Tips, musings & the occasional 'grind' from our resident coffee guru.

Whilst I write this I’m slowly drinking 438mls of coffee from the Sidamo region of Ethiopia. It’s from the Wotuna Bultuma co-operative and I bought this coffee from a chap for whom quality is the only consideration whether he buys a particular coffee or not and I trust his palate and the skill of his team to roast this coffee to bring out it’s best.

I opened the bag of coffee this morning and inhaled that first burst of aroma. Hot cross buns, mincemeat, candied peel, hmmm. I weighed out 30grams in my kitchen scales, poured it into a hand grinder and turned the crank for about a minute. The smells magnified as more surface area was exposed to air, releasing gases. I can no longer pick out individual scents but a sense of sweet, richness fills my olfactory system. I drop the coffee into a waiting filter, sat inside a glass brewer on my scales, with my timer at the ready.   I wet the grounds with a little water, twenty to thirty seconds off of the boil. I then top the water up to just less than half a litre, pouring slowly, steadily. As the water drips through the coffee and filter it leaves a halo of light brown foam around the grounds - proof of the coffee’s freshness. After almost four minutes the final drips drip and I remove the filter.

I wait another minute or so before I pour any coffee into my cup. I like this cup, it’s heavy and warm and white. As I pour the coffee in, I see the colour starts as light brown, it then turns to red and then deep black. As I bring it to my mouth the aroma concentrates again. This time, it’s fruit tones – sweetness, citrus notes and lively acidity. I know as it cools, that when I have a second cup it will be sweeter and brighter still.

This coffee wasn’t quick to brew. I do have 5 minutes to spare most days. It wasn’t expensive or exclusive – I can brew 5 litres for the price of two beers at the pub or one coffee and muffin on the motorway. It was gorgeous and drinking it was an experience and a pleasure. For me that’s what coffee is about and I would encourage anyone and everyone to swap their granules for a French press, some fresh coffee and a few minutes of time to really ‘get’ coffee. If you sell cups of coffee I’d encourage you to consider how you could add that romance, theatre and flavour to your customers drinks – if I could buy this on the way to work I’d be a happier man.

I believe, that great coffee - ethically grown and brewed well - will taste better to everybody. I believe that most people - when given the choice - prefer the higher quality product and may be happy to pay for it.  I believe this because I see it almost every day in cafés and restaurants that embrace how coffee is enjoyed by customers and are rewarded with the success of strong sales and more importantly, strong customer loyalty.

But. the more I visit some of my favourite cafes, I notice that whilst I’m lucky to be served by friends who take time to discuss their product and their business, knowledgably and passionately, not every customer receives the same level of service. In fact, new customers and first timers sometimes seem to be ignored.  Great coffee sells and people return for it, but they’re more likely to return for great service.

I’m not suggesting that all staff are pushed to sell or to constantly talk to customers, as sometimes we just want to be served and left to our own devices.  But they must try to engage with their customers as well as their product - make eye contact, be honest and smile.  One of the first things I was told, when working in front of customers was ‘people buy people first and product second’ and every future sales experience is born out the fact that if you make real effort to engage you will be remembered and subsequently increase sales.

As good coffee, latte art, and great marketing become more prevalent in the day-to-day coffee experience, it’s service and the human element that will tie your customers to you and secure steady, positive growth.

At least once a day someone asks me what kind of milk is best…

Other than freshness - which is essential to create great, stable foam - all milks are capable of creating good cappuccino and latte’s - the difference is in the taste of each drink.

Thinking about food often helps us understand what happens when we taste our coffee so think about your favourite meal to eat. Most people prefer food with significant fat content, curries, fish and chips, salads with dressing, steak, and kidney pudding.

Fat spreads flavour, and lengthens and enriches a dining experience. It might not be good for you but it does taste great!

In the same way a full fat cappuccino will taste soft, rich, creamy and the flavour will linger - a skimmed milk cappuccino will taste stronger, as there’s no fat to slow the flavours from hitting your tongue, but the sensation will diminish quickly.

According to widely forwarded internet statistics there are approx 400 calories in a standard (12oz) cappuccino. I understand why this leads many people to choose skimmed - I do wonder though whether drinking a 6oz full fat drink (about 20 calories less just from the milk) would be more pleasurable and more fulfilling…

Of course… You could just have your coffee black!

In my experience there are three unchanging facts about the coffee business:

1. Coffee is a high margin product.
2. People want to buy coffee.
3. People pay more for coffee that they perceive to be of a better quality.

With the relatively low cost of good coffee equipment and products compared to the high revenue it can generate we should accept that a profitable and quality coffee offer is within the reach of all businesses, be they hospitality, catering or retail focused. However, good coffee is not prevalent in the marketplace – when did you last really enjoy the actual taste of a cup of coffee? Many businesses successfully sell the privilege of sitting on their sofas and listening to their music making customers believe that is what good coffee is all about, but if your business can offer something that tastes better then I believe that people will naturally return to it.

If you’re happy you’ve brought your product to a high enough standard, then the next challenge is getting people to taste it … people pay more for what they perceive to be better but that doesn’t always reflect the quality in the cup. If you have 800 stores and a large marketing budget you could try to compete with established brands, telling everyone how fabulous your coffee is with newspaper advertising campaigns and messages on every delivery truck. But you don’t necessarily need a big budget to bring customers through the doors and keep them there.

