Our new logo
Our new logo has been unveiled and captures the elements of our business perfectly.
The brief was for something that is visual and represents the markets that we operate in, with a focus on improving in-cup quality and working with the bean to produce great results.
We will be using elements of this logo when servicing particular industry sectors and have found that it works well on Twitter and when viewed on the iPhone.
We would love to hear your thoughts on Twitter or by email
A choice of Coffee Roasters
There comes a time in every industry where monopolies are broken and suddenly there seems to be an abundance of suppliers, all raising their game and pushing each other to new levels. This is what seems to be happening in the UK freshly roasted coffee marketplace.
Some of these suppliers have been around for many years but have been simmering beneath the radar, supplying local customers or a targeted audience, unable to break into the big-time due to the lack of social networking and cost-effective marketing opportunites, or in some cases the lack of a spotlight on their niche.
All of these factors have been consigned to history, with the growth of the speciality coffee sector, the advent of Podcasts / Twitter, accessible websites, more interest taken by consumers about where there coffee has come from and the transparency of mechanisms used to buy and roast the coffee as well as the coverage of Barista competitions in the media.
Marketing costs have plummeted and consumer demand continues to grow. There is no sign that supply will overtake demand for freshly roasted coffee in the near future.
So where does this leave the consumer or home coffee drinker?
The answer is simple: With a choice of coffee from a growing list of quality roasters
With options for choosing which coffee to buy influenced by factors such as (in no particular order) Cup of Excellence, Single Origin, Blended, by Roast Profile, Brand, Organic, FairTrade, Rain Forest Alliance Certified, Soil Association Organic Standard (and the list goes on) how are the consumers not left bewildered?
We now agonise over which coffee to order each week for personal consumption, from which roaster, and how much. Price does not enter into the equation as we have not received a poorly roasted batch of coffee in the past 2 years so can virtually be assured of a well roasted coffee.
Peer reviews prove useful and the almost endless stream of tweets about what is currently being savoured certainly helps to educate about the new coffees entering the market and eliminate from our list of ‘wants’ based on the tastes described.
There is possibly too much choice at present – but don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing and I hope the choice continues to grow.
Cornish Coffee Culture
Hands up if you think Cornwall has a thriving coffee culture.
I have just returned back from a trip discovering some of the fabulous independent cafes that Cornwall has to offer and if you’re hands are not raised high then its about time you headed to Cornwall to see what all the fuss is about. From tea-rooms to award-winning cafes, Cornwall has an amazing range of establishments.
Figgie Hobbin, situtated in Stithians Village (near Redruth) is a fine example of a quintessential English tea-room, serving a dazzling array of cakes and slices, easily the best scones with homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream that I have ever tasted, and wonderfully prepared and presented tea or a selection of french press coffees, changing monthly and sourced from CoffeeBeanShop. While you’re there, browse through the art work cards and prints or purchase one of the larger works of art adorning the walls and make sure you take time to speak to the owners who are passionate about the area, and what they do.
Most cafes we visited were using Origin Beans so we have a pretty even baseline for reviews, although Puro and Cornish Coffee featured prominently and seem to be gaining a good foothold of market share
Cofro, in Mevagissey, is an art gallery / coffee house, serving Origin coffee and uses a San Remo machine. The coffee was well made, the couch comfy, and we could have spent all day soaking in the atmosphere and keeping out of the baking hot sun, but we had a timetable to keep to so headed for Penzance where we came across Green Bean Coffee Co (click the name to see the reviews)
Fifteen Cornwall (Watergate Bay) also served up a decent espresso, using Origin beans, although I am led to believe that the quality can vary depending who is working the machine on the day you visit. I’d highly recommend booking ahead. The views are spectacular, probably the best in any UK cafe that I have visited so far.
Hub Bar and Restaurant in St Ives served up a good latte, accompanied by sandwiches stuffed with so much filling that it was impopssible to pick them up to eat, real value for money.
On our way home we stopped in at Relish Food & Drink in Wadebridge, to visit Hugo, the 2007 UK Barista Champion, who also uses Origin beans and serves up excellent coffee, complete with latte art as standard. The locals seem to have gleaned knowledge from Hugo and were full of praise for the drinks they received and were happily recommending the coffee to ‘menu browsers’. That doesn’t happen in London!
However, there are still parts of Cornwall that are devoid of good coffee. A real opportunity for improvement.
