5 Myths about Coffee Beans

Despite the UK drinking a staggering estimated 70 million cups of coffee per day, I have always felt that our nation really doesn’t appreciate the wonderful bean itself and has become hooked on the “Starbucks motto” that seems to laden everything with over-roasted coffee and lots of milk.

Indeed in my industry, if I hand someone what I would call a “proper espresso”, I am often given the response that it is 'far too strong', when in fact my opposite has just been used to drinking substandard coffee since they can remember.

As my family have heralded from the darkest depths of Napoli, Italy, having a good espresso in the morning and at subsequent well-timed intervals during the rest of the day is something I have grown up with.

Today I am listing a few quick myths about coffee that seems to occur on a day to day basis for me – hopefully learning a bit more about this wonderful plant will help you appreciate good, fresh coffee even more.

So...let’s begin.

MYTH NUMBER 1  -  Freezing beans keeps them fresh

The oils in roasted coffee beans are an important part of the flavour of a good cup of Joe but contrary to popular belief, freezing actually breaks down the aromatic oils in roasted coffee.

Unfortunately, a freezer can contain many other foods which have potent odours and the porous beans can absorb the flavours. Flavoured coffees can be pleasant, but I am yet to meet anyone who wants to drink seafood or garlic flavoured coffee!!

MYTH NUMBER 2 – There are two types of bean in the world, Arabica and Robusta.

Surprisingly there are over 90 different species of the Coffea genus, but due to larger harvesting we generally only use the coffea Arabica and coffea canephora (Robusta) beans.

Recently, there was even a new species of Coffea plant was discovered in Cameroon that is naturally caffeine-free!

MYTH NUMBER 3 - Beans stay fresh for weeks

The naturally occurring oils in coffee beans oxidise very rapidly, and it does also depend on the roasting date of the bean.

The coffee I always use for my City clients is always roasted about three to four days in advance of being transported to site, so freshness is key here. Once they have left their nicely sealed bag it’s estimated they have about 1 to 2 weeks at maximum before full oxidisation occurs.

MYTH NUMBER 4 - The best coffee’s in the world comes from Italy

Actually, unless someone is growing coffee as an indoor plant, you’d be very hard pressed to find coffee that is in fact grown in Italy at all. Italy's coffee fame rests on those Italian coffee company’s abilities as roasters and blenders for espresso, not on its aptitude for growing coffee!

Perhaps more importantly for those morning-after-Thursday-night-outings...

MYTH NUMBER 5 - Coffee sobers you up!

Research on mice indicates the drink may make you feel that you are coming to your senses - but it is only an illusion. In fact, it makes it harder for people to realise they are under the influence of alcohol.

Coffee simply “wakes” you up, but has no sobering effects to it.

Best stick to the water, pal!

I have advised City businesses on sourcing sustainable and cost-effective refreshment provisions, including tea and coffee supplies, for a good number of years now. Unlike most people, I’ve had firsthand experience by working in the City all my adult life, and so I know what works and what doesn’t.

Getting the right coffee in a bluechip company is a challenging task, and I am always at hand to advise on implementing the right solution.

I hope you have enjoyed my post and gained some valueable knowledge.

Until next time,

David Cocozza

Four Top Tips for choosing the right Coffee Machine

It amazes me how many times I have visited an office where the client has asked me to review their refreshment provision, and I find a coffee machine that is completely not suited to the environment it is in. Clients need me to be the expert in the field, and for those looking to go out to market and source a number of coffee machines soon or even someone checking they made sure the right machine was chosen, here is my handy guide to help you get what you require.

TIP NUMBER ONE – KNOW YOUR STAFF COUNT

 Seems like a basic principle but can more often than not be over looked. Consider how many people will be using this machine on a daily basis, and multiply that number by three (the average number of cups of coffee per day each employee has). So, if you had 100 staff, any decent refreshment solutions provider would need to find a solution which can handle approximately 300 cups per day – whether through a combination of machines, or via one single large machine…

In situations where there are large numbers of staff (for example, 600), think about installing machines that have an external grout option. The last thing you want to happen is to install 5 brand spanking new coffee machines that are all singing and all dancing, and have to empty the internal waste container 5 times per day because the usage levels were not considered in advance!

