On one of my research trolls through the internet I came across something that will be a real boon to those who enjoy a coffee at the station each day while commuting to work. While it is not new to some of you it is to me and I think it’s brilliant. This big revelation is the Bite Discount Card which gives 20% off food and drink at a lot of UK railway stations (plus vouchers as well, to get stuff such as buy one get one frees and meal deals) – what’s even better is it is absolutely free! All you have to do is apply on the internet and one will be sent out to you within 14 days.

The card can be used at major food and drink outlets at stations such as Millies Cookies, Burger King, The Pasty Shop, Pumpkin Café, Upper Crust, Sloe Bar, Camden Food Co, Cafe Ritazza, Delice de France, Bonapartes, A Piece of Cake, Ixxys and Taste.

Just do a search on ‘Bite Card’ on the internet or go to: http://www.bitecard.co.uk/

There’s nothing better than a cut price coffee in the morning, so go for it!

Maybe one of the most misunderstood drinks has to be hot chocolate. Although it is associated with being a bedtime drink it is a remarkable comfort while reading a good novel on a cold afternoon in May or June (have had lots of those lately). The problem is that an acceptable hot chocolate substitute is usually obtained from a packet mix – this is perfectly good, but is no substitute for the real thing made with good quality cocoa and good quality chocolate. I will share with you my favourite hot chocolate recipe (a secret recipe handed down from my great aunt Betty). This is not a recipe for dieters …

BestCuppa’s Luxurious Hot Chocolate (courtesy of Great Aunt Betty)

Ingredients

1 pint of full cream milk

3 ounces of 72% cocoa solids chocolate

4 tablespoons of cocoa powder

4 tablespoons of brown sugar (or to taste)

1 glug of brandy or rum (omit if abstaining)

Optional additions: a little pinch of cinnamon or chilli (the chilli was added to great aunty Bets recipe as chilli hadn’t been invented in her day) and 2 fl oz of single cream

Serves 2

Gently heat the milk and then break up the chocolate into the heated milk (small pieces). Add the cocoa powder and then whisk while still gently heating until all solids have been incorporated. While still simmering, but not boiling, add the sugar and alcohol and then any additional flavourings.

Finally pour the mixture carefully into two tall mugs. Stir with a long spoon (add marshmallows if you like – I like blue marshmallows, but they are difficult to find) and then enjoy piping hot. For an even more luxurious treat, dip a Caprice praline filled biscuit or Cigarette Russes biscuit.

Do you like this recipe? Do you have a better recipe for hot chocolate? Bestcuppaintown has just added a ‘Recipes’ page to our website. If you would like us to include your recipes for cakes, beverages, recipes that include tea and coffee as ingredients, and any other recipe for an item that would conceivably be served in a café (even your favourite sandwich or baguette), then please email us. We’ll include your name and email address with every recipe we list.

Last week, while on holiday in Devon I took time out to visit the Caffé Culture 2009 exhibition in London Olympia. It was a long day with a 6:10am train from Newton Abbot Station, but bolstered with a strong latte and a Cornish pasty I braved my journey up to the Smoke, looking forward to finding new products and some new friends.

I was not disappointed as the day proved to be great with some good coffee and interesting items. As an overall impression I noticed that there were a great number of tea companies at the show and I was told that indeed many of these are giving tea a new image and it is becoming trendy again. Some examples of small contemporary tea brands include Tea Pigs, Pure Tea, Canton Tea Co, Solaris Botanicals and the Pure Tea Company. All of these have a trendy image with modern names for their tea blends (including herbal and fruit varieties) which are a million miles from the traditional tea image. In addition the majority of the tea bags were in a PLA (polylactic acid) or nylon material and pyramid shaped, presumably to give superior infusion of the leaves. I would say tea is definitely looking to be a refreshing alternative.

A new experience for me was my first Chai, which is a kind of sweetened tea that is brewed with spices and steamed milk; this is definitely worth trying as an alternative to your normal latte as it is a much lighter drink and gives a whole new dimension to tea (I have come across an increasing number of coffee shops in the UK offering Chai).

