23rd August

We have yet another contender for the role of British coffee-festival organiser.  The newest proposal is from Yael Rose of Rose Events, who has a track record in such things – she put on the chocolate festival at the South Bank, London, earlier this year.   Her intention is to run ‘the first London coffee consumer show’, probably late spring or early summer next year. 

*

Coffee Republic is to sell its coffee at up to 450 Shell forecourts over the next 12 months, having launched in some sites today.  The new Coffee Republic 'To Go' brand uses the same blend as in its coffee houses, and a partner in the enterprise is  MyCoffee, providers of self-serve speciality coffee bars.  Shell has 900 sites in the UK.

*

The Australian agricultural authorities say that for the first time, they have become concerned about the amount of coffee consumed by bats.   The creatures are now eating the fruit directly off the plant, and spitting out the beans - the Australian Sub-Tropical Coffee Association president says he lost about seven thousand dollars’ worth of coffee this way in a week. The growers’ problem is that bats are a protected species, and hitherto they have been regarded as a help, in reducing the insect population in coffee plantations.

*

Readers will remember that Gwilym Davies, our world barista champ in in 2009,  is notable for wearing a flat cap.  Now we see from the northern press that the title of ‘best coffee ambience in Newcastle’ has been claimed by Joe Meagher with his Flat Caps Coffee café in Ridley Place.    Gwilym tells us that he did not trademark that flat hat image!

*

Cadbury will launch its first branded Cadbury Cocoa House at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent in early October. Several openings are already said to be planned for London for 2011, with Cadbury hoping for 50 outlets over the next five years.

*

We are sad to say that we still await samples of the aphrodisiac coffee blended by Coopers.  The blend was createdfor de Longhi, as part of a promotion for Rigby and Peller, a luxury lingerie store.  Aphrodisiac coffees are by no means new, but this may well be the first one blended in Britain. It involves a Monsooned Malabar, treated after roasting with an’oyster essence’.

*

The Speciality Coffee Association of Europe, having been unable to fine a new executive director, has re-issued its job description, with a new closing date of 30^th September.  We can send a copy to anyone interested – ask the editor.

17th August

Today’s news is largely charity-related – four items at once:

1.  Shelter from the Storm, the refuge for the homeless supported by several trade companies, has successfully moved premises after being hit with a quite unexpected request to vacate the site it had been loaned by a property developer.   Louie Salvoni told us this morning:  “We found a place, got it fitted out and up and running within three weeks of being given notice, and moved into a new building without the guests having to spend nights on the street. That was very tough but we did it.

“On the 29th September no other than Stephen Fry is hosting our annual fund raising event at the Paramount Club (top floor of Centre point). An exclusive evening with only 150 tickets available at £250 per ticket… we need the funds, as we now have rent to pay!”

2.  Allegra’s proposed Coffee Week in September, in support of its project to bring water to coffee-growing parts of Africa, has been postponed until next Spring.

3.  Kenco has become an ‘official partner’ for the annual Macmillan ‘world’s biggest coffee morning’, which this year is 24^th September.

4.  NW Global Vending is doing a sponsored 72-hole golf event at Kettering on Thursday, also in support of Macmillan. http://www.original.justgiving.com/avagolfers  

*

The London opening of the New Zealand roastery Allpress is probably going to be mid-September - the company has already begun advertising its vacancies. Tony Papas, a business partner in Allpress, heads the London operation and has a site in Shoreditch (where else, we ask?!) which will feature a café, kitchen and a roastery; the roastery will target the trade/wholesale market as opposed to the retail pack market, we hear. Ben Glazewski is the UK Business Manager and we are intrigued to hear that the fit-out for the roastery and café was actually built in New Zealand, and shipped to London in June.

*

Where are all the likely vacant retail sites in the UK?  There’s a free seminar on the subject at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch (King Edward St, London ERC1A) on 9^th September, run by the Local Data Company – places available from  ctowerton@bpf.org.uk , but apply by 2^nd September. Matthew Hopkinson of Local Data tells us: “there is a strange divide going on – we are seeing extremes, both in highs and lows, in retail vacancies in different parts of the country. We shall be discussing this and trends and analyses in retail premises.”  The LDC has also done a report on what happened to the old Woolworths stores, 60 per cent of which are apparently still vacant – we hope to bring you this next week.

 *

Even with all our stories about the problems that cafes have with their external seating, we didn’t expect this one – the Utopia in Brighton had to evacuate its outdoor seating area, which was taken over by a swarm of bees.  A professional bee-keeper said: “bees swarm in this way to breed and form a new colony. It is a natural process that has been happening for millions of years. It's just that where there were once trees and bushes and things, there are now tables and chairs.”

*

We expect this will be the favourite story of the day for many people. The AFP press agency reports that a customer was thrown out of a Starbucks in Manhattan for refusing to order the way that Starbucks wants – being a professor of English, she refuses to say ‘tall’ or ‘venti’, and on this occasion had a row with a member of staff over ordering a bagel.  The barista asked ‘do you want butter or cheese?’ and refused to accept that the customer wanted just a bagel, which appears to be a request she had not been trained for. The barista allegedly then said: ‘you're not going to get anything unless you say butter or cheese!'… and called the police. 

*

Cravendale, the milk brand which has been very active in coffee-trade exhibitions, is investing a reported million pounds in ‘the first-ever customer loyalty programme for milk’.  It’s a collect-for-prizes project, the consumers can get a teapot, three mugs, a bowl, a milk jug, three spoons and a tea towel. Cravendale hopes 150,000 consumers will respond.

