose, has discovered a fraudulent order placed with an Italian roaster for a quantity of coffee worth around £116,000. “Kimbo is involved with a coffee roaster in Sardinia who do… [Read more]

There have been reports from China that the area which grows one of the world’s most famous and expensive teas is increasingly being turned over to the cultivation of coffee. The area is Yunnan province, which is world-famous for pu-erh, a tea which is sold not just in leaves but in blocks or cakes, and… [Read more]

Although the ‘artisan’ sector of the coffee-bar trade has begun the New Year by hitting the headlines in a negative way, the most remarkable things about the press frenzy over the Harris and Hoole chain are that national journalists have got it so wrong… and that the coffee trade still lacks a body or spokesman… [Read more]

It looks as though the 2013 UK barista championships may be a little more challenging than most years with not just one, but three previous champions having re-entered for this year’s event. At the turn ofthe year, over forty contestants had put their names forward for the 2013 contest.  Their incentive, other than the glory, is… [Read more]

La Marzocco, probably the world’s most famous high-quality espresso machine brand, has opened its first London office.  The Italian brand says that it has chosen to open in the city because the UK is now a big strategic market in the world coffee industry, and by being here, the brand can reach many of its… [Read more]

For coffee-shop baristas, the tamper is an intensely personal piece of equipment – in its classic form, it uses a carefully-shaped, handle of wood or aluminium, usually in a curved or ball shape.  However, a new maker has now developed a design-led tamper which features a ceramic handle with unusual straight sides, and the concept… [Read more]

An entirely new ‘upcycling’ idea has been pioneered by a coffee roaster in Scotland.  It provides a partial answer to environmental campaigners who complain that the country uses too many one-time disposable carrier bags, and the roaster involved in the project has suggested that the entire coffee trade would do well to adopt the concept…. [Read more]

As the Christmas decorations go up in cafés all round the western world, and as the predictable seasonal background music begins to play on all the coffee-house sound systems, one café in Utah, USA, has managed to spark a considerable local debate with its seasonal celebration. Leasa Ray’s OMG café  -  the letters are not… [Read more]

The managing director of ‘Britain’s favourite awards scheme’, the annual Loo of the Year contest, has spoken of his continuing disappointment that the coffee-house trade has failed again to capitalise on the promotional opportunities of his event. This year’s contest, which recognises and rewards service providers who maintain a high standard of out-of-home toilet facilities,… [Read more]

In times of Fairtrade and countless other campaigns in support of workers at origin, is there still starvation among coffee farmers? Yes, there is – it is in the three or four months of the year known in Central America as ‘los meses flacos’, the ‘thin months’.  That is a phrase well-known in the area,… [Read more]

There has been an intriguing new development in the matter of small communities  fighting to keep large coffee-shop chains out of their town centres.  In the most famous case of all, the town of Totnes recently succeeded in preventing an opening by Costa Coffee – however, questions have now been asked about the massive petition… [Read more]

The current ‘sustainable’ projects and certifications used by the coffee trade may not be enough to help our industry withstand the effects of climate change.  At exactly the same time that Kew Gardens has produced a report suggesting that the wild Arabica plant could be extinct by 2080, another scientist working on the subject has… [Read more]

A coffee roaster has spoken this month of his customers being approached by rivals with a rather bizarre sales tactic – and now the matter has come to light, other coffee roasters have spoken of experiencing the same tactic from competitor  salesmen. (For obvious reasons, in this story we have avoided the names of the… [Read more]

Union Hand-Roasted of London has made the bold, and probably expensive, move of advertising a direct-mail service of speciality coffee in the quality press – its campaign covers the Telegraph, Guardian, Times, and Observer Food Monthly.   It is extremely unusual for an independent roaster to attempt to pioneer gourmet coffee in the national press…. [Read more]

The takeaway cup sector has made a notable attempt to act on the matter of street litter caused by disposable food packaging, and in particular the matter of use-once coffee cups.  It has convened a European conference to discuss forming a pan-European body sharing best-practice against the problem.  The meeting in Brussels in mid-November was… [Read more]

Dan Fellows of the UK has succeeded in taking fourth place in the international Coffee in Good Spirits contest, the barista championship which invites contestants to create a coffee cocktail featuring an alcohol content.  One of his drinks featured wine, something rarely seen in a coffee contest. This year’s contest was held in Korea. As… [Read more]

In the latest twist on the subject of big brands monopolising the British high streets, the founder of the original Costa chain has given an interview to his local paper in which he has complained that the country is becoming over-run with coffee chains… including the one which carries his own name. Bruno Costa, who… [Read more]

The trade has once again been exasperated by the way coffee has been used to provide a novelty story for the general press  -  although Debenhams has been pleased at the publicity given to its ‘plain English’ coffee menu, the rest of the beverage trade has protested that the chain store operator has put the… [Read more]

Lavazza, the Italian café brand which already has its Espression cafes in several other parts of the world, is reported to be making its first serious move to establish them in the UK, through a franchise operation. The brand already has some sites in the UK – it opened in Harrods two years ago, and… [Read more]

The coffee-house trade has reacted with sympathetic amusement to last week’s claim by the pub trade that pubs are now selling more coffee than coffee houses. The claim, which led to such headlines as ‘UK’s pub chains are the top sellers of coffee’ (Caterer and Hotelkeeper) and ‘Pubs selling more coffee than cafes’ (The Publican’s… [Read more]