We’re already planning out next Cornish adventure. It’s so refreshing to see a coffee culture that exists in the UK that closely mirrors that of New Zealand and Australia, where quality is standard and good service exists.
Caffe Culture 2009 – Day 1 roundup
When the doors opened at 0930 there was a surge towards the badge printing machines and Olympia sprang to life. Caffe Culture 2009 was underway.
Burying my nose in the show guide for 5 minutes set me up for the day, planning my visits and allowing me to plan which seminars to sit in on.
Making full use of the quiet time (until about 1030) I visited the stands that I knew would be a few people deep later in the day, networking and meeting people whom I had arranged to see.
I was fortunate to stumble upon a few stands and people that I had not expected to see at the show, but had been in touch with over the past few months, both on Twitter and Coffee Forums.
There was a notable absence of bakers and cookie suppliers this year, perhaps they got the message last year (when the show should have been called “”Everything but coffee’ culture”), but this year these were replaced with bean-to-cup machine suppliers.
A late addition to the show was the Uber Boiler stand (http://marco.ie/uberproject), manned by Marco staff as well as James and Anette from SquareMileCoffee and the team at TeaSmith. The Uber Bar was demonstrating alternative brewing methods and was a welcome relief from the espresso offerings. I particularly enjoyed the Lishan Oolong Tea (at least I think that was the one I had) , on it’s second steep, after the dozen or so espresso’s I had consumed in the previous 6 hours.
The free seminars were well attended, particularly those covering trading in a downward market and recession-proofing your business. I would liked to have attended the SCAE workshops but could not justify the registration fees this time around but will be increasing our budget for more targeted training later this year.
Some stands looked completely out of place and were pitching for an entirely different market to the average show-goer. On the other hand, most stands let you get hands-on with the machines and try out the equipment on offer. The short play on the Nuova Simonelli Aurelia WBC Competition Machine was fun.
The most notable absence was the extra-curricular activities, such as Latte Art and Coffee in Good Spirits competitions that have been postponed, resulting in fewer industry members attending. Judging by the feedback on Twitter these events would have been the highlights of some peoples visits and may have helped raise or maintain awareness of the show for the general public.
Caffe Culture 2010 is shaping up to be a bumper show, combining the World Barista Championships, and will be held in the Grand Hall at Olympia (dates to be announced)
Thankyou to everyone who was friendly and welcoming and made my visit enjoyable. The next few months are shaping up to be busy, following up on contacts and business leads.
A fresh new look for 5M Coffee Company
We’re extremely grateful that an eagle eyed coffee-commentator, and twitter follower, alerted us to the fact that our logo bore a striking resemblance to a well established and respected coffee forum’s logo.
The decision was made pretty swiftly to refresh our image. We have engaged a new designer and our new logo is in the final stages of design. The proofs have been well received by our focus group and we are looking forward to unveiling our new look to the world early next week.
Choosing an identity is a key aspect of starting up a company and clean ‘easy on the eye’ logos that a client can identify with are widely regarded as being important.
However, this concept can be challenged as actions speak louder than pictures. You don’t need a logo to be able to make a good coffee, or indeed even have a name for your business, but these form part of the overall package.
Clean (and often quirky) logos keep you in your clients mind long after they have experienced your service.
If you use elements/iconic symbols from within your industry then you are likely to be remembered when your intended audience is performing a task or looking for a service when they see the object that you have featured in your design.
Refreshing your logo periodically does no harm. Some companies have a constantly evolving logo concept, keeping their packaging refreshed and using variations on a theme.
Check back early next week to see our new logo and our fresh new look.
10 coffee tweets per minute on Twitter and growing…
Judging by the #coffee tag usage more and more people are tweeting about their coffee experiences.
Sadly not all posts are on topic and the word coffee is being used liberally, but there are some nuggets contained in the tweets.
The best way to keep on topic is to follow those who consistently tweet about coffee, their experiences and tips of others to follow.
If you want to get in touch with the growing coffee community members who have embraced Twitter, change the search topics from the results you get from clicking the above link by adding a + in between words to define your search results (eg coffee+industry or scaa+wbc)
You’ll be amazed at who is online and may engage with you.
Kerb crawling – looking for a cafe on a Saturday morning
This morning my wife and I fancied breakfast at a cafe, and in the part of London we chose to visit we struggled to find a decent cafe that was open or served a decent coffee.
The area that we targetted has a number of chains but we wanted to try an independent.