The cleanliness of your crockery, the visual appeal of the drink, and the expression on your waiting staffs’ faces all influence how your customer values your coffee - and all are free. As with all food and drink it is a multi-sensory experience and anything extra you can do without increasing your costs improves the offer. Use your staff to communicate how great your product is – get them to taste it and then get them to sell it. Give a cup away for free and see what happens – try a quick call to the local paper to say you are doing free coffee for one hour on Wednesday morning. Equally a member of staff standing outside your store with a tray of samples is an effective tactic if you are really selling your coffee on its taste.

If you believe in your product then shout about it, especially if you are not well known for your hot beverages. You need to be enthusiastic and engaging in order to encourage that first taste – remember people buy into people first and product second. If you put enough effort into your customers then you could soon be seeing them again with a group of friends, or booking a table, a room, a conference or a wedding at your outlet or venue, purely on the strength of your coffee born relationship – coffee really is big business.

This year, the 10th World Barista Championship was won by a guy who day in, day out, makes coffee to the highest standards from a barrow in one of London’s oldest street markets. I first met Gwilym Davies a year ago at Hotelympia where we made some coffee together for a little while on our Victoria Arduino Athena Leva machine, a beautiful and challenging espresso machine (exclusive to First Choice Coffee in the UK), that through older technology really allows you to ‘hand make’ espresso drinks. In a strange coincidence, and to my delight, one of Gwylim’s World Champion prizes was this same espresso machine.

Currently installed at Square Mile Coffee Roasters East London roastery, Gwilym and James Hoffmann (director of Square Mile and the only other UK Barista to win the WBC crown) have been playing with the Athena and James has recorded his thoughts on the results on his always interesting blog http://www.jimseven.com/2009/06/02/using-a-lever-machine/#identifier_0_938

I popped in to the roastery with Luca, our partner at Victoria Arduino, and whilst enjoying the company of James, his partner Anette and Gwilym, we were lucky enough to taste some of their coffee prepared through the Athena and discuss just why it is so satisfying to make coffee this way. The action of pulling down the handles, the silence of the pump-less extraction and the learning curve involved, add to the experience of the Barista and the customer.

Lever machines are not easy and they’re not quick, but they are a joy to work with. If you are willing to slow it down a little then they offer a fantastic opportunity to engage your customers with the theatre that a Barista made cup of coffee can produce.

A rich, aromatic coffee is the perfect end to a fantastic meal, but how often are we served bad coffee? How often is our last impression of a restaurant a burnt, bitter dishwater flavour? I bet if you have had had that experience, it’s put you off going back, even if the food was really good.

The key to fixing this is to look at how the coffee is being brewed – small adjustments can make huge changes to the flavours you’re able to achieve and may help a flat, bitter brew open into a fruity, sweet delight. Once brewing correctly, you can then explore exactly what you want to offer your customers.

Some restaurants offer coffee menus, so that the customer can choose flavours that complement and contrast with the food they’re eating – a great way to introduce people to the sheer variety of coffees out there. Coffee enjoyed with a snack such as a muffin or pastry has become mainstream, thanks to the high street coffee shops and is a good profit-making opportunity for operators. Think about how you want people to enjoy your coffee – it’s a matter of experience and preference, there are no right answers.

Professional tasters classify coffees by their acidity, their sweetness, flavours, mouth feel and finish and use many different descriptors to communicate their thoughts. I’ve tried coffees that were described as black wine-gums and fruit salad sweets and when they deliver on this, it’s quite amazing. Talk to your supplier and see, and most importantly, taste, what’s on offer.

My tips for tasting? Try it black and unsweetened – at least for the first sip and taste it as it cools as flavours develop over time. Try not to choose your coffee by roast level – It doesn’t influence strength, just how much of the roast you can taste. Also try and look beyond the country of origin – Colombian coffee can be as varied and interesting as Italian wine. Most of all, taste, taste and taste again and see what you enjoy – you may not be able to express at the moment exactly what you like about a coffee but as your palate develops so will the range of coffees you feel comfortable promoting to your customers.

Take the very best cut of beef, hung for 21 days, from the healthiest animals, reared with real care and attention. In the hands of a great chef, this could make a fantastic meal but give it to someone with no experience, no training and no skill, all you will get is a waste of potential.

Coffee travels halfway across the world before it reaches us. It’s picked by hand and farmed by people who not only have painstakingly cultivated their trees to produce a perfect crop but also rely on its quality to sustain their families and community. The coffee is bought, roasted and blended by experts and then bagged and stored to protect the freshness and quality to ensure the finest espresso.

Tragically, this fantastic product is often given to people who have never been trained, or more likely, have been trained badly, wasting its potential.

Perfectly made coffee is a science, with many variables, theories and personal preferences. But, good coffee is simple, when you’ve been shown how. I did dreadful things to coffee for years, absolutely confident that I was a fantastic Barista, until I was shown a better way. How did I know it was better? I tasted it and it was indescribably different…..a few hours later I was delivering drinks and customers were returning… to thank me! Over and over again!

A great deal of companies talk about the training they offer their staff but often the focus of is on queue management, up-selling, which cloths to use in which area of the shop floor and how to clean the equipment. What a lot of training neglects to show people is what a good drink should look and taste like and how you actually make it.

Once you taste a really good coffee, you’ll never go back. I’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t been motivated to serve great coffee, once they’ve been shown how. So, it might be time that you call in the experts to show your team?

What makes a great cappuccino? Good beans, expertly brewed and fresh milk gently textured and warmed to just the right temperature…and a little of the right training….