A riverside café which actually warrants the description ‘unique’ is being offered on a ten-year lease. It is Smugglers Cottage at Tolverne, near Falmouth in Cornwall, which is available for what the owners call ‘the first time in living memory’. One of its unique features is that the business is part of the Tregothnan estate,… [Read more]

The Speciality Coffee Association of America has released a study which appears to show that while American customers are willing to pay a premium for coffee which ‘tastes better’, familiar trade terms like ‘speciality coffee’ mean little or nothing to the consumer.    The SCAA’s report ‘The Speciality Coffee Consumer’ is intended to be ‘an… [Read more]

As the Beverage Standards Association announces its café awards for this year, the trade group has made an observation on what is important in industry prizes and recognition. The BSA offers two sets of prizes in its annual event: there are half a dozen prizes given for ‘best drinks’, but there are also an unlimited… [Read more]

One of the most important products in the coffee-house trade is again under question for the ethical nature of its sourcing – chocolate, which is often said to account for approximately 20% of the average café’s turnover, is once again the subject of allegations of child slave labour. A major film on the subject, to be… [Read more]

In what has been an extremely active month for Starbucks, it has won a great deal of attention in the general retail world by launching the first of ‘thousands’ of coffee vending machines in the UK. The move has generally been seen as a response, if perhaps a slightly delayed one, to Costa’s recent work… [Read more]

The prototype of an entirely pedal-powered mobile coffee cart has appeared in London, and has already won a couple of design awards. It has been designed by graduates of the Royal College of Art in London, who describe it as a “celebratory fusion of human power, sensory pleasures and technology”. Three well-known trade companies have… [Read more]

United Coffee, the influential European–owned operation which owns the Lyons brand and has a turnover in the region of eighty million pounds, appears to have quite deliberately teased the rest of the coffee trade with the launch of its new consumer-sales website, Make Decent Coffee by recruiting the TV personality Peter Andre for a launch… [Read more]

The Rainforest Alliance is making its second attempt at an ‘awareness week’ this week – but for the second year in succession, has failed to gain the unqualified praise of the coffee trade.Almost unanimously, coffee roasters and green-bean importers seem enthusiastic in their support for the aims of the movement – but at the same… [Read more]

 The Coffee Boys: John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin are back in London on 3rd and 4th October 2012  to present two more Marketing Masterclasses at the Free Word Centre in Clerkenwell, London dedicated to showing you how to increase your margins in coffee shops and cafes. With a combined experience of forty years in the… [Read more]

Too many café owners are stuck in short-term thinking, with no vision – and that is one reason why so many coffee businesses are going bust, and why some of the best baristas in the country are working for very low wages. This challenging suggestion has come from James Hoffmann, the UK’s first world champion… [Read more]

There are a huge number of books about coffee, books about coffee-making, and books about barista training – and one of the biggest currently on the market is the Barista Bible, by Christine Cottrell of Brisbane, Australia. This book, and the various CDs and other training aids which are produced alongside it, are from the founder of… [Read more]

As the dust settles after the initial excitement of the news of Tesco’s involvement in a new high street coffee house venture, and now that the first of the Harris and Hoole business has opened in Amersham, the coffee trade is asking whether Tesco has indeed become involved in a genuine artisan coffee venture? As… [Read more]

At virtually the same time, Starbucks has presented a scholarly paper on the saving of waste to a very high-powered American academic institution… and on the other side of the world, has created what might be thought an entirely unnecessary piece of disposable coffee-related equipment. At the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American… [Read more]

The image of the business methods of major coffee chains is now seriously in question and there could be an adverse knock-on effect which might harm the public image of the coffee trade as a whole. The problem arises from the recent spate of stories, more than usual, about disputes between the major chains and… [Read more]

The subject of ‘strength’ with regard to coffee has surfaced again – and it has done so at both ends of the spectrum, at exactly the same time. In the UK, the Cafédirect organisation has spoken of now putting its ‘strength’ classification on all its retail packs, while in the USA, the dramatically-named Death Wish… [Read more]

Café Life London by Jennie Milsom is a refreshing addition to the already crowded market of London coffee house guides… The great problem with guides to coffee in London is that the same places tend to crop up time and time again – many of them simply cannot be left out. The same style of… [Read more]

The trade’s tea and coffee brands have both done well in this year’s Great Taste Awards. While some of the bigger suppliers to the café-bar trades are represented with multi-star awards, several smaller suppliers have made a creditable appearance as well. There have also been unusual awards, including a 2-star prize for an all-robusta espresso…. [Read more]

The relationship between dairy farmers and coffee houses has been shaken during the current milk-price crisis, to the degree that somefarmers have now gone out of their way to say that they appreciate the support that parts of the café trade have given them. There has been some inflammatory language reported by the serious press,… [Read more]

Breaking news from Lavazza who have kept their launch with Fiat so deeply under wraps, that the first some of their own European offices knew of the matter was when the news was released to the press.

