Caffe Culture 2009 is being held on 20 & 21 May 2009.
This might seem like a long way off, but not if you are planning to exhibit.
If you are then you should already be looking for inspiration for your stand, securing sponsorship from key suppliers and planning your marketing campaign.
Is this your first time exhibiting? Stuck for ideas? - Give us a call to discuss your requirements
The CommonGrind Podcast - Number 3 (October 2008) has been uploaded tonight.
Following the early success of podcasts 1 and 2 (available on download from http://www.commongrind.co.uk), narrated by Chris Weaver with Ash Porter as a guest host and the dulcit tones of Steve Leighton at Hasbean* for the cupping portion, this podcast has been eagerly awaited by the members of Coffee Forums UK.
If you’re starting to explore the world of coffee then this easy listening podcast is a good way to get into the coffee terminology and hear the passion of some of the presenters.
Share your thoughts with the members of Coffee Forums UK or direct on the CommonGrind website.
Due to the popularity and stability of the Iberital MC2 grinder in the UK consumer market we have made a decision to use the doserless version for our home coffee training.
Where a client already has a grinder, they will be trained on their own equipment, using the Iberital MC2 grinder as reference after dialling in the grinder to produce a consistent grind for a good extraction.
A good grinder is the most important asset in your coffee equipment and maintained regularly, will outlive most espresso machines.
Using a sub-standard grinder will devalue your overall coffee experience.
With prices of the Iberital MC2 starting from £100 this grinder is a mid-market model at entry level pricing.
We’re a few steps closer to launch now and have several modules of the Coffee Academy in place.
We’ve been busy learning more about the home coffee machines our clients will be using and putting steps in place to manage the demand.
October will be a busy month for us, tidying up the website ready for launch to the world shortly.
Keep checking back for more updates.
Recently we’ve noticed that Flat White’s have been appearing on the menus at independent cafes we visit. Most are surprisingly good although on occasion they could be considered more like a cappuccino than a true Flat White.
In New Zealand and Australia the Flat White is the norm and outsells both Cappuccino’s and Lattes.
How to prepare a Flat White
1/3 espresso | 2/3 steamed milk - folded into the espresso base, creating an evenly textured milk/espresso drink
Do you serve Flat White’s at your cafe? If so, get in touch, we’d love to review it.
In October we will be launching our Coffee Photography service.
Full details can be found at http://photography.5mcoffee.com
Special Introductory Offer:
All 2 and 3 hour Coffee Photoshoots booked and paid for prior to 30 October 2008 will receive a free A4 Box Framed Canvas (worth £25)
As your coffee company takes shape and starts to grow you will amass a collection of images, documents, sound-bites, videos that are worth keeping.
I plumped for a 500gb Western Digital ‘My Book’, for approx £69, with 2 years warranty and a host of backup trial software options (although I will use Ghost to capture a complete image of my 80gb laptop hard drive next weekend)
Your company data is priceless and backing up to multiple locations is a wise move.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on external hard drives, 1 x 250gb hard drive and an 80gb hard drive is sufficient for most small businesses.
Use the smaller drive to store copies of your very important documents in case of file corruption on the larger drive.
Always make sure you store the drives away from your PC when you’re not in the office in case of accident or theft.
If you are new to business then networking with others in a similar position can help to gain answers to questions that are playing on your mind. In the UK 2 forums stand out, FreeBusinessForums and A1 Business Forums.
We’ve covered Coffee Forums already and many of you are already members at Coffee Forums UK , recognising the benefits that networking brings.
We are planning a number of networking evenings to be held around the country to bring Coffee enthusiasts together and will keep you informed of dates in the near future.
Common Grind: Tales from the Driptray - a new UK Coffee Podcast has hit the virtual airwaves.
Produced by 20 year old Head Barista at Coffee Aroma in Lincoln, Chris Weaver, this is set to become the online hub for UK Coffee Podcasters to get their thoughts out into the digital world.
The inaugural podcast has been released and was well received, featuring Steve Leighton of Hasbean, and interview with Richard Teasdale, owner of Coffee Aroma.
To become involved in next months podcast, post your topic suggestions on Coffee Forums UK in the Shape My Podcast thread.
The countdown has begun to edition 2, and is likely to feature yours truly in a cupping with Chris or a discussion about home machines.
Version 2.6 of Wordpress was released last week and is now powering the 5M Coffee Blog
Upgrades used to take 5-10 minutes with a little configuration of the database files required.
We’ve chosen to use wordpress-automatic-upgrade-plugin which has made the job a 2 minute process with little (no) technical skills required.
New versions of software normally contain bug fixes of previous versions, new functionality not seen before and added security.
As always, run a thorough test of your blog before releasing it to the public again.
