Archive for the ‘News’ Category

WBC Champion 2011 – Alejandro Mendez

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Congratulations to Alejandro Mendez of El Salvador for wining the WBC. It seems a fitting end to the first WBC to be held in a coffee producing country that it was won for the first time by a barista from a coffee producing country.
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WBC – World Barista Championship 2011

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

World Barista Championship 2011The World Barista Championship kicks off in Bogotá, Columbia tomorrow. It will be the first time in WBC history that a coffee producing country has hosted the event. It might also be the first time that the winner comes from a coffee producing country (Raul Rodas, from Guatemala came close last year finishing 2nd).

This year, I think it will be hard to predict a winner. Out of the top 12 baristas in last years competition, only 1 is competing again this year: Stefanos Domatiotis who finished 6th. So the competition looks pretty open.
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Coffee & Science

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Royal Society of Chemistry MagazineA couple of interesting articles have appeared in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC) magazine recently. They’re both well worth a read, although the first one may take a few attempts to understand!

  • Chemistry in every cup – you can download the pdf version here (which is much nicer to look at) or read it on RSC’s website here.
  • Bacteria could turn coffee waste into drugs – read on RSC’s website here.

No. 10 Has a Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Not sure whether the Silvia got some use during the Obamas’ visit? Did David or Samantha serve espressos to their guests? I wonder it they have a matching Rocky too?
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Coffee and Crime

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

A couple of interesting stories about coffee related crime have come to my attention recently.

Higher Coffee Prices Causing Farmers Some Headaches

As many of you are aware, coffee prices have shot up over the last year or so. This is great news for farmers as they’re getting paid more for all the hard work they put into growing coffee. However, it’s also causing a few headaches.
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Grindenstein Knock Out Boxes are Back

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

We finally have some good news on the Grindenstein knock out boxes. They’re now back in stock. Due to changes to their distribution channel we’ve been waiting a very long time for these to arrive. I think 2 out of the 3 colours have been out of stock since before Christmas (which now seems a very very long time ago).
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Are Lloyds TSB Starting a War Against Coffee (and Expensive Hamsters)?

Monday, March 21st, 2011

I was lazily watching TV last Sunday, when in an ad break something caught my eye. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Lloyds TSB’s latest advert for something they call ‘Money Manager’. Basically it’s a tool which breaks down your spending into categories so you can see where all your money goes.
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Bialetti Products

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Some of you may have noticed that recently we’ve been having some stock problems with Bialetti. Deliveries from them so far this year have been a bit patchy and consequently our stock levels have suffered, causing us to run out of several products. Deliveries are slowly improving and we do now have most models back in stock and those still out of stock we hope to be receiving by the end of March.
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Creating a Plan B for Coffee Farmers

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

I read an article on the BBC’s website last week about a group of apple growers in Herefordshire. They’d been concerned as there was no longer enough demand for their apples and consequently their livelihoods were now at stake.
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Most Popular Places to Drink Coffee – Surprising Survey Results

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

If I asked you the question: Where do you think the most popular place to drink coffee is? I would expect you to reply with the name of one of the UK’s many coffee chains: Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffè Nero etc.

Well an interesting survey has been published this week into where is the most popular place to drink coffee in, when you’re out and about. Research conducted by NPD found that McDonald’s (yes that’s McDonald’s of Golden Arches and Big Macs fame) is the largest seller of coffee in the UK, selling 84m cups in the last 12 months.
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