The appearance of a new coffee from Weanie Beans has restarted the age-old discussion about whether or not coffee is good for hangovers. Weanie Beans is a brand without a bricks-and-mortar site – it sells from a couple of coffee stalls at markets, but has now developed a trade business, supplying branded coffees, teas and… [Read more]

In a very imaginative move, the Little Chef chain has continued its image-changing work by installing traditional espresso machines in all its 90 sites, sending hundreds of its staff to Lavazza for barista training, and saying that it will bring great coffee to the one part of Britain where it is still missing – the… [Read more]

The biggest worry for aspiring café owners is rent. This is in spite of retail rents having dropped by 25-30% since 2008, and in spite of the widely-held view that landlords must soon be forced to offer lower rents and flexible deals to bring tenants into their empty properties. The finding has come in a… [Read more]

There has been a constructive response by coffee roasters and top baristas to the suggestion that they should add their expertise to a university study on the caffeine content of drinks sold through the café trade. A professor of human nutrition at Glasgow University has suggested that caffeine levels vary so much in foodservice coffee,… [Read more]

The best way to avoid spilling coffee in a cup while walking may be to challenge the cup industry to re-design its takeaway products, suggests a new study on human movement by two ‘fluid scientists’ in California. According to a report in the professional journal Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara… [Read more]

The world of ethical trading is being challenged from within by an American claim that opening up Fairtrade certification to large coffee producers will open the door for a wider amount of ‘greenwashing’, the practice by which large brands are alleged to claim credit for fairer purchasing policies than they actually operate. The British arm… [Read more]

A very promising statistic has come from the International Coffee Organisation in its Monthly Coffee Market Report for May. According to its figures, the world’s coffee consumption could possibly increase by 25% over the next eight years. There have been fears about ‘oversupply’, with one international banking organisation recently saying that global production will be… [Read more]

‘Coffee-house Capers’, one of the most entertaining books written about the coffee house trade was launched at this year’s Caffè Culture show. It is credited to Kaldi the Goatherd who is the boy who, according to coffee history, first discovered the coffee bean. The name has been adopted by the writers of Boughton’s Coffee House, the news magazine for people who… [Read more]

The long-running story of the Nespresso capsule has taken yet another unexpected turn.  A British company has announced that for the first time, users of the system can now have access to capsules compatible with the system, because the Nespresso patent has expired – but at almost the same time, Nespresso has claimed that the… [Read more]

Cafédirect, the UK’s leading Fairtrade coffee business, will have a new chief executive from next month – at the same time that the brand is warning that climate change will have a devastating effect on the coffee trade, and that some growing communities may be ‘wiped out’. . John Steel, formerly with brands ranging from… [Read more]

The rapid rise of the ‘artisan roaster’ fraternity has recently brought a lot of new business to the handful of British import companies who specialise in bringing in green beans from the world’s various countries of origin.  A new import company has now appeared, offering the challenging suggestion that the artisan roasting trade needs to… [Read more]

One of Italy’s most famous espresso machine brands, Brasilia, has been declared by the Civil Court of Milan to be in ‘a state of insolvency’, and the brand is effectively in administration. The British distributor of Brasilia, Caffe Society of Yorkshire, has said that it has already put back-up plans into operation, has a large… [Read more]

The Caffè Culture show has continued its progress towards an all-round show serving the ever-broadening beverage market within the hospitality industry. It is a constant puzzle in the exhibition sector to satisfy both a coffee industry which wants ‘a coffee show’, and an all-round hospitality industry which appreciates that many different things go to make… [Read more]

We are entering a cycle in which world coffee supply is going to exceed demand – however, the global financier Rabobank has said that we cannot expect any significant effect on prices. Rabobank is a global leader in sustainability-oriented banking, with a concentration on agribusiness – it is also the highest-rated privately-owned bank in the… [Read more]

After several years of indecision, the coffee trade and its target market appear to be moving slightly towards the concept of the re-usable takeaway cup. The theory of the re-usable cup has been touted for several years, with several arguments put forward in its favour – there is the obvious preference to the thrown-away paper… [Read more]

The world’s press has for once been delighted with a piece of health research from the coffee industry – it is the arrival of a scholarly work which argues that drinking coffee may help humans live longer.  It follows hot on the heels of another study which concluded that the benefits of drinking coffee outweigh… [Read more]

In the latest example of imaginative local promotion of the beverage industry, the Café Trade company of Chester has run a twelve-week campaign aimed at encouraging local consumers to visit their local cafés and vote for them. In a local vote, the city’s favourite independent café was found to be the Mad Hatter’s Tea Rooms,… [Read more]

One of the most annoying practical problems in coffee-making will be addressed by Drury at this year’s Caffè Culture Show.  It is the question of ‘clumping’, or the situation in which ground coffee sticks together as it comes out of the grinder. “We all know that on-demand grinding is the way things are going,” says… [Read more]

The Benders cup company has created a unique method of using QR codes on takeaway cups – it has worked with Nestlé on what it calls ‘the first scratch and win digital coffee cup’. It is felt by many people that the coffee trade does not make sufficiently imaginative use of the promotional potential of… [Read more]

In a year which has been characterised by the appearance of so many regional coffee events, the latest one has a distinct fighting touch to it. The west country town of Totnes, which is said to be one of the highest-selling Fairtrade places in the UK, is organising an independent coffee festival.  It is a… [Read more]