We drove through 3 suburbs before settling on an area that had a few appealing cafes (based on signage and visibility whilst kerb crawling)
After finding a park we made our way to 3 that we had earmarked.
The first cafe we came to was a non-starter. Appealing from the road, this was no more than a greasy spoon with nice signage, so we did not venture inside.
The second cafe we came too showed promise but the menu was dire. Dripping in fat or covered in pastry there were few menu items that would constitute a cafe breakfast as we are accustomed to. Poorly lit and the coffee machine was not clean. An X in the box for this cafe.
Passing by a respectable chain cafe (that in hindsight we should have gone to) we settled on a less popular chain that looked to serve a decent coffee (based on an experience in another of of this company’s locations).
We ordered, and the food did not diappoint, but there was a limited breakfast selection with not a bowl of muesli or piece of fruit in sight. However, the coffee was just not up to standard. The lattes were served in a glass, European style but was weak and the milk overstretched. My wifes cappuccino was drinkable but nowhere near the quality we have been exposed to in other parts of London. We will not be in a rush to go back and certainly would not recommend this cafe.
There is a serious coffee void in this part of town and I aim to address this. With a few calls to be made to the cafe owners I am sure that with a little persuasion these cafes can turn themselves into a place that people will want to go to on a Saturday morning and can serve decent coffee.
The first data gathering exercise will involve finding out who the wholebean suppliers are as this may be the root of the problem (where coffee quality is concerned)
The lack of training can be overcome, but will the mindest of the owners be able to be changed?
Check back for updates
Chocolatey notes…
As I am sitting here typing the snow is falling all around but I am warm on the inside, drinking a lovely Yirgacheffe from CoffeeBeanShop.com
5M Coffee Company is ‘roaster neutral’, not favouring one over another, and this allows us to purchase and sample coffees without bias.
This week I am drinking the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, great on it’s own but with enough oomph to cut through milk and make a great latte or cappuccino.
However, the best flavours were obtained from these beans in a French Press, with rich chocolate notes coming through – just what I was looking for on a cold winters day.
I’ll be repeating this experience again this afternoon.
Social Media brings together coffee lovers
Over the past 4 months we have welcomed over 120 followers of @getnoticed – a dedicated Coffee Twitter account – who contribute to coffee discussions and share their thoughts and aspirations with other coffee lovers around the world.
Some of the connections made online have led to the start of some good friendships and introductions to other passionate people within the coffee industry.
Focussing on a niche when starting a new company should be the objective, and by following back those who tweet about coffee or industry related events we can keep up to date with current news, trends and gather feedback from clients, all from 1 application – the internet.
Twitter, the latest in a string of social networking applications, has found its feet and started to come of age, drawing in a wide audience but allowing us to seek out and connect to those who have a common interest – coffee.
We intend to embrace Twitter and other social networking applications to maintain relationships and listen to what you have to say in the world of coffee.
Blogging will continue to be a focus in 2009 and we have been receiving constructive feedback about this blog and welcome your feedback at any time.
Closing off an eventful year – farewell 2008
2008 will be remembered for years to come as the year in which the credit crunch hit the UK and took down a number of banks, high street businesses, household names (including Woolworths, Adams Kids etc) and contributed to one of the biggest surges of unemployment in living history.
None of these events have dented our hopes for the future and if nothing else, have served to bolster our resolve and tighten up our planning, in readiness for a productive and fruitful 2009.
The UK coffee scene has seen new entrants enter the roasting and cafe sectors as well as seeing the beginning of a growing cohesive coffee community, sharing the passion for open communication.
Communication has dramatically improved with the advent of Twitter, and a number of respected figures can be found online, including Mark Prince (@coffeegeek), Steve Leighton (@hasbean), James Hoffman (@squaremile), Chris Weaver (@chrisweaver) as well as the owner of 5M Coffee (@getnoticed). There are too many to name all of the industry stalwarts on here but click the @getnoticed link and browse the list of followers and those being followed to find out who is lurking just beyond your screen.
Podcasts and Video Blogs are starting to hit the mainstream and Chris Weaver’s Common Grind Podcast is being rolled out monthly, whereas Steve Leighton’s In My Mug is a more frequent video blog. Keep an eye out for the instructional videos released by James Hoffman on the SquareMileBlog.
In 2009, keep an eye out for the exciting products and services that will be announced by 5M Coffee in February / March and the continued growth of Coffee Forums UK.
All that’s left to say is Happy New Year and we hope that you have a prosperous 2009.