Of course items that never escape my attention at an exhibition are cakes and biscuits and there were a great number of new ones to sample. Some highlights were the new cookie range from Honeybuns, including the triple chocolate tinker, the honeyed apple cookie and the almond and salted pistachio cookie (yummy and also gluten free), the limited edition strawberry and clotted cream cookie from Byron Bay, the Cakes-to-Go new cake square flavours (passion cake, chocolate, ginger and lemon and rustic apple), the Honeyrose Bakery’s organic handbaked kids cakes and the Artisan Biscuits’ ‘My Favourite Bear’ range in chocolate, banana and raspberry and also their ‘Two by Two’ organic biscuits, again for children. Loaded down with cake and biscuit samples I went in search of quirky products and the elusive Gwilym Davies (the winner of the 2009 World Barista Champion title).

I have always loved barista/coffee/latte art and Coffee Treats are marketing a wonderful device that integrates the stencil and the chocolate into a single device that can put a design on the top of frothy coffee with no waste of chocolate at all (very neat). But one of the main highlights of the show for me had to be Vietnamese Weasel Coffee (ca phe cu’t chon) produced from robusta beans consumed by weasels, collected from their faeces and then roasted plain mixed with the fat from a particular small chicken and finally treated with a special herb wine – apparently this coffee once tasted is never forgotten … unfortunately there were no samples on offer (!) A neat little product which I thought would be a boon to the drinks stations available in hotel rooms across the UK and Europe was the coffee cube from Shelton Imports; these are individual servings of flavoured instant coffee (amaretto, brandy, sambuca, lemon, vanilla, original and cinnamon) wrapped in a vacuum sealed foil (they also did very good chocolate coated coffee beans). Finally I came across an old coffee shop favourite, the Lotus caramelised biscuit (known up and down the country as a single serve coffee give away). Lotus are now keen to extend the brand and are about to release a purchaseable biscuit twin pack (larger than the single serving) and also a spreadable version similar to peanut butter called Speculoos (already released in Belgium).

All in all the day was wonderful and I look forward to visiting the show next year which will be hosting the World Barista Championships. Our next coffee highlight will be the Coffeena exhibition in Cologne in June 2009.

Heading down to Littlehampton on the beautiful English south coast, you might be surprised to find a little jewel on the edge of the beach called East Beach Café, which is not only an architectural delight but also provides superb locally-roasted coffee and fantastic locally-sourced seasonal fresh food (supporting local businesses and the local economy).

The café has won several awards for architecture, business (Sussex New Business of the Year 2008-2009) and is also listed as one of the UK’s top 30 seaside restaurants. The latest honour is a ‘Global Gourmet’ award from British Airways in-flight magazine. The café has been so successful that the West Beach Café was recently opened to serve gourmet fish and chips and coffee to visitors and locals, and now there are cafés on both sides of the River Arun estuary.

The cafés are run by Sophie Murray in conjunction with her mother Jane, who bought a holiday apartment in Littlehampton several years ago little realising the affect this would have on her life! Bestcuppa asked Sophie how it all started, “My mother bought a holiday flat in Littlehampton for use at weekends and holidays and we both fell in love with the area… there was a beach kiosk in the South Terrace conservation area near my mother’s flat that had received planning permission to be replaced by a 100-seat burger bar and we thought that this would ruin the area as the architecture was typically utilitarian … in the end we bought the whole business as well as the existing building and ran it ourselves for a season to see if it was feasible”.

What happened next was the stuff dreams are made of. “We commissioned new designs with Thomas Heatherwick’s studio and put in plans for a new café … the Council were very supportive and excited about the high quality of the architecture and so we had a lot of help during the planning process … There was an awful lot of press coverage when we opened in June 2007 because of the architecture and we have been really, really busy ever since – so much so that we now have 30 staff across the two sites in the high season”.

The monocoque building is made of layers of contoured weathered steel, which represents a worn driftwood or seashell shape on the shore. The front of the building, facing the sea, can be opened by virtue of large windows that are protected by roller shutters after closing. The whole building is surrounded by decking that can also support customer tables outside in summer and there is a children’s playground behind it.

The architecture makes a definite visual statement and captures the imagination evoking images of the Great Pink Sea Snail from Dr Dolittle (1967). “The café is still very busy two years after opening and is patronised very much by the locals for coffee and cake but also by visitors who are pleasantly surprised to find us along the seafront”.

