Bath Coffee Festival 2011
Following the success of last years (inaugural) Bath Coffee Festival, the Geometry PR team set to work preparing for an even bigger event
The shows footprint has doubled this year with a larger main marquee and several annexes as well as special areas for live music and children’s outdoor activities
Arriving shortly after opening, the festival was already in full swing with a noticeable improvement in footfall from last year. It was standing room only, which was pleasing to see.
The Geometry PR team greeted people at the door and accepted donations for the goody bags, containing tea and coffee samples, a show guide, a milk frother stick, Walkers shortbread biscuits and several product brochures.
We made our way around the stalls in a clockwise direction and soon came across North Cotswold Brewery with their Cappuccino Stout beer available for sample and purchase. This was a likable brew and I would have happily stayed for another but it was the first taste we had and I knew that many more samples were to follow.
Fighting the urge not to try/buy too many sweet products we mustered the willpower to avoid munching our way through The Bath Buns stand of cupcakes and buns and headed for the Biscotti Kitchen stand (also seen at London Coffee Festival) via the Smart Coffee Academy tent where Daisy Rollo from Coffea Arabica was giving a talk on espresso and grinder settings.
Turning the corner (after picking up some biscotti) we bumped into the Jimmy’s Iced Coffee stand where iced coffee’s were being served from small milk containers. I quite liked the taste of these. A nice milkshake texture with enough coffee taste to make it taste like a home-made iced coffee (without the fuss)
The next stand we wanted to visit was the Malmesbury Syrups stand (to buy milkshake syrups) but they were hidden behind a wall of people so we earmarked them to visit later in the show.
We took a detour into the World of Coffee tent where producers, charities, schools and trade organisations had set out their colourful stalls. There was a kids creche here where the little ones were making butterfly (or angel?) wings whilst their parents sampled even more coffee.
Jose Melim was manning the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) stand along with the current Ibrik/Cezve Turkish Coffee World Champion Aysin Aydogdu from Cafe Mambocino was setting up for her routine and demos later in the day.
Coffee Kids UK had a stand showing images from producing countries highlighting the good work they are doing to help the children of farmers gain better education and secure their future. Donations were being collected around the festival for Coffee Kids and those who donated could visit Extract Coffee Roasters in the main tent for a coffee.
We headed out of the tent for a spot of fresh air before stopping to chat with Coffee Watercolour artist Derek Stansfield who was producing artworks from coffee at the show and personalising prints available for purchase. Derek is a talented artist who was happy to engage with people and his wife was giving information and background about the process to all who enquired. We missed Derek’s talk later in the day but from what I heard it was well attended
Ready for another coffee we made our way to the Extract Coffee Roasters stand and found David and Charlie turning out hundreds of filter coffees in a specially made copper pipe pourover rack to hold their drip filter cones. We sampled a Bolivian and a Costa Rica Zamorana Estate which we took with us into the cupping session led by Mike Riley – Head of Coffee at Taylor’s of Harrogate.
Mike was giving a talk in the Lavazza Demonstration Theatre and it was a popular talk, with no free seats. He covered the entire growing process and then touched on roasting before cupping the coffee’s in the Taylor’s range and taking questions from the floor.
Fully caffeinated we headed back to the Malmesbury Syrups stand to sample some of their new syrups in milk and purchased a sample pack for home use.
By now we needed food so headed for Colonna and Small’s coffee shop in Princes St to meet Maxwell and his team. He pointed us in the direction of Wild – a creative, organic, locally sourced food cafe where we soaked up the caffeine with a rabbit pie and a crab & chilli spaghetti before heading back to Colonna and Small’s for a Kenya Kaguyu AA filter coffee, enjoyed over a chat with the team.
We’ll need to return when their new coffee shop opens in June to take full advantage of their skills as we simply couldn’t have any more espresso yet their new La Marzocco Strada EP was begging to be used to make me an espresso…
Images from the Bath Coffee Festival 2011 have been uploaded to Flickr
Tweets from @bathcoffee reported that over 10100 people attended this event
I’m already looking forward to visiting again next year
Cashflow (and the tough decisions)
When I first set up the 5M Coffee Blog one of the functions was to document the growing pains of a small business and to help guide others through similar experiences.
Well, I keep forgetting to write about some of the challenges companies face on a daily basis but tonight I’ve set aside some time to do just that, spurred on by a real life experience and a decision that is often hard for business owners to make.
The hardest decision has already been made, and in this case it was to take a gamble and stock a product not yet sold by anyone else in the UK, the TempTag which we introduced in a previous post.
Initially we agonised over whether or not we should (or even could) throw down several hundred pounds for stock, and not know when we would see it flow back into the accounts. After all, it is the flow of money that keeps a business alive, and for smaller businesses who have not yet built up their war chest the waiting can be a painful process.
We needn’t have worried as the initial feedback received has been excellent and within days we received our first repeat order.
The process needs to repeat itself though and of course more stock needs to be ordered. Our initial gut feel was that we had enough stock and samples to see us through May and this coincided well with invoices due to come in – based on a 30 day payment cycle – so that we could place a larger order if demand permitted and allow a lead time that would overlap neatly.
What we didn’t anticipate was the early demand but upon reflection (aided by a nice long walk in the sunshine) holding stock for direct sale (which we thought might make up a bulk of orders) is not an issue. We can point prospective clients direct to the people we are supplying, a win/win for all concerned.
