coffee distributors new england

THE NEWS MAGAZINE FOR THE RETAIL TEA AND COFFEE TRADES More trade news than any other paper - by far! Make the best of your talent - pages 12-13 March 2005 A tale of two tea-bags Provinces are the new coffee battleground The half year update report by research company Allegra Strategies has confirmed that the most action in the coffee-bar sector is now to be found outside London. Growth outside London has outpaced the capital three-fold in the last seven months, Allegra has reported. Meanwhile, the Manchester press has talked of 'coffee wars' in its city, with the arrival of its first McDonald's store re-branded as a café - what the chain referred to as its 'contemporary coffee lounge'. "I don't think every single town in South Wales is ready yet, but there is still significant potential. In towns where they would not have paid £1.70 for a latte, they now will. We can see a massive growth in takeaway, and we are certainly shifting toward the all-age US model. Great East-end cafe is Heritage site The Kray brothers' favourite cafe has been has been listed by English Heritage. Pellicci's, in Bethnal Green, is one of London's last surviving Fifties Italian coffee bars, and the unusual move is seen as an attempt to preserve them in the face of the increasing domination of chains. English Heritage has said: "The 1950s cafe is becoming rare and the recent proliferation of chain coffee shops is threatening their economic viability." Adrian Maddox, author of Classic Cafes, has said that the interior is ‘jawdropping marquetry’ and that the cafe is ‘one of the greatest eateries in the world’. The most expensive tea-bag in the world has been created to celebrate the 75th anniversary of PG Tips - it is coated with dia monds worth £7,500. A hundred diamonds are inside the bag, another hundred outside, and 80 are on the chain and tag. The tag 'string' is made of 100ct white gold. The actual bag is filled with real tea. The item will even tually be used as part of a prize draw to raise money to go to Manchester Children's Hospitals. Meanwhile, the local press in Berkshire have reported that a vagrant appeared in court charged with stealing one tea-bag, worth a penny, while sleeping overnight inside a local primary school. A defence lawyer pointed out that the accused could not be charged with stealing the tea-bag, because he did not actually remove it - he simply used it, and then left it. According to Allegra, the total 'branded' coffee-bar population (that is, chains of any size, but not independ ently-owned single "There will James Shapland of Coffee #1 unit cafes) grew by be an increas 5.6 per cent in the seven months to ing level of competition in our area February, and now total 2,428 units over the next two years. My in the UK. Growth outside London biggest fear is a replay of Oxford was of 7.2 per cent. The growth Street, and eight stores within a outside London is forecast to hundred yards." increase by 6.2 per cent per annum Coffee #1 - see page 11 until the end of 2006. Costa is the largest out-ofLondon operator, with 244 regional stores against Starbucks' 220. Just before the report appeared, the Coffee #1 chain of South Wales, which has already moved across the border and opened in England, told Coffee House that it believed in a growing provincial market and was targeting 'bustling market towns' within a 90-minute radius of Bristol. "We deliberately steered clear of the London boom," said managing director James Shapland. "We were sceptical of the economics of it, and we suspected that the results there would make people even more sceptical of coffee as a business. But we thought that if you put the idea in a provincial per spective, it would make sense. La Spaziale, proud platinum sponsors of the UK Barista Championships, congratulate Simon Robertson on becoming British champion... Heavy-duty crockery, glass, and dishwashing machines - and look forward to flying him to Seattle, to take part in the World Finals. 1 The press in Singapore reports a row over a Muslim-owned coffee shop which has been selling whisky- and brandy-flavoured cappuccinos, and wholesaling them to other cafes. The Islamic Religious Council has objected, but the proprietor claims to have laboratory evidence that no alcohol is involved, just flavouring. He said he had received numerous enquiries - "some wanted to order it, while others shouted bad words at me,'" he said. Two tea shops in North Lincolnshire are offering goats' milk in latte and cappuccino. Stephanie Morrison, who owns both Stephanie's Pantry and Stephanie's Kitchen, was told by customers that goats' milk helps various illnesses, including eczema and psoriasis. The Gloucester Citizen has told of a local beauty therapist who uses 'chocotherapy'. This involves real bars of chocolate which are melted and blended with almond oil and applied to the client's body. Apparently a high-cocoa content gives the best result. A typically American row has broken out in Lansing, Michigan, over the state's attempts to save money in running the local prisons. Cutting off the supply of free coffee saves a quarter of a million dollars a year - but it hasn't gone down well in the cells. In Britain, several prisons are reported to be buying large quantities of herbal tea to relax the inmates - apparently it reduces dependence on prescription and other drugs. Ethiopia, Africa's largest coffee producer, will start auctioning 10 of its finest coffees on the Internet from May. The country's agricul ture ministry reckons they will draw $4 per pound, instead of 87 cents at the farm gate. Gaggia, which has contributed coffee-trade training to kids sup ported by the Prince’s Trust in London, expects to extend the scheme to Yorkshire and Scotland. The venue for this year’s BSA October show has changed - now at Northampton Cricket Club. It’s all in the coffee game... We are delighted to report the imminent launch of the first computer game aimed at would-be coffee entrepreneurs. The Coffee Tycoon game has been devised by Alex Jamieson of California, who tells Coffee House: "The player has to make decisions on how to run their store, allocate jobs to baristas, and decide what type of coffee drinks they will offer. Each day, different events will happen that can either give the player bonuses or setbacks." Typically, if a player decides to go very heavy on frappes, the program may produce a snowstorm. "There are hundreds of these unique random events," confirmed the designer. Anarchy says Coffee Tycoon is also ‘filled with dozens of charming characters who will offer up their opinions, good or bad, on the quality of the player's store’ very true to life! The program is available as a branded promotional version, or can be retailed in coffee-bars. www.anarchyent.com Mixologists look to quality coffee-making Fracino has said that the coffee trade should take notice of the devel oping relationship between the licensed trade and quality coffee, shown by the way the Shaker Bar School, a cocktail bartender training organisation, has introduced coffee into its curriculum. Adam Freeth, managing director of Shaker, has installed a Fracino espresso machine and grinder in the school, and has said that espresso and coffee-based drinks are now ‘integral to the bartender's skills’. “We should think about how and where people are now spending their money,” said Fracino’s Angela Maxwell. “If the Shaker school thinks it is hugely important that top barmen and mixologists are now extending their imagination to espresso, it’s a trend the coffee trade now has to treat with respect.” Boughton’s Coffee House Editorial Office: 61 Colwell Drive, Witney, OX28 5NN. The editor/writer/photographist is Ian Boughton ianb@coffee-house.org.uk, tel: 01993-774779 The news website is www.coffee-house.org.uk The e-mail newsletter appears alternate months. Administration is by Trudi Roark. All logos and Kaldi by Derek West. Reg Office: Direct House, High St, Witney SAVE ON LAUNDRY COSTS! Great selection of wipe-clean, 100% coated cotton easycare tablecloths - drapes just like ordinary linen The CREATIVE LIVING COMPANY T:01604 660426 F: 01604 660479 E: mstyler@oxfree.com www.creative-coverings.com 2 A story in the middle-east press tells of a British businessman who has won a £50 million legal ruling against members of the Brunei royal family for breaching an investment agreement to launch the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain in the UK. It was alleged that a cousin of the Sultan of Brunei had failed to complete a promised investment in a venture to bring the chain to Britain. The delay was such, said the claimant, that the opportunity