The latest of what might be termed ‘novelty’ animal-processed coffees is to go on sale for the first time in the world, in London – it has a strange story behind it, and unlike other animal coffees, is highly unlikely to provoke any reaction from activists. The best known coffee in this sector is the… [Read more]

A significant boost to the British paper cup sector, sees the Printed Cup Company of Lancashire making the unusual move of bringing its manufacturing operation back to the UK. The company has been making cups in China since 2007. It has doubled turnover in the past year, an achievement which managing director Mark Woodward has… [Read more]

Scientists in Cuba have been exploring the reason that tepid beverages do not taste as good as hot ones. The problem with lukewarm coffee dates back to the days of cavemen, according to Karel Talavera of the Laboratory of Ion Channel Research.  Their ‘taste receptors’ evolved according to the food they ate, and our own… [Read more]

In a remarkable but apparently not unexpected warning shot, the London coffee scene in general has been told that it is not the faultless ‘world centre of great coffee’  that it is so often portrayed to be.  By contrast, a top barista and café-baroperator has said that the London scene has ‘stalled’ and stopped progressing…. [Read more]

United Coffee has launched what it calls ‘a licence to work in coffee service’ as part of its general customer service programme. It is a stage of what is called the first ‘customer insight club’ for the beverage trade. The overall programme is entitled ‘all about u’, and promises customers a range of added-value benefits and industry ‘firsts’…. [Read more]

A barista from Norwich has won worldwide approval for taking a stand against ill-mannered customers – particularly those who speak on their mobile telephones while he is serving them. Darren Groom of the Little Red Roaster was so annoyed by the discourtesy that he put up a sign which read: “we are unable to serve you… [Read more]

As the conclusion to one of the worst-kept secrets in the coffee trade, it has now been formally ‘revealed’ that the operation of the Melitta UK business, which distributes super-automatic espresso machines under the Cafina brand, is to be taken over by Chris Glossop and Steve Penk, known for their work with La Spaziale. The… [Read more]

The Jamaican coffee farmed by Rohan Marley, son of the late reggae star Bob Marley, is coming to the UK.  It is to be imported by Blue Mountain Coffee (Europe), which is largely the same operation as Sea Island Coffees, the importer of rare and exotic beans from extremely unusual and occasionally previously-unknown origins. Marley… [Read more]

The recent kerfuffle in the daily press concerning Starbucks has once again illustrated the unfortunate fact that, while speciality coffee still gets a fair amount of media attention, the café business is vastly misunderstood.  And for the café-bar trade, the media spotlight of the daily press shining in entirely the wrong direction has deflected attention… [Read more]

The top twenty entrants in the UK Barista Championships, who will now be invited to take part in the semi-finals of the event, are now known. The final line-up for the 2012 event is notable in several ways – not just because some of the UK’s best coffee-houses are represented in there, but equally because… [Read more]

The latest Antipodean import on the London coffee scene is a roaster-retailer with ambitions to serve as both coffee house and trade roaster for other quality coffee businesses in the capital.  It is Ozone, which has been established in New Zealand for around twelve years. With London now being widely touted as a world-leader city… [Read more]

The Atkinson coffee roastery in Lancaster is to create a ‘living heritage centre’ of coffee.  It will be a working coffee house in which customers will be able to watch roasting in action and see historical artefacts from the trade, with expert commentary and explanation from the staff. The project will be achieved by Atkinson… [Read more]

The problem of malicious online ‘customer reviews’ of hospitality businesses has again come into the spotlight. The consumer reviews site Qype has reported cutting ‘thousands of misleading or malicious reviews’ from its online listings, which number over thirteen million. It is a problem which has been highlighted in the café-bar trade on several occasions.  There… [Read more]

A one day marketing masterclass for the coffee shop and hospitality industry by The Coffee Boys – John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin (for more information visit www.caffecultureshow.com/coffeeboys) When times are tough there is one skill, and one skill only, that can guarantee you will be able to ride out the economic storm. The ability to create… [Read more]

A storm of  enthusiasm has greeted the appointment of Lynsey Harley as the new UK National Co-ordinator of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe. There has been a huge amount of interest in the recent election for the position, because the winning candidate is an extremely well-known barista, competition entrant, trainer, and advocate of industry… [Read more]

Tea consumption in Britain is predicted to go downwards – and it is suggested that of all the major tea-drinking countries, we are the only one which is expected to experience a drop in usage. This extremely unexpected prediction follows a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, most of which… [Read more]

To the surprise, and perhaps not the unanimous approval, of the roasting trade, there have been two ‘blend it yourself’ initiatives offered to coffee consumers in recent weeks.   Both are online businesses, and while their operating procedures differ a little, the general principle is the same – customers are invited to ‘dial in’ their preferred… [Read more]

The Beverage Standards Association has made an interesting move in launching the second year of its awards series.  While accepting that for any trade awards to be of real value to the industry, they must be more than just hype, the association’s chief executive has good-humouredly defended the quite clear exaggeration that accompanied his own… [Read more]

We need your help! In exchange for just a few minutes of your time we’ll give you a free copy of Café Bar Business Trends, a comprehensive report into the UK’s independent café bar market undertaken by Caffè Culture, normally priced at £199 + VAT. You’ll also be entered into a prize draw to win… [Read more]

