This page is - Great features

We do not, of course, write just for our own magazine.  We are probably the most active writers promoting beverages in the UK - over the last few years, we have written on beverages for Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Speciality Food, Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, Fresh Cup, and in relevant but non-beverage titles such as FM World and FMX for the facilities-management market, On Office (office management and design) and so on.

We honestly do think that some of these were pretty good!  So we have repeated a few of them on our own site.  Hope you find them interesting.

Instant Coffee - We knew we would get shot for this, but we really did want to write a serious piece on instant, or 'soluble' coffee.  The concept of soluble/instant coffee as a ‘quality’ beverage is one which has not always been taken seriously.  However, the surprise introduction of Starbucks into the soluble market drew wide attention to the possibilities of an instant coffee sold on a quality basis.   The features of the instant product are indeed widely misunderstood – one argument says that the whole concept of ethically-sourced coffee was driven through the instant market, we have seen one brand of soluble coffee begin to promote source and origin on its packs, and there really are instances of instant coffee having won awards.   Does the concept of ‘quality’ instant coffee holds more potential than has been realised?  This was in Caterer and Hotelkeeper. 

Brewing temperatures - Temperature is absolutely critical in achieving a perfect hot beverage – that is, the one which can be sold at a premium price.  This applies across all hot beverages – it is still widely said that black tea, the British everyday favourite, should be brewed with ‘boiling’ water, although this may not be strictly correct.  It is widely known in the speciality coffee sector that a great sin with cappuccino is to brew it too hot, and a big current debate in espresso coffee is that one degree too much or too little can miss the blend’s ‘sweet spot’,  and make the difference between a great cup of coffee and an average one.  It is now becoming widely known that perfect temperature control makes the same difference between a superb filter coffee and one that is simply ‘OK’.  

This was a feature in Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

Lavazza's laboratory - over in Italy, the guys at Lavazza work with the man who runs the best restaurant in the world, Ferran Adria of El Bulli, to create astonishing products based around coffee.  They are all coffee... but they aren't all drinks.  We were privileged to go over and meet the guys who do the work... and it really is amazing stuff. Whether you want to go to these degrees or not, you'll find this fascinating.

Yes, just even daring to feature instant coffee in our work

brings us under fire.  We don't care...

Get your brew temperature for green tea a couple of degrees out,

and what do you get? Disaster!

Lavazza's solid cappuccino - you eat it with a spoon.  Honest!