to launch here had now passed. It now appears that the idea of coffee-flavoured beer, which has most recently been taken up in Britain by the Meantime brewery of Greenwich, has inspired similar work across the Atlantic. Here, Union Roasters, who supply the coffee for the Meantime product, say there are anecdotal reports of the brew doing a pallet a week from Sainsbury's. In America, the launch of a coffee beer from Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, was greeted with one reviewer's comment that: 'at least it does not taste like cough syrup. But it doesn't taste much like beer, either.' In a most bizarre Californian court ruling, a male model has been awarded $15.6 million for the use of his image on a Nestle coffee jar. The court heard that the man posed as a model for Nestle in 1986, and sixteen years later recognised himself on a cof fee label. Although he had done the modelling job, he claimed that Nestle later used the picture with out his permission. The Automatic Vending Association's exhibition will be held at Earl's Court, London, between 10-12 May. Profitable talking tables? The inventor of the new method of table-top advertising inside coffee shops and restaurants has confirmed that he is ready to talk to opera tors of small chains, or even well-located single-site businesses, to offer them the system. It is a form of instore advertising which can probably use a café's existing tables, and return a contracted per-table profit each month. The man behind the system is Lloyd Keisner, who devised his Tabletalk service from his experi ence in placing advertising in other imaginative sites. "After 12 years putting stickers on black cabs, it suddenly occurred to me that nobody had invented a way of putting advertising on a coffeehouse table," he told us. "What we had to devise was a very clear, very fine material which would take a four-colour image. It's a heat-resistant, burn-proof, tabletopping which is darned hard for a customer to damage. The process can be used on most tables with a flat surface.” Tabletalk has already placed advertising on 1,200 Coffee Republic table tops (pictured), and 5,000 in varied venues through Compass, and most recently, 3,000 at Welcome Break. And yet, he says, it is practical How do you sell more coffee... for the smaller coffee-house to take part in the work. "There is an opportunity for really good independent operators in good sites.” The deal is essentially that Tabletalk rents the table space from the operator. "We take the view that its their table, but its our skill that's helping them profit from it. So, if we bring in £40 a table per month, and we have sites which make in excess of that, it's simply a question of agreeing what the operator's share is." Tabletalk: 0207 331 4345 ... more profitably? Now your everday customers are becoming more demanding, the road to profit is in really knowing your subject. New courses from the London School of Coffee are the way to put yourself a step ahead of your competitors. Try these Coffee brewing, and what all types of equipment can do: April 4, £89 What is 'cupping' and how will it help you? April 5/6 June 21/22 £89/£139 Barista - level 1 April 7, June 24 £42/£35 Barista, level 2 April 8 £42/£35 Understand roasting? Try it! May 27, June 23 £135 Coffee Comprehensive May 24 - 2 day course, £270 The flavour palate - food and coffee. May 26 - £89 Multi-use espresso maintenance tool Espresso Essentials has taken on European distribution for the Coffeetool, an American invention designed to help with the chore of cleaning an espresso machine. The manufacturers say that the tool has several helpful practical features - the fins on the body of are water-deflectors, to avoid scalding the hands while washing out the shower. The curious pin on the end is to poke clean the steam-wand. Brush-replacement is simple - they screw in to the plastic socket on the end of the handle. There are three sets of stiff bristles, and a special brassbristle cartridge for tough jobs. Price for the set of handle and brushes is £10.95; a set of three spare bristles is around £3, and the single brass-bristle brush is about the same. More information : www.coffeetool.com or www.espresso-essentials.com Several British coffee companies have been improving their websites. Has Bean reports that www.hasbean.co.uk now allows for more detailed order-placing, and the new Union one is well-detailed and entertaining there’s an interactive item which tells you which coffee will go best with your meal and your wine . (www.unionroasters.com). The courses are run by a team of internationallyrecognised tutors at the LSC's training centre in Kingston-upon-Thames. Small groups are taken, so a great deal of hands-on work is achieved. Call now to discuss how to put your business out of your competitors' reach! ry M se Eve nd of a free e the aw for a dr se! our v d by a c receioes into Winnquiry rch g ession. e a Coffee of excellence from farm to cup Tel: 0870 787 0233 peter@jamesgourmetcoffee.com A business analyst has observed that Starbucks' first alcoholic branded beverage, the coffee-flavoured liqueur produced with Jim Beam, must be positioned carefully to avoid tarnishing Starbucks' family-friendly image. The drink is not to be sold in Starbucks' stores, and the analysts question whether it will turn out to be a rival to Kahlua . info@londonschoolofcoffee.com Tele: +44 (0) 208 439 7981 Fax: +44 (0) 208 439 7729 www.londonschoolofcoffee.com 3 A mobile-kiosk coffee trader in Lincoln waited ten months for a street-trading licence - then the local highways officer ordered him to stop, on the grounds that the city council, who gave him his permit, does not have jurisdiction over pedestrian precincts. Starbucks is likely to open in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in a former Threshers off-licence building. A convenience store in Stony Stratford has replaced all its dis play coffee with empty jars, having had £800-worth of coffee stolen in two months. A customer said that 'coffee is the latest drug currency it's being shoplifted and sold to fund drug habits.' Red mushrooms are reported to be a major ingredient of a new 'healthy coffee' sold in the USA. Gano Cafe combines coffee with an extract from red mushrooms, which was once called 'soup of the emperor of 1,000 mistresses'. The company expects a European launch soon. Coca-Cola has been experi menting with a coffee-flavoured cola, using the possible brand name Blak.. Pepsi test-marketed a coffee cola in 1996 under the name Pepsi Kona. It failed, and these days resurfaces only as a collectors' item. The Indian cafe chain, Coffee Day has opened an office in Vienna, where it intends to open five coffee bars. "We hope to open 50 to 60 outlets overseas in the next year", said a company spokesman. The Drury tea and coffee shop in Brighton, which has been in busi ness for forty years, has blamed the local council's increases in parking fees for forcing it to move from a city centre site to one out side the central area. A Gloucestershire nightclub is to turn into a coffee bar at 2am, in an attempt to stop problems of cus tomers spilling out on to the streets. Capone's, of Dursley, hopes that the 'chill-out hour' will reduce the risk of trouble in the centre of the town. The local council has taken a close interest in the idea. An upmarket outdoor coffee stall has been refused permission to open in Aberdeen city centre because it would 'cheapen' the area. Caterers G & M Whyte hoped to open up a small booth to have sold a wide range of coffees, with staff dressed in French-style uniforms in an attempt to create a relaxing and continental atmos phere. The nearby John Lewis store claimed there was no need for it, as they had just invested £350,000 in their own espresso bar. Coffee was the strongest per former in Fairtrade sales last year, as business bearing the Mark increased by fifty per cent to £140million. The government is to give the Fairtrade Foundation £750,000 over the next three years to help bring more products on to the market. Kingston-uponThames has celebrated its Fairtrade Town status by launching its own coffee. Kingston Blend has been devised by John Green, who owns Traders Coffee in Surbiton. In the UK championships, twelve baristas from all over Britain came together in London to find who will represent us in the world event, and who will form the new Team UK Robertson against the world... again! The British representative at this year's World Barista Championships will be the UK's most experienced com petitor - Simon Robertson of Leoni's coffee house in Old Malton, Yorkshire, who has won the British title for the