A quite unexpected machine is in the prototype stage, with the intention of being launched to the beverage trade in the form of  the one-cup tea brewer. The one-cup coffee brewing principle has become established in the café-bar trade, with the continuing growth of the brew-bar concept.  However, the trade has doubts about whether a… [Read more]

The nine-bean espresso blend, which has aroused conflicting views in the coffee trade, has become the subject of an imaginative promotion – it has been taken up as the house espresso of a coffee shop which is using it for a charity-based promotion among the computer-games fraternity. The coffee is the nine-bean blend from Base… [Read more]

The first of the new temperature-profile machines by Rancilio has made its appearance in a British coffee house. The third Rancilio Xcelsius off the Italian production line has been installed at the Bermondsey Street coffee bar in London. The machine allows the taste of an espresso to be adjusted by changing the temperature of the… [Read more]

Some interesting recent experiments between espresso engineers, a cocktail expert, a tea blender and a syrup maker may have opened up a new market sector for beverage operators who hold an alcohol licence. The concept of the ‘tea cocktail’ is not in itself a new one. However, Rory Ireland of the Roy Ireland espresso services… [Read more]

Caution has been expressed over what have, in recent years, been wildly-escalating projections of the importance of the coffee trade to the national high street. In a look at the rise of various high street chains, a national newspaper has actually thought to look at the other side of the coin, and has questioned Matthew… [Read more]

In what may be a new trend, or what may simply be coincidence, two suppliers of traditional espresso machines have both announced launches of new machines on a platform of avoiding grandiose high-tech claims, and returning to the world of commonsense espresso brewing.  The two launches are both Italian machines – the new Synchro range… [Read more]

The march of the capsule-espresso format continues, with two significant names now making their appearance in the sector – La Cimbali is set to launch two products which can work either as traditional espresso machines, brew with capsules, or brew with pods. United Coffee has launched its Campanini system, with an unusual method of brewing milky… [Read more]

In a period which has seen several pub groups consciously strengthening their work with coffee, the latest major step has been taken by the Spirit pub group, which holds the Chef and Brewer, Taylor Walker, Fayre and Square, Flaming Grill, Original Pub Company, Wacky Warehouse and Good Night Inns brands, covering around 1,300 venues in… [Read more]

The most imaginative ideas in the 2012 UK Barista Championship have been made by two of the contest’s sponsors.   Both Union Hand Roasted and Cravendale have made moves to encourage new entrants into the contest – and although the Union initiative has not gone down universally well, the company stands behind its attempt to encourage… [Read more]

There has been a big change at Coffee Kids, one of the coffee trade’s most significant organisations dedicated to improving the situation of impoverished coffee farmers. The British branch has closed and the UK committee has transferred its activity to similar work – run by the man who originally founded Coffee Kids. In a somewhat… [Read more]

A new trend has cropped up in the world of coffee-bar counter design – several manufacturers have decided that it is time for creative use of the space beneath the worktop.  New coffee-relevant ideas have now appeared from Scanomat, Marco, and Nelson. The item which has received most attention from the design community is Scanomat’s… [Read more]

An interesting new development in bringing speciality coffee to ‘secondary’ catering situations has been highlighted by Kimbo, the British branch of an Italian coffee supplier. The brand has pointed to the phenomenal rise of the capsule-coffee format, paired with the arrival of the relatively-new counter-top milk foaming machine, as the low-cost way for service of… [Read more]

A new method of preparing and serving filter coffee has been devised by a Danish inventor, who says that he has now come up with a system which is as good as, but easier than, the French press for high-standard hotel bedroom coffee service. The system has been in development for nine years and has… [Read more]

The coffee-house and café-bar trades may have fared better than expected in the Portas Review. This is the six-month investigation in which the government commissioned the media’s ‘Queen of Shops’, Mary Portas, to look at the current state of the UK’s high streets, and to offer her recommendations for improvement. In mid-December, the shopping guru… [Read more]

The café bar trade has cropped up in the showbiz pages twice in recent weeks. Following the media hype concerning the opening of Peter Andre’s coffee shop in East Grinstead (with more to follow in Brighton, London, Manchester and Sheffield, apparently), a coffee-shop set has now cropped up in the TV soap Hollyoaks, with some interesting… [Read more]

The café bar industry has responded creatively to recent adverse publicity about the trade’s need to offer facilities for breast-feeding mothers, and it has been pointed out again that promoting ‘family-friendly’ facilities can be a business-builder. The issue was highlighted in November when a mother-and-baby group staged a sit-in at Bedford railway station after staff at… [Read more]

It had to happen… following the very famous creation of the Women’s Institute pin-up calendar, and all the various charitable versions which followed it, the barista calendar has now appeared for 2012. The World Barista Champion calendar is available from Square Mile, the speciality coffee roaster of east London, at a price of £10.  All… [Read more]

There is great work being done on the streets of London this Christmas, and the coffee trade is part of it. Shelter From The Storm is a registered charity which provides hot meals and a warm bed to homeless people, and it is a unique place – it is London’s only free homeless shelter, open… [Read more]

Coffee leaves have been used as decorations and jewellery on many occasions, but one of the most unusual has just cropped up from the Eden Project, the simulated rainforest in Cornwall.  It is selling coffee and cocoa leaves, cast in bronze, at prices from £25 up to £350. The bronze cast leaves are being sold… [Read more]