So the next challenge is predicting how much to order for the next shipment (as shipping and bank charges are fixed costs). This is where a well planned and executed spreadsheet comes in handy, with a sheet for costs, a sheet for profitability and a shared revenue business model, adjustable by exchange rate (a variable at least 1 person in the chain almost always has to deal with), all interlinked so that when the rate changes so do the ratios in the other formulas.
Once the math is done and a range of options is available it’s pretty straight forward to see the size of the order that can be placed comfortably and also how much you could stretch yourself (based on anticipated demand).
Once you’ve built up a trading history with your supplier chances are you’ll also be placed on an extended credit invoice period. Therefore the pain is likely to be short term, but you may need to ask!
I’d like to hear your thoughts on how you’ve overcome growing pains and invite questions to cover in future topics. What’s on your mind?
5M Coffee Company has become the UK distributor for TempTag
5M Coffee Company has become the UK distributor for TempTag and has been trialling the product when conducting coffee training
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TempTag is a sticker designed to give an instant indication when milk is at its optimum serving temperature for preparing milk-based coffees.
The feedback has been positive and we have received enthusiastic testimonials from UK users of TempTag
The TempTag allows you to get the milk steamed right first time every time! It is very easy to use and has improved the quality of the coffee in our shop from the first use! I would recomend it to anyone who wants to make great coffee.
Simon – Jack’s Coffee Shop, Lincolnshire
We have been using the temptag stickers for over a week now and I must say that they are excellent. Having found that using a temperature wand and trying to steam milk is an almost impossible task, using the stickers is a breeze as they are completely unobtrusive and they give an indication of correct temperature (by turning yellow) giving you perfectly heated milk everytime. They also have one available for soya which is very useful as with soya it is crucial not to overheat. All thats left for you to worry about is making that perfect microfoam! I’d happily recommend these to anyone.
Lee – Home Barista, East London
TempTag’s can be purchased from our web shop, with convenient payment by Paypal, or with a 3% discount for payment by invoice
Trade enquiries welcome
UK Coffee Week 2011 is underway
Earlier tonight I attended the UK Coffee Week 2011 launch party at the Hempel Hotel in London.
Surrounded by coffee art from German artist Wolfgang E. Riegelsberger, we were given a memorable and thought provoking speech about the lengths some people go to just to get a bucket of water, with African women and children often making 2 hour + round trips to fetch just 20L of water, which is sometimes not even clean
The funds from UK Coffee Week 2011 will go towards Project Waterfall, aimed at bringing fresh water to at least 7000 people as a result of a 5p levy on each cup of coffee sold at participating cafes this week
UK Coffee Week 2011 has been arranged by the Allegra Foundation, and their enthusiastic team were on hand to ensure we were well looked after, with Cognac & Espresso cocktails and tasty canapes (warm pea soup served in shot glasses, smoked salmon mousse cones and beef skewers)
It’s not too late to get involved as tickets to the London Coffee Festival are now on sale at the London Coffee Festival website
Use the Coffee Forums UK Discount Code CFOR01 to obtain a £2.50 discount on entry prices for the 3 hour sessions
For further details check out the Coffee Forums UK Press Release page or the UK Coffee Week 2011 website
Some tastes are not what they seem
On a recent trip to New Zealand I picked up a number of coffees for a friend that were roasted specially for him and as a thankyou I was invited to a cupping session this afternoon
To make up numbers a ‘mystery coffee’ was purchased and added to the lineup
Proper cupping protocol was followed and all 7 participants started by smelling the dry ground coffee. No surprises this far.
However, once the water was added and the bloom started to take place, during the wet evaluation there were several sniggers around the room and when my turn came to smell this cup it was apparent why. Writing up my notes I moved along to the next coffee, thinking to myself “‘surely not…”, and “how can that smell be there?”
The next step was breaking the crust and still this smell was there. Fragrant, and quite over-powering.
I put this thought to one side and continued with the next steps of tasting.
Coffee number 1 was thought provoking, smooth and quite likable. One that I would like to drink more of. It scored highly with me.
Coffee number 2 was consistent with my notes from the dry and wet smelling stages and a coffee I could drink all the time.
Coffee number 3 was screaming of narcotic properties*. It’s smell was sweet and sickly, pungent and overpowering, but the taste was something else again. There was a definite taste of hemp (or another more powerful substance) that was quite unmistakable. The coffee was wild and we marked it as such.
Coffee number 4 was an oaty/orangey and reminiscent of jaffa cakes with a hint of apricot too. This was also the favourite from the cupping session – shared by all participants
After some discussion and reflection our host revealed the coffees we had tasted
Coffee 1: A lovely Nicaraguan – roasted by Supreme Coffee Roasters in New Zealand, and from their Rare and Interesting collection
Coffee 2: A great Kenyan Kemgin roasted by Barista Empire in Fort St, Auckland
Coffee 4: A Panama roasted by Supreme Coffee Roasters
and lastly;
Coffee 3: The intriguing wildcard entry, was a Starbucks Kenyan coffee
I’m not sure what type of tree is depicted in the bottom right of the picture and I’m hoping it can be identified, although I’m pretty sure it’s not an ingredient, maybe just a coincidence…
I would encourage anyone holding a cupping in the next week or so to pop down to their local Starbucks store and grab a bag and cup it (12g/200mls/4min steep).
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Can 7 people all be wrong?
*these characteristics were not present when prepared as an espresso. The citrus and acidity shone through and closely matched the official description