third time in four years. He will be joined in Seattle by a surprise runner-up of considerably less experience - Tom Wilkinson of Sheffield, who is a relatively new professional barista. This placing was a repeat of the Northern heat in which both took part. The British team are to wear a set of chef’s jackets with the sponsors’ logos on the. The champ’s jacket is red and all the others are in the traditional barista colour of black. The style is shown off here by WBC committee chairman Jon Willassen The top two will be invited to join four other competitors in making up the new Team UK, which is intend ed to win Britain a standing in world coffee-making. The other four are Ed Buston of Exeter, who took third place, with Pete Cavani and James Shepherd of Glasgow, and Se Gorman of Belfast. “When I was drawn first, everybody was very nice and said 'it doesn't matter, really' - but it does. Going on first rattles you. "I then made a hash of my cap puccino. It was quite unforgivable at this level - I thought one of the judges was going to hit me for doing it! Trade distributors & resellers welcome Call for an information pack Freephone 0800 074 7577 Cafeco UK Ltd Promotional and commercial images... with an understanding of coffee! "The worktops were on differ The British ent levels - I thought I was final was notable Tom Wilkinson (left) and Ed Buston for the remark clear of the secable number of minor accidents ond one, but I hit it. I stood there which befell the competitors - sev - and saw my whole world falling eral of them stumbled over the around me, handling of their cups, probably "It was awful - you feel like stormdue to nerves and being required to ing off like a spoilt kid, but out of work with video cameras within sheer sportsmanship, you just have inches of their workspace. One who to go through with it. I knew I didn't spilled a drink was no less than the have time to do the cappuccinos twice-British champion who was again, so I decided I was just going going for his third title, and who to have to pull it back with the spewas very first to compete. ciality drink. “Everybody had said they didn’t want to get drawn to go first.” Simon Robertson told us later. "It was awful - one of the toughest things I've ever had to do." Tel: 020 8806 9593 .www.imagephx.com 4 Black Country retailer Julian Graves has bought Boaters, the company which pioneered flavoured coffee in Britain. There is a plan to open the first Boatersbranded coffee shop very soon, and according to the new owner, this will be the first of a proposed chain of a hundred. A Yorkshire dales tea-room has invented its own regional icecream. Elaine Tomlinson of Lanie's Corner House, in Leyburn, says that after a lot of experimentation and tasting, she has produced a unique Wensleydale ice-cream. Simon Robertson hurries to make up points on his speciality drink - picture by Andy Fawkes in Suffolk. The council says it is considering an order to cease trading against Caffe Nero. Meanwhile, Caffe Nero has reported turnover up 40 per cent in the six months to November 2004. Pre-tax profit shot up 118 per cent to £2.1million. The chain expects to have 210 stores open by yearend at May. The Wall Street Journal has used a small east-coast UK pub to illus trate the decline of the British pub trade, and the rise of our interest in coffee. The Case is Altered, a pub in Bentley, was cited as one in which the landlords have had to open a sub-post office in the bar and have also invested £1,600 in an espresso machine, offering a discount to post-office customers if they stay for a cuppa - and, they report, sales of coffee in the bar have tripled. An amazingly unusual beverage item has just been bought and sold in the States - a tea-chest from the Boston Tea Party, which has been in the family of a man who found it the day after the event. The roller-coaster and the non-alcoholic slammer Simplicity of ingredients turned out to be the keynote of the speciality drinks made by the top two in the barista championship. The brew from the champion, Simon Robertson, appeared to be very little more than a chocolate and espresso, but had required careful preparation. "The coffee was a Java, which I Tom Wilkinson of Coffee was very lucky to get,” he told us. Revolution in Sheffield was a sur “Masteroast said 'you've got to try prise second-placing - he had this', and it had a beautiful body, already told Coffee House that he quite acidic for a Java, with a fighas only been a professional like flavour. In an instant, I said barista for nine months. 'this will work with chocolate'. He impressed the judges with a "Well, chocolate and coffee is a standard - but I saw no point in try ing to marry bacon and egg with coffee just to be different, so I went looking for the right chocolate. "I cupped coffee with pallets of chocolate, until we found the right one, a Santa Domingo, 60-70 per cent cocoa, from Barry Callebaut. “I tried floating the chocolate on the espresso, but it was too heavy. I tried to get some air into the chocolate, but a mousse didn't work, and it all became a nightmare. "The key was to hold everything at the same temperature - have the chocolate and milk sitting on top of the machine, let the espresso cool, then beat the chocolate with a little milk and egg-white. I put it into an Ibrik, just for theatre, then floated the chocolate on the espresso in nice little Turkish cups. What it did was remarkable - a roller-coaster of a drink, with lots of little taste explosions on the tongue. I'd love to say I meant it, but it was luck rather than design." non-alcoholic coffee version of a tequila slammer. "Unlike a lot of speciality coffee drinks, this is a very strong drink. "I mixed black pepper and dark chocolate, and left it on the espresso machine, which softened it to the consistency of a chocolate truf fle. I brewed the espresso into a jug, added a single teaspoonful of the chocolate mixture, and poured it into a shot glass. It was warm rather than hot, but served with grated Szechuan pepper and ground vanilla pods, it was very herbal and scented. "For a tequila slammer, you put the salt mixture on your palm first, lick it, drink the tequila, and bite the lemon.” For this, he asked the judges to dip a finger in sugar, then in the espresso. “Instead of the lemon, I did a lemon-and-lime mousse to clean the palate, and carved little spoons from a lemon rind for them to eat it from. The judges entered into the spirit of it very well!" Thailand's robusta exports are forecast to rise from last year, because Nestle says it has suffi cient stock, and so has bought only a quarter of what it did last year. The government has already intervened to buy 36,000 tonnes from farmers, which it is expected to offer abroad at low prices. The latest council to allege that a coffee chain has opened up with out applying for change-of-use permission, and erected new sig nage without approval, is Sudbury For you, they’re champions every day... ... so dress them like champions! Your baristas are the stars of your business. Creative, stylish, talented, confident, a genius with the drinks and a whizz with the customers. So, kit them out in style talk to the guys who created the uniform for Team UK Maybe next year they’ll be in the team... Free catalogue, advice, discussion with stylists who are really interested: call 0208 446 6199 www.firstconcept.com 5 Union Roasters' interest in coffee and other drinks has taken some more interesting turns. Following the exercise in pairing origin cof fees with malt whiskies, and the launch of the quite remarkable coffee beer, the London roastery has now enlisted the enthusiastic support of the famous wine writer Oz Clarke. Last month, Union achieved another first by badging packs of its Rwanda Maraba Bourbon coffee to promote Red Nose Day. The wine writer was sufficiently interested to want to go out to Rwanda to see it for himself. At Coffee House magazine, we were curious about a wine writer's interest in coffee. It has become an over-used cliché for marketers in the coffee sector to compare the progress of coffee-drinking to the progress of high-street wine sales in the 1990s - but we don't often get the chance to ask someone from the other side of that comparison. What was it that really drove the progress of wine retailing in the bottle, and are there lessons which the coffee trade can usefully learn from it? "Coffee has a long way to go before it reaches anywhere near the standard of wine retailing. One key issue is that the major retailers aren't doing their bit to recommend coffees based on their quality. Almost all I ever see in my local supermarket are price discounts and rows of