Legal cases over business names in the coffee sector have become commonplace, with many law actions taking place between large corporates and relatively small single-site operators. One of the most unexpected such cases has now cropped up in Birmingham, where it is reported that the Hungry Hobbit café has been threatened with legal action if… [Read more]

Kahve Dünyası, a coffee chain from Turkey, has made the first step in a bold international expansion plan by opening its first overseas branch in Piccadilly Circus, London. The company has already made its presence felt with a series of light-hearted posters and slogans which refer to various  British stereotypes – typically, ‘thank you for… [Read more]

The excellent standard of the coffee and the cafés in Australia has become such a cliché in the European trade, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that many coffee-house owners down under are reported to be in trouble. A report by the business editor of the Canberra Times this month has suggested… [Read more]

The day of the iphone loyalty card has arrived.  The new kind of loyalty ‘card’ is the Loyalli, which has already recruited 50 retailers for its November launch.  The system works with the new kind of scannable QR code, and is promoted to the trade as being a free promotion, with no charge for the… [Read more]

A new bottled water, which raises funds for clean water in a coffee-growing nation, has appeared in one of the country’s top coffee shops and is now on offer to others.  The brand has some very unusual aspects, not least that each bottle carries a code, with which a customer can find out details of… [Read more]

John Richardson – one half of the Coffee Boys thinks so.  And he’s going to reveal all in a special webinar that he is holding soon.  There’s no charge and you don’t need any special software to watch it.  In the webinar he will explain exactly how he and fellow Coffee Boy Hugh Gilmartin have… [Read more]

Miko, the coffee brand which produces the Puro range of ethically-sourced coffees, has launched the first of a series of films showing its environmental and conservation work in various parts of the world.  One of the major reasons for producing the films is the belief that many in the coffee trade, even those who distribute… [Read more]

Paul Meikle-Janney of Coffee Community, one the longest-established barista trainers in the British trade, has launched a training app which can be used on iphones and ipads.   It is already on sale at £2.99, or £4.99 for the larger-screen version. It is called ‘Coffee: Beans, Barista and Latte Art’, and  includes pictures of coffee growing… [Read more]

The takeaway coffee trade has apparently become rather exasperated by a recent report appearing in Which?, the consumer-choice magazine. The report in Which? magazine carries a big picture showing takeaway cups branded for Starbucks, Costa, McDonalds, Caffe Nero and Greggs, claims that two and half billion paper cups are used every year, but are not… [Read more]

La Maison Du Café of Yorkshire has won an extremely unusual award – it has taken the ‘outdoor caterer of the year’ prize in the Piper-Heidsieck Racecourse Awards. The contest is sponsored by the champagne brand, and recognises various hospitality facilities in British courses. The Harrogate-based coffee company was set up in 2005 by Tom… [Read more]

Starbucks has finally announced the launch of free high-speed Wi-Fi access for all its customers in the UK. Customers will now have unlimited internet access at over 650 company-owned stores across the country. Previously, Starbucks users had to be members of the Starbucks Rewards programme to access free Wi-Fi, and has now gone free as… [Read more]

The latest in the continuing series of rows between councils and café-owners over the ‘retail mix’ of high streets has now led to criticism of council officials by the public in their local papers.  In some cases, opinion appears to be turning in favour of the café trade. The Lancashire Telegraph has reported that the… [Read more]

The extremely active wholesale supplier to the tea and coffee trade, Beyond the Bean of Bristol, has marked its fifteenth year in business by opening up an American office. The company, which is notable for its launch and promotion of the Zuma and Sweetbird brands of chocolate and flavourings, Cosy teas, its distribution of Byron… [Read more]

Within the space of eight hours we have received news of two acquisitions within the café bar industry.  First, the Welsh brewery SA Brain announced that it had taken over the south-western coffee-bar chain Coffee#1, and almost immediately afterwards, the giant Irish roaster Bewley’s announced that it had acquired the Darlington’s coffee business of London…. [Read more]

As another local authority announces its intention to tighten up its regulation of espresso machines in the catering trade, the coffee industry has expressed impatience with the time being taken by the Health and Safety Executive over its investigation into the recent explosion of a coffee machine in a public cafe. The incident, which completely… [Read more]

There has been a noticeable increase in the kind of coffee-houses which operate as a twin business – that is, not simply a café, but with business interests spread across two or more very different interests.  We have already seen the emergence of such as Look Mum, No Hands, in London, which is a top… [Read more]

In one of the most bizarre cases of the authorities against the coffee-bar trade, a police force has conceded that they were wrong to tell a café operator that he was in breach of public order laws by displaying Bible verses on a screen inside his premises. Officers attended the Salt & Light coffee house… [Read more]

The biggest progress in tea-bags over recent years has been trumped. For the past three or four years, the big advance in tea-bag brewing has been the ‘pyramid’, or ‘tea temple’, a three-dimensional bag which allows leaves of a larger size than the ‘dust’ which is commonly found in the conventional flat tea-bag.  For catering… [Read more]

Starbucks has had a testing month, will several adverse news stories appearing in the international media. It has suffered the broadcasting of a cynical song by a barista, telling of his experiences serving the public, then with the story of a barista allegedly telling a customer what he thought of her, and then a derogatory… [Read more]