TIP NUMBER TWO – THINK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

What does your company do? In a call centre environment valuable time could be wasted by employees waiting 40 seconds for a bean to cup drink, and in these situations an instant coffee machine that brews a decent white coffee in 8 seconds may be more appropriate.

Are your staff spread across a number of floors? Think about where best to place machines in order to reduce time spent travelling back and forth, multiple tea points per floor can be the best solution.

TIP NUMBER THREE – THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE

Leases on coffee machines generally run for between 3 to 5 years, so consider how the business is expected to grow over the next 3 years and what impact this would have on capital expense, need for extra machines. You can never predict exactly what will happen, but it is safe to assume that a coffee machine that is only capable of handling 150 cups per day in a 50 staff environment will lead to further machine requirements in 3 years’ time – what if you don’t have the space for more machines? As someone once told me; fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

TIP NUMBER FOUR  - WHAT DO YOU WANT THE COFFEE MACHINE TO DO?

Do you have the requirements for tea bags, or can you cut down waste by incorporating that into the machine but losing a few features? You will eliminate the waste of used tea bags.

Do you need to have a decaffeinated option, when employees have requested so? Generally, these make up about 5% of all coffee ever drunk from a machine, so does it make sense to lose another instant option e.g. hot chocolate?

Think carefully about what your employees want from a machine, and consider which of these are necessities.

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There are of course many other factors that influence the recommendation on what coffee machines are right for YOU; to go into all of them would negate the need for me to be in business (!), and ensure this post is 4,000 words long.

Choosing the right hot beverage machine can sometimes be overlooked, so think carefully when you make your next purchase!

Ideas for Healthy Vending

One of the major challenges facing a 21st Century operator in vending is the pressure to become more environmental or health concious for the end user - more nutrious snack items in machines and movement away from soft drinks to isotonic + non-carbonated items, all placed inside machines that deliver greater energy savings.

As a retail outlet, a snack machine is 60% of the time priced higher than that of a local supermarket in order to cover costs of a 24hr offer and with healthy items priced even higher than normal snacks, those wishing to simply purchase a good old Mars bar will end up trekking to the shop - a negative for both the client who ends up losing man hours best spent working, and the operator in their cashflow. What do we do?

Branding of machines has become of more importance in public sites; wobble stickers and in-tray POS certainly direct people to the right area; psychology says that people are predispositioned in certain situations, in our case it is the punter who is expecting to see loads of Mars Bars and Snickers. By visually pointing out areas where healthy items are, you can expect to see an increase in client satisfaction and also sales.

Wherever possible, clients and operators are taking the opportunity to market specific items within vending machines, and to do this successfully you need to ensure that the offer contained within remains FRESH. Introduce a monthly rotational guest line, from stock products that you have determined to be rotational, and continually monitor the sales. Seasonality can play a big part, and I always make sure that we introduce more nutritional items in the month on January, when most people are looking to do their "detoxing"; Skinny Water is destined to be a good seller this year.

Percy Daltons have remarketed a great selection of healthy nut mixes, some of them can even count towards your "five a day". As a business development manager placing these items in machines across the UK, the cashew nuts are one of the best sellers for me, and can be priced at a relatively impressive 60p.

I recently partnered with a good friend of mine, Nick Fletcher, on bringing a "Pick and Mix" machine to the UK from Holland. The bulk vendors are branded up with funky, friendly and modern graphics and you simply chose from 5 canisters what you would like vended, or "mixed" into a 100g branded container. Each pot is one of your "five-a-day" and all the nuts are extremely healthy. Expect to see further developments in a few months once we place on more sites and develop the offer further.

Healthy vending has suffered a huge downturn in the last year due to the recession, with operators demanding they put more top sellers into the machines as the volumes to sustain simply arent there. I firmly believe that by marketing the offer well, encouraging offers in seasonal times, and by chosing the right offer for the client, healthy vending can revolutionise our industry in the next few years.

What are YOU doing about healthy vending?