branded products. "OK, so you get that in wine also - but at least there's more informa tion for the consumer at point of purchase, more expectation of what you're going to get, more notes on If you want to sell it, then explain it! “If you’re convinced of your quality, put flavour notes down and explain how delicious your espresso is... if you’re not, change your career!” - Oz Clarke laborated with their chefs on wine lists, producing them in ways which were visually impressive, high on information and supplemented by thoughtful recommendations from wait staff which made it easy, and memorable, for their customers. "This proved to be the catalyst which was followed by the real, visible growth. Any lessons we can learn in presenting coffees better on menus in café bars? "If you're convinced of your quality, then put the flavour notes down and really explain how delicious your espresso is. If you're not able to do so, then I would seriously think about changing your career! "What I'd really like to see are more cafetiere coffees in service. The act of sitting down, sharing a cafetiere between two people really is special, far more individualis tic and more like doing so over a bottle of wine. Being able to choose a different coffee according to how you feel or the time of day would be a significant step as we do that everyday with wine. If it's working for other areas in food and drink, why shouldn't it do so in coffee too?" What of Oz Clarke himself? If he walked into a coffee house tomor row, how could you best serve him? Not surprisingly, he support ed Union. "Although I love cafetiere coffee, I do like a good shot of espresso but not the fare we're treated to on the high street, which so frequently falls far too short. "My favourite is Union Roasters' Revolution blend for espresso - a coffee worthy of the name 'espres so'." flavour and so forth. Because of that, there are more reasons to purchase more bottles, more often. "In roast-and-ground sections, supermarkets' own-label coffees tend to dominate enormous areas, leaving the decent stuff squashed in the middle and frequently out of sight. "I'd like to see less marketing drivel on the pack and more real facts and above all far better quali ty coffee in those bags. More estate coffee, not just a branded, faceless mixture." So what drove the progress of wine served in the glass, in the catering and hospitality industries, and led to the more impressive wine lists we now see? "The growth of good quality restaurant wine lists was developed out of a huge shift within the indus try itself. Greater emphasis had started to be placed on the role of the chef - their ability to create something truly special, which was driven by PR that built them into a figurehead and personality in their own right. "These top chefs created a cul ture where friends would share a meal together, rather than simply a drink, because it was more accessible, affordable, and enjoyable. Wine was seen as the quintessen tial way to bring the experience together, as it offered opportunities to link the drink to the meal. "Canny restaurant managers col - La Spaziale, platinum sponsors of the UK Barista Championships, warmly congratulate Tom Wilkinson (2nd place, right) and Ed Buston (3rd), and applaud all who took part for their dedication to advancing the British speciality coffee trade 6 Field research in the mud "This is the best possible way to make a living," says Bryan Unkles thoughtfully, having just arrived from the Fairtrade Fortnight launch. "We started our company because of personal interest in ethical dealing - my wife has done several studies on third-world poverty, which is still under-publicised. Now, to be able to speak to people from the co-operatives and to hear from an Ethiopian farmer that Fairtrade changes lives, is an amazing privilege." Bryan Unkles is managing direc tor of Cafeology, a still-young com pany with the idealistic mission of helping any caterer who wants to turn their hot beverage service towards Fairtrade. Its early successes have been dramatic - being chosen to supply the big Glastonbury festival has led to several other high-profile con tracts. The Cafeology team has worked the front line, manning a sponsor’s stall at Glastonbury. This is a 13hour day, says Bryan Unkles, with unrivalled opportunity for research last year's show provided remark able insight into the breadth of the hot chocolate market. The Glastonbury outdoor festival is known for its weather swings, and, once the temperature falls at night, chocolate becomes the major cross-generation drink, overtaking every other beverage by a long way. Cafeology sold 1,100 hot chocolates in four evenings, and spoke to a lot of choco late-drinkers. "Our Fairtrade chocolate is a 32 per cent cocoa. It's per fectly true that the UK cus tomer prefers a low-cocoa chocolate, and it’s best made as a little paste from the chocolate and some steamed milk, then we expand it with more steamed milk. "We don't sell it in bulk packs - we do 20gm and 25gm sachets, and the smaller one works well in a drink up to about 10oz." in the cause? Or is the choosing of Fairtrade a timely bandwagon? "I do believe that customers want to look at Fairtrade because they believe in it. However, I also believe that not everyone entirely under stands the cause - some caterers have tried to beat us down on price because that's what they expect to do with any supplier, which means they're trying to sell Fairtrade without funding the cause… which is the whole point of it! "But now we rarely have a problem with pricing.” The British mood continues to swing towards Fairtrade, says Bryan Unkles. Cafeology sources its roasted coffee from Holland, and deliberately avoids a long list of Fairtrade origins. "A year ago, we found the trade's interest in Fairtrade was slightly sceptical - and Bryan Unkles - a 13-hour day on a festival stall two years ago, we would prob tells you a lot about customer preferences! ably never have got off the "The ground coffee is predomi - backed up with some remarkable ground at all. nantly Brazilian, and the soluble is behind-the-scenes work - if a town "We still have to do a lot of sam or university is looking for Fairtrade mainly Colombian. We could look pling, but that isn't a problem, for a list of twenty Fairtrade cof - status, and the number of Fairtrade because we enjoy doing it. We're Towns is expected to rise quite fees, but we prefer to keep it tight. set up to respond quickly, and we steeply in the next year, then "As it is, our Brazilian arabica find that people who want to find Cafeology can provide its detailed espresso is punchy - it really kicks document, 'Cause for Change', out about Fairtrade are very happy through the milk." which gives step by step advice on to see us react as fast as we do." This makes for a relatively www.cafeology.com how the whole project is managed. uncomplicated product offering, Is the retail trade really interested 7 The American publication Consumer Reports has stirred up some fun. It gave 42 packs of branded roast coffee beans, all commercially available on store shelves, to a panel of expert tasters and invited ratings. The top pick was indeed a premiumpriced coffee - but ranked second to fifth were four 'bargain' brands, priced at under half the price of the winner! There will be a show at Earl's Court, London, between 8-10 April for 'lovers of all things Italian'. La Dolce Vita is spon sored by Alfa-Romeo, no less but so far there seems a remark able lack of coffee-related exhibitors. However, we do believe that Goppion Caffè Fairtrade/organic Nativo espresso beans, for which La Machinetta tell us they have just become UK distributor, will be there. This cof fee is, we are told, a low-caffeine coffee with slightly nutty almond and vanilla tones - "an outstand ing example of Northern Italian coffee” info@lamacchinetta.com The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a coffee chain with 200 branches has raised an action against International Paper, alleging that thousands of its KX2 takeaway cups were faulty, lead ing to customers' clothes being drenched with coffee. Several UK coffee names are working on products which will be sold to raise relief funds for areas hit by the tsunami. Smith's Coffee is promoting an organic Fairtrade Sumatra in aid of the Children of Sumatra charity. Details: 01442 234239. Coopers Coffee tells us: "Our Java is a Takengon coffee grown on Sumatra. The coffees themselves are grown at altitude so therefore they remain physically unaffected by the tsunami." Tel: 01484 431450 Coffee from Aceh has already gone on sale in Oxfam's Progreso coffee bars. Cafe du Monde has