The Bath Coffee Festival, which has been the pioneer event promoting speciality coffee to the consumer, will not be held in 2012 – the decision has been made to help a local project aimed at improving the town’s recreation ground, where the event is held. The refurbishment of the area has been a topic of… [Read more]

Greggs, the takeaway bakery chain which has always attracted the interest of beverage businesses because of its significant trade in coffee, has now made a decisive move towards the hot-drinks market – it has opened Greggs Moment, its first shop to concentrate on tea and coffee instead of baked goods. Sixty years after it opened… [Read more]

Masteroast, probably the most significant roaster of private-label coffee in the UK, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. Unusually, the company has no recognisable ‘brand’ or public image –  essentially being an invisible backroom boy, serving as roaster to a vast collection of the UK’s well-known brands, without getting any published credit.  The brands… [Read more]

Boston Tea Party, the well-regarded café bar chain in the west of England, has chosen the Bristol-based roaster Extract to be the new supplier of its house coffee, and has said that the move will allow the chain to use high-grade coffee from the world’s finest estates, rotated on the ‘seasonal’ principle which has become popular with… [Read more]

On Saturday, 17 September, Starbucks opened a giant new ‘flagship’ store at Times Square in New York – the site is so ‘futuristic’, to quote one metropolis newspaper, that the Gothamist website began its report: ‘People of Earth… a futuristic coffee wonderland’ ! Reports from the US tell us that ‘after a round of renovations,… [Read more]

A blend of coffee which is widely sold in coffee-houses around Britain has received the unlikely honour of having a newly-discovered orchid named after it. The coffee is Puro, a Fairtrade blend by the Miko group, and the Teagueia Puroana orchid was discovered in a rainforest which has been bought for conservation purposes by the… [Read more]

In both Britain and the United States, there has been a wave of activity over the ethical acceptability of the most expensive coffee in the world.  It is suggested that by pandering to consumer tastes over a novelty product, the coffee trade is helping to perpetuate animal cruelty in certain parts of the world. The… [Read more]

The essential next step in the fraught question of recycling paper cups is to give the consumer a reason to do it – and discounts for consumers who bring their own re-usable cup has not proved a sufficient incentive, the latest Starbucks Summit has been told. The most important step within the industry, the event… [Read more]

With the first Rainforest Alliance Week due to begin on 19th September, the environmental organisation itself has responded to criticism of its planning by acknowledging that that it should consult the coffee and café trades well in advance of next year’s event. The Alliance has come in for criticism through Coffee House magazine, which pointed… [Read more]

It is widely known, and widely appreciated, that there has been a great resurgence in the careful serving of top-quality filter coffee – but is it really a practical business strategy? At a time when the concept of the ‘brew bar’ has become widely talked about in the café trade, and the general concept of… [Read more]

The Jamaican coffee industry is about to begin a crack-down on counterfeiting and ‘passing-off’ of inferior coffees being sold as genuine Blue Mountain. There has long been a trade in the ‘counterfeiting’ of certain coffees – not just Jamaica Blue Mountain, but Monsooned Malabar and various Ethiopian coffees have been the subject of ‘passing-off’, in… [Read more]

The latest in a series of café hauntings has apparently occurred in a completely new business in Lincoln – a spirit with a habit of untying waitresses’ aprons. The site of the new Grayz on the Hill tea-room, acquired by Nora Hughes for her  new café, is a four-hundred-year-old building which has, over the centuries,… [Read more]

One of the UK’s biggest tea brands has denied that a press furore over one of its blends was a deliberate marketing ploy to gain attention. Several of the daily press enthusiastically jumped aboard the bandwagon of a silly-season story concerning Twinings’  Earl Grey blend. The producer relaunched the blend with the addition of a… [Read more]

The Caffe Nero chain has decided to give free w-fi access in its British high street cafes. In recent years a large number of cafes have decided to restrict or even completely abandon the concept of wi-fi, on the basis that it brings potentially more problems than benefits – at one time it was widely… [Read more]

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]

Coffee shops are now more popular than pubs for out-of-home eating and drinking, according to a survey by Deloitte. For their Taste of the Nation report, they questioned 3,000 consumers, and discovered that all consumers expect to eat and drink out of home a little more over the next year. However, the venue of choice… [Read more]

Branches of Starbucks in New York City have now turned against one of the sector’s least favourite class of customer – the ‘campers’, the ones who open up their laptops, sometimes order a coffee and sometimes do not, and proceed to dominate a table for several hours. It is one of the major factors in… [Read more]

Nine London venues have been shortlisted in the ‘coffee shops’ section of the London lifestyle awards.   Curiously, not all of them are specialist coffee shops as such – some of them are waffle shops and patisseries, but what they all have in common is good coffee. Among the familiar names in the shortlist are Bar… [Read more]

There is a coffee element to the new contest being run by the YBF, the Young British Foodies.  The intention is not to find a best product or best venue, as is the case with so many contests, but to identify and recognise the up-and-coming stars in various forms of food and drink. In the… [Read more]

The new top man for Starbucks in the UK is a former aide to president Bill Clinton, and holds the unique status of being the only person in the coffee trade to have been the role model for a character in a major TV series. He is Kris Engskov, who joined the American coffee chain… [Read more]