*

Lavazza is to invest $250 million in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, it has been reported, and it is also said that the companies are also working to develop single-serve espresso machines and single-serve espresso capsules. 

30th July

At 4pm today, the retail experiment of Penny University in East London will close.  The business, which was begun by barista champion James Hoffmann as a coffee-house which would allow drinkers to explore the delicacies and nuances of fine coffees through various filter-based brewing processes, has come to the end of the three-month period for which Square Mile Coffee had been given use of the premises.  During that time, coffee enthusiasts gave the venture generous praise. 

James has told Coffee House: “We're a little sad to end it, but it has been a great success - far beyond our expectations in terms of business and response.  I have been  quite amused to look back at the 2009 Allegra UK summit where I thought I was aiming high talking about a £3 cup - and almost exactly a year later we opened a place where the most popular drink has been a coffee from Kenya at £4 a cup!  So one lesson from Penny University has been…  aim higher!”

*

We can expect (and we’re already seeing)  interest around the country in an initiative by the London Assembly, which is designed to encourage Mayor Boris to ‘given more powers under the planning system to protect small shops’.  The Assembly’s planning and housing committee suggests ‘corner shops’ should get protected status in local, regional and national planning policies, and recommends a change in planning rules to distinguish more between ‘essential’ retail shop uses such as grocers, bakers, butchers, greengrocers and newsagents, and ‘service’ based uses.   We see today that regional papers have taken up the idea and promoted it locally; meanwhile, we have asked the lady who chairs the committee to clarify the position regarding cafes, coffee shops and tea-rooms, and hope to have a response soon. 

Another local example comes up this morning from Tewkesbury, where the town’s independent traders launched a ‘Keep Tewkesbury Local’ campaign to keep Costa out of the town, and one business alone raised 291 signatures in support in 48 hours.   However, councillors approved the opening in a former off-licence, on the grounds that it would create 15 jobs.  A local café operator said: "the council needs to have a planning policy in order to be able to turn down applications like this from large companies. Otherwise, we're not going to be able to keep the charm of having local businesses.”

(Actually, the council said they backed it because ‘it would create between 15 and 17 jobs’. That, presumably, is 16… )

*

Coffee Republic’s first ‘new look’  re-launched coffee bar is in Hove. The new interiors and identity is by Conran & Partners, who (and we quote)  ‘have drawn influence from continental European cafés combined with US style diners – old world comfort meets new world vibrancy. Features include a clean, fresh kerbside appeal; introduction of window bar seating areas; stainless steel service stations; mix of warm wood and black and white checkerboard for the flooring and warmer, more human photography on the walls.’ 

*

Coffee#1, the  independent coffee chain with branches in Wales and the south-west, is moving eastwards – property consultants have been retained to find sites in Malmesbury and Marlborough. At the same time, the business is expanding in the Bristol area – a new opening at Thornbury, one under offer in Keynsham, and the consultants are seeking another outlet in the area at Gloucester Road, Whiteladies Road, Clifton Triangle, Clifton Village or College Green.

*

Mixed news for the Big Two in York - Costa has had an application for outdoor seating turned down on the grounds of pavement safety; they wanted three tables and ten chairs outside a shop in Lendal, but planners rejected said it would not leave pedestrians with enough space.  Officers also said the pavement café would create unwanted street clutter and “fail to preserve the setting of the adjacent listed buildings”.

However, Starbucks has won approval from the authority to continue operating a pavement café at its shop in one of the city’s busiest shopping zones, New Street, with  eight tables and 32 chairs.  Starbucks was told earlier this month that it must remove its kiosk at York Station, following a planning inspector’s ruling that it spoiled the character of the historic building.

*

Two familiar trade suppliers have cropped up in the nominations for the Vegetarian Society’s awards – both Byron Bay Cookies and Deans, the shortbread maker, are shortlisted in the ‘The Best VegSoc Approved Sweet Treat’ category. Byron Bay won it last year.

*

Vegware of Edinburgh has launched the world’s first compostable double-wall coffee cup. The manufacturer claims it is  ‘the greenest insulated hot cup on the market’, and the first insulated cup ever to be made entirely from low-carbon compostable materials. Vegware has prepared a UK-wide composting collection service in readiness for the time when organic recycling will become a financially preferable alternative to landfill.

*

A very unusual seaside coffee house has come on the market - the Warren Cafe, in Dawlish Warren (that’s the part in the south-west where the main railway line actually runs along the edge of the beach).  The resort has a nature reserve with sand dunes, a golf course, salt marsh and a spectacular beach which stretches for miles. The business currently trades with a turnover under the VAT threshold, and is on offer by Bettesworths at an asking price of £29,950. Further information -www.bettesworths.co.uk

*

The new barista trainer at Coffee United (First Choice, as was)  is Lynsey Harley – she was with Drury until quite recently, and distinguished herself by being one of the first to attempt molecular gastronomy in the UK barista championships. Meanwhile, Drury has taken on Christelle Langer who has been a barista in Belgium, Italy, and London’s Hackney.

*

Indonesia's highest Islamic body has abandoned a proposal to ban Muslims from drinking Kopi Luwak coffee, the one using beans digested by a cat-like creature – there had been a call for the coffee to be rated ‘unclean’, but the church leaders took the pragmatic decision that if the beans were washed, they are no longer unclean.

*

Entertaining little time-lapse video at http://vimeo.com/13730510  - it’s the installation of the new Loring roaster at Origin Coffee, of Cornwall. You don’t usually see Cornish folk move this fast…

*