launched an interest-free payment plan on Gaggia espresso machines. The plan starts at £19.82 per week for a one-group automatic machine. The payment terms are over 36 months. Details: 01322 284804. Massive research goes behind a push to increase consumption Tea - four of the best! The tea industry is spending a million and a half pounds on persuading the public to increase their consumption of the beverage by 25 per cent, or an average of one cup a day. No less a player than Asda is involved in the campaign, and it is likely that the hospitality trade will be encour aged to use information from the Tea4Health project to increase their in-the-cup sales. There is a double meaning to that campaign title. The industry has worked to prove that tea is healthy, and that four cups a day is the ideal consumption. A secondary aim is to increase consumption among the under-40s, who drink half as much tea as their elders. The Tea Council quite deliberate ly held its launch of the campaign at the Royal Society of Medicine, to show that their research has sub stance to it. A panel of experts, from nutritionists and biochemists, are believed to have put the campaign's research together, and leaflets promoting the values of tea will be made available to 6,000 health sur geries around the UK. There will also be a national radio campaign and, rather entertainingly, there will be a team of promotional 'tea-boys' touring the country. It is expected that retailers will be encouraged to follow the theme set by Asda, which has begun to dis play tea next to its fruit and veg. The hope is that caterers will actively display material encourag ing customers to choose tea. In general, the researchers con cluded, unsurprisingly, that tea drinking is beneficial for being hydrating rather than dehydrating, and that due to its relatively low caffeine content, is mood-enhanc ing yet has no negative effect on sleep quality or duration. They confirmed that tea without milk has no calories, and that although using semi-skimmed milk adds around 13 calories per cup, it also provides minerals and calci um. Tea contains some zinc and folic acid, and is a major source of manganese, necessary for bone growth, and potassium, which works on maintaining body fluid levels. Tea with milk contains Vitamin B6, Riboflavin B2 and Thiamin B1. Staff at Asda get down to putting tea displays in the fruit and veg aisles The known problem with all research on beverages and health is that projects regularly contradict each other; one part of the Tea4Health report includes the intriguing phrase that 'evidence was limited in all areas except antioxidants'. It was expected that the research would refer to antioxidants, which Tea flavonoids are comparable to the antioxidant activity of fruit and veg are now believed to work against heart disease, stroke and cancers. Plant-derived antioxidants occur in fruits, vegetables, and nuts, but also in tea and red wine. Tea flavonoids are reported to be comparable to the antioxidant activity of fruit and veg., and even more so if tea is left to brew longer. A medical study has apparently found that two cups of tea a day have the same effect in this regard as five portions of fruit and vegetables. A potentially dangerous area to comment on is cancer, where the World Cancer Research Fund has done a vast amount of work into dietary considerations - Tea4Health is careful to report that while many studies contradict each other or are inconclusive, the study takes the relatively cautious view that both green and black tea contribute to the same kind of benefits as for those foods, fruit, vegetables and cereals which are already believed to contribute to protection against cancer. Beside the expected research came some interesting work on tea and teeth. It appears that there is an increasing trend for adults to lose teeth through a gum problem resulting from the accumulation of debris at the base of the teeth - 95 per cent of the population has the problem to some degree. Fluoride is accepted to be a protector, and research says that 70 per cent of the fluoride we take in now comes from tea, perhaps because only one-tenth of the British water sup ply has fluoride added to it. Rinsing teeth with tea has shown a large amount of fluoride retained on the tooth enamel. www.tea4health.com 8 Home produce wins the allergies market KALDI Kaldi was at certain heats in the barista championship recently. At one, the female half of Kaldi was in the ladies', beside a con testant who returned to the com petition arena without washing her hands. Good grief… On the same theme, an investigation by CBS2 in New York has alleged 'disturbing trends' in the cleanliness of the city's coffee shops. At a Dunkin Donuts, inspectors found four health code violations, and said that the per sonal cleanliness of workers was inadequate, that there was evi dence of mice, that workers couldn't wash their hands properly, and no one on duty was certi fied in food safety. Forty per cent of all Starbucks locations in the city, the report alleged, had at least one critical violation on their most recent inspection. Kaldi was browsing the Krispy Kreme website and noticed the branded 'collectables' on sale. Slightly more bizarre than the Krispy Kreme boxer shorts was a panel beside it reading: 'warm memories - collectable print' Hmm… Police officers in the north are facing disciplinary action by their force, for accepting complimentary cups of coffee at a motorway service station. RoadChef has expressed surprise at what it considers a traditional courtesy. An ex-policeman from the area told his local paper: "next, they will be banned from accepting cups of tea off little old ladies who have been the victims of crime... wilfully and recklessly accepting Typhoo and Hobnobs." Badgers Hall in the high street of Chipping Camden has been popular with the local surveyors - five of them had already condemned the 15th-century building as derelict by the time Karen Pinfold and Paul Owens came looking for a site for their tea-shop. "I used to be a stonemason round here, and I know what's in these buildings," says Paul. "We reexposed all the original timbers, and found out that some of the ceiling beams were supported by nothing at all - and when we took the plaster to expose the original walls, we gained six inches each side of the room!" Karen and Paul's shop stands in what has been described as 'one of the most perfect high streets in Britain' - Chipping Camden is almost totally built of sand-coloured Cotswold stone, and it is unlikely that the street could ever be con verted into modern shopping malls. "Around here," agrees Karen with a grin, "you need planning permis sion to change a loo roll!" This means that large modern plate-glass display windows are out of the question, which led Paul and Karen to a display strategy which pleases all customers who have come looking for a traditional English tea-room. The first thing that customers see when they duck through the old door frame is the tea-table - a fine central display of all the cakes that Paul has baked that day. The determination of Paul Owens was such that, having rebuilt the old building, he then taught himself cookery from scratch, and now creates every single item of food which is sold at Badgers Hall. The idea of buying in scones horrifies him. "Chefs from high-falutin' restau rants look down on me because I'm a tea-shop cook - it cracks me up because I can prepare everything here. "I never baked at all until our cook was taken ill. She said 'well, you've watched me for two years - go on, do it yourself. "People look at the tea table and ask 'how much of it is home-made?' Well, it's all home-made! If I haven't had my hands in the mix, I would feel I'd cheated the customers." This creative attitude has resulted in several original dishes. A unique item is the 'soup platter', born of listening to customers and lateral thinking. Customers were coming in asking for soup and then following up with something else, and Karen asked herself how more efficient it could be to serve a customer just once… the answer was a 10in plate with a bowl of soup at one end, a fresh salad in the middle, and maybe a jacket potato, or quiche, or a sandwich or scone at the other end. A great British institution, the Pudding Club, was invented and still meets in Chipping Camden this inspired Karen and Paul to another idea, a successful series of 'tea parties for adults'. "There would be a buffet of cucumber sandwiches and sausage rolls, and a dozen cakes and pud dings. These were the 'not-keep ers', the fresh-cream cakes which had to be eaten that day - so we needed to keep the customers