In popular modern mythology, the rise of the speciality coffee culture has been largely driven by the ‘young professional’ sector, particularly those in the financial world… which makes it all the more curious that London’s big financial centre, Canary Wharf, is only now to open its first independently-owned coffee house. The reason behind this curiosity… [Read more]

The question has come round again of whether the café trade is approaching the time of the ‘roaster-retailer’, the coffee house which roasts its own beans both for its own use and for in-the-bag sale to customers. This has been predicted on several occasions, and in recent times some of the east London coffee houses… [Read more]

One of the world’s greatest (and most expensive) coffees is now available in a decaffeinated version.  For the first time, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee has been processed with the Swiss Water decaffeination technique, and will be distributed by Sea Island Coffees of London, the authorized distributors for Europe. According to a report in the Daily… [Read more]

The UK’s best teas and coffees, as judged by the Guild of Fine Food, can now be promoted through the beverage trade with the gold star ratings they received in this year’s Great Taste Awards. There has, however, been a slight murmur of enquiry over the judging of the coffees in this year’s awards as… [Read more]

The coffee trade has made a considerable impression at one of the world’s biggest think-tank conferences.  At the TED conference in Edinburgh in July, the Coffee Common organisation drew together a collection of the UK’s top baristas, using a selection of top coffees and state-of-the-art equipment to promote the coffee trade. Coffee Common is an… [Read more]

The next new ‘origin’ to appear in the world coffee market is likely to be China, with Starbucks having made a decision to invest in coffee growing and processing in the country.  It is probably not a coincidence that Starbucks has already identified China as its biggest potential growth market. There is already a history… [Read more]

Galleria illy, the coffee brand’s exhibition of coffee and art, will be in London for a month from 12th September. It is a temporary exhibition space hosted by lighting and furnishings designers FLOS and Moroso, and will include art, literature, science, design and food and wine events presented by famous designers. The artist Francesco Clemente… [Read more]

Murmurs have begun to spread through the British beverage trade about the possibility of a new contest for tea, along the lines of the well-known coffee barista championships, following the holding of a ‘world’ event in America in which no British contestants appeared… indeed, in which only one European country was represented. The snappily-titled Tea… [Read more]

The Costa café at Great Portand Street, London, has won the ‘café and fast food’ section of the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards.  The café, designed by Stiff & Trevillion, was shortlisted against several sites known for their espresso, including Beas of Bloomsbury, Tinderbox and Peggy Porschen and Moo:baa of Birmingham. Meanwhile, Costa surprised the… [Read more]

The two biggest competitors to independent café bars are both planning to develop their interest in the ‘drive-thru’ coffee bar concept. Costa opened its latest bar in mid-June at Lydiard Fields, a busy motorway site at junction 16 of the M4, just by Swindon.  A couple of weeks previously it opened a drive-thru site at… [Read more]

It turned out to be an extremely busy time for tennis-themed cafés at this year’s Wimbledon tournament.  The coffee service was dominated by one brand – in a remarkably large sponsorship deal, Lavazza served speciality coffee at sixty different points. Six hundred staff were trained in the use of 200 coffee machines. The brand had… [Read more]

Coffee bars who serve coffee certified through the Rainforest Alliance now have an extra promotional opportunity, planned for this autumn.  The Alliance has created its own ‘awareness week’, which will run between September 19-23rd.   Although the Alliance is probably the second-most familiar ethical coffee certification, it has not before now had any promotional mechanism of… [Read more]

There has been another surprising development in the trend for well-made filter coffee in the modern café-bar. There has for some time been a groundswell of opinion behind the belief that customers will come more and more to appreciate the qualities of excellent filter coffees, in which subtleties of flavour can be brought out to… [Read more]

The coffee bar sector looks to be benefitting from the remarkable amount of interest shown by the general public in tea and coffee events over the first half of this year.  The attendance numbers are high – the Bath Coffee Festival drew 10,115 consumers over a weekend, the Allegra London Coffee Festival has published a… [Read more]

The café bar trade and its suppliers are reported be increasingly exasperated with official progress on the espresso-machine safety question.  This follows the explosion of a machine in a café on the south coast (quite possibly the only such incident in living memory), which has brought back to attention the legal requirement for café operators… [Read more]

It is expected that the café bar trade will soon come in for more criticism over the rising number of coffee shops in provincial high streets. There are already regular reports within the industry’s trade news magazine of debates in local authority meetings, in which councilors regularly complain that their high streets are becoming crammed… [Read more]

Independent coffee shops will be facing competition from Waitrose, as was recently reported in the national press.  The supermarket’s managing director was quoted as proposing to launch a chain of standalone cafés – it turns out that he was mis-quoted, and that he really said he was going to develop his instore coffee shops. He… [Read more]

There has been another twist in the story of legal actions over the ‘capsule’ coffee format pioneered by Nespresso. The Nestlé corporation has been wrangling in the European courts against those who make coffee capsules to be compatible with its Nespresso machine. Nestlé’s great selling tactic is, of course, that once a consumer has bought the… [Read more]

The most distinctive product in modern beverage retailing, which was the subject of a very sharp rise and then crash in its home country, continues to spread in London. Bubble Tea is a curious drink devised in Taiwan, in which either fruit-flavoured herbal mixes or milky teas are served with chewy tapioca balls at the bottom… [Read more]