eating!" The tea menu is brief, but includes Lapsang Souchong and the citrus Lady Grey summer tea. Herbal infusions do well. "I think," says Karen thoughtfully, "herbal infusions are often chosen by people with food allergies." There is more to this than meets the eye. A café which majors on home-produced food tends to be a magnet for people with special dietary needs - they feel more comfortable there than trusting to mass-produced food elsewhere. "We always source locally, not from wholesalers. This means we know exactly where every ingredi ent comes from, and that's good because we get asked a lot of questions by customers with food intolerances. They expect us to be able to help them, and we do. "The amount of allergies and special needs we get are amazing. We have one customer who is intoler ant to everything dairy, but Paul managed to create a special muffin for her. We do a very nice sugarfree apricot scone for diabetics. "We sometimes wonder what other caterers do with these cus tomers - do they just bluff it?" 10 Coffee #1 - the appeal of fresh smoothies The south Wales coffee chain which has wider plans (see front page) is basing its strategy on freshness and quality. The Coffee #1 chain is about four years old, has half a dozen stores, doubled turnover in 2004 and expects to do the same again this year. To the delight of the local press, the latest opening was on the day Wales beat England at rugby. We caught the boss, James Shapland, just as he finished a stand-in shift at his new store in Abergavenny. This, he says, is good experience for getting to know what customers think of your store, your staff and fittingly for the day the boss stepped in, they had a record day. The Welsh press keeps saying that Coffee#1's non-exec chairman lives in Seattle, but curiously has made no link between that and the modern coffee business. "He's a Welsh lad who went to Seattle in 1979, observed the rise of Peet's and Starbucks and said : 'is this worth a crack?' "When I left investment banking to do it, my colleagues thought I was crazy." What is the coffee market in South Wales? The local TV station recently broadcast a series on Welsh cafes which suggested the whole region was stuck in the 1950s. Not so, says Coffee#1. "At one time we thought we would be confined to 30-somethings in suits, but now I see all generations progressing in coffee-speak - I saw two elderly ladies coming up to the counter, and I expected them to ask for 'ordinary white coffee', but they asked for two sip-through skinny decaf lattes!" James Shapland has chosen his own blend from a local roastery, and encourages his staff to learn about coffee. "We have turned to two great Italians who I suspect were breastfed on espresso, we take our staff to their roastery, and one result we can see is that the number of conti nental Europeans who come in to our stores for straight espresso has increased. "We encourage our staff to use our books and videos, and we've now got a lot of good ones, several fanatics, and we expect to enter a number in the next barista champi onships.” His demand for freshness extends to one major selling line. "Our point of difference is in smoothies, our Strawberry Fields and Bananarama. We're not fans of pre-made drinks, so we make them fresh - maybe the freshly-squeezed orange juice was done an hour ago, but the fruit all goes in individually. "This isn't the fastest method in the world, but we are prepared to do it because customers like to see it done, and now new got a big fol lowing of customers who come in and ask for them by name." Margaret’s for sale The eastern-counties press might be forgiven for an outbreak of cat aclysmic sensationalism recently, when they announced an event which 'had shaken the world of tea'. It was the news of the retire ment of Margaret Bacon, whose award-winning tea rooms in Baconsthorpe have quite genuinely made her a famous name in tea. The asking price for her 17th-cen tury farmhouse and business has been estimated at half a million pounds. Decent cuppas Cafédirect is launching the first Fairtrade decaffeinated black tea under its Teadirect brand. The tea has 0.2 per cent caffeine content compared with the 3 per cent in the brand¹s standard black tea. The very British theme of the promotional campaign will be 'decency'. Consumers are invited to submit examples of decent behaviour to win tea at the Ritz. With the Royal Opera House, Teadirect is to launch a series of 'decent tea dances¹. What is delightfully described as 'wet sam pling' of Teadirect decaf will be offered at each event. The Scotsman newspaper reports that afternoon tea is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, with hotels reporting an increase in demand for Earl Grey and scones. The Balmoral in Edinburgh reports sales of its afternoon teas up 12 per cent on last year, while One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow has seen 'more people than ever' taking afternoon tea. We are curious, though, about the Berkeley in Knightsbridge, which has introduced "pret-aportea" - hand-made cakes mod elled on the latest season's cat walk designs served with tea and a glass of champagne. The cakes range from an Oscar de la Renta yellow dress cookie, a chocolate rendition of a Fendi handbag and Alberta Ferrettiinspired pale green macaroons. The cake colours change with the seasons, we’re told... ! The General Store in Nottingham has what we believe to be a unique teas from Georgia (in the former USSR). The area has many tea growing villagers who manufacture their own tea by hand in their homes. The whole process is completely natural and performed by hand. Georgian Old Lady and Old Gentleman teas are from a village near Ozurgeti - we’re told it’s available nowhere else outside Georgia. 0115 969 2300 Thai authorities have successfully transformed a former opium plantation into a tea plantation - so well that it is now being promoted as an agro-tourism location! The plantation is the Doi Mae Salong in northern Thailand. The tourist board approves it because of its 'untouched remoteness' (which probably helped in its previous life!) Have you ever seen so much news in a beverage-trade magazine? Of course not! To get the very fullest news coverage, subscribe to Coffee House now only £20 ! Call 01993-774779 trudi@coffee-house.org.uk Cotswold Teas Discover your tastes in tea! Let us make it easy for you to serve and sell loose tea and make a profit at the same time. Ring to book a tasting on 01789 555023 info@cotswoldtea.com www.cotswoldtea.com 11 Explore your creativity with Fracino! The British manufacturer of espresso machines known for its enthusiastic attitude towards developing coffee-making skills, has begun work with a top bartender school. We can all learn from this in bringing exciting items to our own menus. Creating the Amarancio A distressing item often seen on restaurant menus comes in the very final words - 'liqueur coffees'. This is often an excuse to take some tired old cof fee, throw a slug of hooch into it, and charge a fancy price. So we spoke to champion barista Thomas Polti and asked for his idea of a liqueur coffee worthy of the name. Thomas, who has competed at world level and runs his own rural gastro-pub, agrees that after-the-meal coffees can fall short. "A 'liqueur coffee' made with stewed filter coffee can be dishwater. This is where you can use the versatility of the espresso machine, in creating an all-round drink which may appeal to ladies who wouldn't normally end with a liqueur because it would be too strong, and to those who wouldn't normally drink espresso." His suggested answer is the Amarancio - it's a combination of amaretto and the Italian word for 'orange'. Thomas was convinced that his speciality liqueur coffee would involve chocolate and orange in some form, but knows that a good lesson is to be ready to throw out ideas that don't work. His original idea of Cointreau, whipped cream and a dash of Punt e Mes, a fortified fruity aperitif, didn't last long. "I hadn't realised just how much acidity is in Cointreau - the coffee mixed with it, but the whipped cream didn't. It curdled, and went lumpy." He turned to an Italian favourite, amaretto. "The original amaretto is DiSaronno, which comes just down the road from where I was born. Some amarettos are thin and almost fake, but this is very full. You don't find it everywhere in Britain, but you can get it if you look." The Amarancio is to be served in a stemmed cham pagne flute, and Thomas recommends letting the glass warm up with a touch of hot water while getting every thing else ready. Put a teaspoon in, before the water this absorbs the heat, and avoids cracking delicate glass. His espresso is Supremo, a blend of his own devising which he already supplies roasted-to-order, in kilo bags, for other restaurateurs. "I brew a double espresso into a little jug. I've left a little hot water in there to warm the jug and weaken the espresso - we're verging on Americano here, but not quite as weak. I use a lipped jug because it looks more professional in front of the customer than sloshing espresso from a shot glass. "A touch of hot water into a measuring thimble brings it up to temperature before you put the alcohol in, and that's a half-measure of amaretto. I tried two-thirds of a measure, but that was too almond-y. "Pour the espresso from the jug into the glass first, which is useful because you can see your quantity, then pour the amaretto in, and stir." Double cream (high fat content, helps it float) has already been waiting in the fridge - colder cream, says Thomas, gives a denser result and is quicker to whip than room-temperature. A very small amount of cream, perhaps 50ml, goes into a cocktail shaker with some ice. "We’ve chilled down that shak er before we add a half measure of Grand Marnier, put the top on, and shake. The problem with this is that you can't see how it's pro gressing - you don't want it runny, and on the other hand you don't want to make cheese. So, some cocktail barmen hold a tumbler to the end instead of the shaker lid, so they can see what's going on." The result is poured gently over a spoon to lay on the top of the coffee in the glass. "Pour it over a spoon, or it will go to the bottom. The amount of cream we are adding is such that it is a percentage of the main drink, not a layered dessert we are making a drink, not a trifle! The cream was deliberately a small dollop, because this is something we want to drink, not have to cut with a steak knife." Right at the very end comes a second change to his original recipe. The orange has given way to a small amount of the peel of a mandarin, grated to sit on the drink together with a tiny amount of shaken chocolate. "I find that while orange can be bitter, mandarins are sweet. I think this is going to release and complement the flavour of the Grand Marnier." The resulting Amarancio is a something which Thomas Polti describes as 'a warm-to-hot drink, not too strong.' It is, he says, good-looking, practical to make behind a busy bar, and definitely profitable - he suggests that £3.50 sounds a good price. Thomas Polti (above) expressed a preference for DiSaronno amaretto liqueur, from his home area. One expert source argues that this is not, contrary to popular opinion, actually made from almonds, but from pure distilled alcohol, burnt sugar and herbs and fruits soaked in apricot kernel oil. This source called the flavour 'reminiscent of marzipan, Bakewell tart, remarkably fruity and sweet'. Another story says that DiSaronno has a legend behind it. For several months artist Bernardino Luini worked closely with a model to help him paint a fresco of the Madonna in Saronno, Italy. The girl, whose name has since been forgotten, fell in love with Bernardino, and gave him a gift of sweet almond-flavoured liqueur she made from the trees growing in her garden. That was 1525, and the recipe was passed down through the ages, until 1817, when the liqueur went into commercial production. Thomas uses his own coffee blend, Supremo - to try it, call 01525 841518 12 ... here, Angela Maxwell of Fracino invites two of the UK’s most creative baristas to show speciality drinks of their own devising. Try them... tell us how you get on. Then tell us what ideas you can share with us! Carson’s concoctions Sheffield barista Jamie Carson is one who loves experimenting - he came third in the British finals last year, and told us that he was so interested in what the other entrants were doing, he noted down all their ingredients and couldn't wait to get home to try them for himself. Jamie has contributed three ideas for you to try - these are his recipes. What's the story? Hope and glory Although any of the ingredients can be substituted, I prefer to use fair trade and organic products in this glorious drink, hence the hope part in its name. Mix one part honey to three parts ice-cold milk and pour into a large martini glass. Carefully drizzle another part honey into the glass. The viscosity of the honey will cause it to sink through the milk infusion, creating an amber layer at the bottom. Gently mix the seeds of a quarter of a vanilla pod into two parts cold double cream taking care not to allow the cream to peak. Gently pour the cream over the honey/milk mix and allow to settle. Place the tip of a teaspoon level with the bottom mark of the cream where it floats over the milk and slowly pour in two shots of espresso. The result should be four distinctive bands of colour. Cover the top of the glass with a wafer-thin piece of fairtrade chocolate to hide the entry point of the espresso and serve with a teaspoon. Top deck chocolate mocha Add one part white chocolate syrup to six parts milk, and foam as for cap puccino, ensuring not to overheat the milk. Mix two heaped teaspoons of chocolate powder (or the equivalent of chocolate syrup) with two shots espresso until a smooth paste is formed. Add the liquid of the steamed white chocolate milk to the paste and combine well. Pour into a tall stemmed heat resistant glass until 3/4 full and dust with chocolate powder. Gently spoon the white chocolate foam into the glass until it is full. Carefully place a strip of chocolate over the top of the drink and serve. Jamie’s drinks top, the Hope and Glory upper right,the mocha lower right, the Viennese gingerbread cappuccino At the bottom is the barista’s own self portrait in latte art. It’s frighteningly lifelike Viennese gingerbread cappuccino Place one part Gingerbread syrup into a tall glass. Steam milk into a smooth texture trying to make as little foam as possible. Pour the milk restricting the amount of foam over the syrup down the inside of the glass trying to prevent the syrup and milk mixing. Fill the glass 3/4 full. Pour in two parts of espresso into the drink, gently over the back of a teaspoon in order to create a band of coffee in the same way as you would for a cafe latte macchiato. Gently dust the top of the drink with a small amount of cin namon to insulate the heat of the drink. Top the glass with freshly whipped cream and sprinkle with a little nutmeg and a crushed ginger nut biscuit. The contrast of textures and tastes of the biscuit and whipped cream is a real treat. Stir well before drinking. The steps - first, use a lipped jug for pouring the espresso. Pour a diluted double shot in the glass. Use only half-measures of the amaretto, and of the Grand Marnier. Carefully pour the cream and Grand Marnier over the back of a spoon. Grated mandarin (sweeter than orange) then just a little shaken chocolate. 13 We can truthfully say that we had been looking forward to trying the Blendtec Xpress - we knew Espresso Essentials were bring ing a lower-priced machine into the country, for caterers doing about 30-50 blended drinks a day - we wanted to know what it could do. When it arrived, we were equally delighted to take a phone call from Byron Thueson, the enthusiastic sales vice-president of Blendtec in Utah, to tell us about it. What Blendtec did was look at its high-volume blender and decide what to cut down on. Vitally, he says, it wasn't the motor. "A typical low-end blender has a small motor, one speed, and no timer. The operator starts the blender, and when he gets the urge, or remembers, he comes back and switches it off - if he doesn't, it keeps blending! "We decided to use the same physical motor as in our large machines. Ours is 100 per cent solid-state, and at least fifty per cent more powerful than any com petitor at the low end. "With our large machine, we had 30 programmed cycles. We worked out which five would be most con venient for the small coffee shop." The considerations, he decided, were that a typical shop would need one 'flat' speed for milkshakes, a choice of higher speeds for blends of coffee, powders and ice, and two aggressive cycles for ice and fruit. "On four of the cycles, you'll hear the speed change during the blend cycle. Why is this valuable? "Because our blades are designed to blow the ingredients off the blade, then to slow down and let the ingredients settle, then to escalate again. What this does is to give a finer, smoother texture. We find that more activity in blender speed within the jar will reduce time and gives a better drink, whereas a constant speed takes longer for a properly-finished texture." How does Bryon Thueson sug gest that a potential buyer test the Xpress? "The most fascinating experiment in the world is done beside a grani ta machine. Dispense the granita Take half an apple... PRODUCT TESTS What you don't do, he cautions, is overdo the ice. This is where untrained users go wrong. "People put too much ice in blenders - that’s instant disaster. "Blending is all about managing temperature, and ice will release cold. If the mixture freezes in the jar, it forms a little igloo round the blade - this is 'cavitation'. To pre vent that, you reduce the amount of cold, by increasing the amount of liquid." There are, he told us, two specif ic design elements worth checking out. "When blenders were first invented in the 1920s/30s, jars were round in shape. Blendtec came along in the 70s and went to square. "Why? Try bouncing a ball on a corner wall - it goes from one wall to another, and back to the middle. The square jar moves the ingredi ents into the corner, and the ten dency is for them to move back to the middle, whereas a round jar just moves them round in a circle. "We design our blade to have a lifetime warranty. Our motor cou pling is stainless steel, high grade, warrantied for life. That coupling is never going to break on you. "But in many other blenders, the unit is designed to break, for a reason. If there is an obstruction in the jar, which the blades can't cut, then the blade breaks to prevent the motor burning out. "We won't do that - we have a motor which senses if a blade can not move an obstruction. It first kicks in a little more power, and if that doesn't work, it shuts itself off. The screen may say 'overload' and there's an audible signal. "But it will not shut down your business - you unload, switch on and off, and re-load." Verdict? We declined Byron’s suggestion to load it with rocks to test the automatic shut-down. In what we think of as more normal low-to-medium volume use, we were pleased with it. The Blendtec Xpress is £425 from Espresso Essentials, tel: 01179 533 522. There will almost certainly be an offer of free ingredients stock to go with it. mix into its jar and mix it. The result is icy and gritty. Then take the result and put that into the Blendtec - you'll find the texture is smoother and the taste is much better! "A good test is something I do most mornings. I like two cups of milk, a handful of ice cubes, a banana, strawberries or peaches or blueberries or even half an apple but don't get rid of the core or the seeds. Throw it in and see what happens! "Turn on and watch the blade speed changes, particularly on 4 and 5. Watch the ingredients go from the top to the bottom. Look for the movement in the jar." Well, we had our doubts about the half apple, but we did it. On programme 4, the blend time was 25 secs, with the motor changing at 4, 11 and 14 seconds. Even though we liked the blade fitting, we were wary at first of the instruction to pop in half an apple - but we did it anyway. The capacity turned out to be perfectly adequate, and we approved of the smoothness of the result. 14 You can sell a Senseo! In the interests of fairness (writes the editor) I can say that I was prepared to dislike the Senseo from the moment I first heard about it. I'm wary of easy-brew machines, and it also took ages to get a demo model, which didn't help. However… you can always be wrong, and first sight of the Senseo was promising. This is more suited to a domestic kitchen or an office than many coffee machines - it actually looks good in place. One statistic suggests that a quarter of Dutch kitchens have one! The Senseo is not intended as an espresso machine. It has no milksteaming or frothing mechanism, although Philips and Douwe Egberts do refer, rather curiously, to its 'delicious crema layer'. It does, however, use the general principle of extraction by means of a pressured water flow, although far less than an espresso machine. (The maker says 1.5 bar, but others in the trade rate it at 3 bar). There are several curiosities to it. At first sight, the rear-mounted water tank appears flimsy - a plasticky item on the back of the machine and holding enough for about only four cups. It turns out to be a very neat bit of design, and the angled shape means that gravity holds it firmly in place. The coffee is in pod form; the pod sits on a handled holder which is eas ily positioned in place, and the shower head clicks down to secure it. You must click it down, or the result is a minor flood. The holder turns out to be a very useful way of lifting the spent pod out and flipping it into a bin. The machine takes very little time to warm up - a minute from cold, and just a few seconds when still warm. From a 7gm pod, the extraction for a measure of about four fluid ounces is 29 seconds; we hear other users report 20 seconds. The crema has been described on a coffee-fans' forum as 'dodgy', but we had no complaints, and it passed the 'holding the sugar' test every time. The black drink is OK, but where this machine really scores is in the plain 'quick cup of white coffee with a bite'. The maker says it brews at 85C, although an American website shows a picture of a digital thermometer showing 135F, which seems a bit low, and certainly, we found the heat can be lost quite quickly if you overdo the milk. However, if you get it right, the result is a fairly ideal tea-cup full which can be downed comfortably in two or three swigs. Douwe Egberts’ own pods are in four varieties - strong, medium, mild, and decaf. Coffee fiends have criticised them, but we par ticularly like the medium. Verdict? Stock it and sell it. Your domestic customers, those who are not coffee snobs, will be delighted with it. We believe that from a retail price of £49.99, the margin on the machine should be worthwhile, although Douwe Egberts declined to give any clues. Their branded pods retail at £2.19 for 18. For ourselves - we aren't giving the demo machine back unless they come and collect it. Contact details: 0845 601 0354 PRODUCT TESTS From top pod loading, the water-tank attachment, the brew and the final cuppa The compatibility of alternative pods All trades have their 'compatible' sector - these are accessories or supplies made to fit a brand ed machine, made or sold by somebody else. And in every industry, the main brands will say 'use only our supplies' - well, of course they will. And in every trade, the buyer will investigate and make his own decision. In testing the Senseo, we knew that American enthusiasts had referred to compatible pods. As probably the widest range of 'compatible' pods for espresso machines and domestic machines of any and every brand comes from Cafeco of Edinburgh, we went to them to find out what they have to fit the Senseo. Cafeco's Adam Badger has spent eight years working on how to get the optimum result from pods, and advises on the useful tricks of how to get water going through the pod, not around it typically, keep the machine hot, and press the pod to the base of the basket. Cafeco has a fascinating variety of coffees Ethiopian, Costa Rican, the curiously-described 'buzz', Italian blends, and decaf, all of which we tried in the Senseo. We particularly liked their vanilla and their amaretto, both of which have the right balance of 'nose' and taste - aroma strong enough, and taste not too overpowering, which means the filter basket doesn't need to be washed out after using a flavour. Particularly interesting are the range of teas available - a lemon and a forest fruits, both to be served without milk, and a traditional English tea. Are compatible pods a profitable line? Is it practical and economical for the retailer to stock a wide range of pods - enough to be able to achieve impulse sales without investing heavily in stockholding? "There is no money in competing against the supermarkets for the Douwe Egberts product. To compete you need high quality, freshness and aroma. Our minimum order to the retailer is low enough to hold stock with no problems. Our current pack sizes are aimed at the home and office markets, but we are working on a smaller pack size for retail display. Our pods offer a minimum 37 per cent GP return to the retailer." Contact: 0131 653 3366 15 This is... EW N ... the leading news magazine for the retail tea and coffee trades Please deliver to - POSTAGE PAID GB OXFORD 1121 ide d ins we revie sue! is this new t Grea -brand ned e nam er desig r d blen e smalle for th See p14 . cafe The Blendtec Xpress the UK’s first automatic-cycle blender below £500. Available now from Espresso Essentials - 01179 533 522 If undelivered, kindly return to: Boughton’s, 61 Colwell Drive, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 5NN, United Kingdom