The popularity of the new café is a combination of the quirky architecture (the ‘Guggenheim’ effect), the location, and the excellent food and drink (very reasonably priced). Sophie is very particular about the coffee served at the East Beach and has a special blend that is roasted and supplied by Coffee Compass, also based in Littlehampton (delivered everyday by bicycle). The blend contains Sumatran, Brazilian and Ethiopian beans and is sourced from a variety of growers with the emphasis being on quality. If you like the coffee at the East Beach then bags of beans and ground are available to buy and take home so that it can be enjoyed at your leisure. As Sophie says: “I would go anywhere for a good cup of coffee and I knew that the coffee we served at East Beach had to be special”. Asked about plans for the future Sophie smiled and replied “I think as we have just opened the new West Beach Café we now need to consolidate, but who knows in the future … if there is a suitable site we could build another establishment.”

As a parting comment Sophie added “Littlehampton is a very special place. My Mum and I love it.”

Is a cup of our favourite coffee naked without the addition of a slice of cake, a cookie, biscuit or some other delectable nibble?

I’ve got to admit to being fond of something to go with my latte. When push comes to shove at the front of the queue at the coffee shop more often than not I can be seen gazing into the cake display and choosing a slice of lusciousness (I hope). I love a well made carrot cake, particularly with good cream cheese frosting. In Marks and Spencer’s I love their coffee cake and would challenge anyone to find a better one. Costa Coffee and Starbucks have me flummoxed sometimes (Costa have stopped doing their carrot cake) and I find myself going for one of those rock hard Italian biscuits (cantucci or biscotti) that you break a tooth on but that can also suck up half a cup of coffee if you dunk them. Very recently I was drawn to Newmarket and visited a small coffee shop off the main street with a little quiet patio area (I shall review it properly in due course) and they served the most wonderful Malteser-containing chocolate style cheesecake (I might be slightly ashamed of admitting to eating two slices on that particular visit)…

But everyone must have their favourite cake or biscuit to go with coffee when they are feeling just a little indulgent. Tell me about yours by e-mailing me at huw@bestcuppaintown.com.

When you visit your local coffee shop do you ask if the beans or tea are Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance certified? The concept of goods coming directly from the farmer with a reduction in middle man activity and the farmer getting a fair price for their goods is an excellent case study in social justice – but what does this mean in practice? All the major supermarkets now sell Fair Trade goods, and in particular, tea and coffee are good examples. There are now well over 1,500 different Fair Trade products on sale in the UK; the majority are being sold at a premium price, but where are the profits going?

The supporters of Fair Trade point to a consistent (fair) market price for coffee and tea that allows producers to produce more or diversify into other crops. In addition, Fair Trade supports social projects in the farming areas to improve conditions and provide support to growers and workers.

Critics of Fair Trade are quick to point out that the premium price paid for this coffee and tea is nothing more than a subsidy keeping the price artificially high. They argue that this goes against the law of supply and demand and produces a market where there is over-production as more farmers will be attracted to grow produce that they can sell at the inflated price.

As far as Fair Trade goods in supermarkets and coffee shops are concerned is this just a case of ‘greenwashing’ so that these companies can feel good about the effort they are making toward helping the downtrodden farmer while still making a good profit, or are they not so cynical. Again the only way to determine the truth is to ask questions. So if you want to buy Fair Trade do ask what proportion of the profits goes to the grower of the product. If the answer is 5p out of every £2.50 jar of instant coffee then it is likely that Fair Trade is not worth the effort and you should buy the normal coffee at a lower price and then give a sum you feel appropriate to a development charity.

For those in the know, a good cup of coffee is as much a delight as a fine wine. So what makes a good cup of coffee and what does the coffee aficionado look out for? In the same way as wine producing countries, coffee producing countries rely on their climate, soil and the altitude of the plantation to produce the quality of coffee bean (not forgetting the processing and roasting of the beans). There are three main coffee growing areas in the world and these are East Africa/Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America (all of these are situated in tropical climates between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn). The majority of large commercial growers produce their coffee from two varieties – the Coffea arabic (Arabica) and Coffea canephora (Robusta) although there are several other species which are used by smaller growers as well, such as Coffea liberica and Coffea excelsa.

Arabica coffee beans are grown at high altitude and have a more refined flavour than other common coffee species such as Robusta, which is grown for its high yield and disease resistance at lower altitude but has a much more acidic flavour. Arabica, which accounts for 75% of world production, produces quality coffee beans for the best cup of coffee, and this is recognised the world over.

But where are the best coffee beans grown?

The jury is out on this, although there are several small coffee growing regions which lay claim to the highest quality best tasting beans. One of the most well known coffees has to be Jamaica Blue Mountain, which has a gained a reputation of being some of the most expensive coffee in the world. The beans are grown in the 2,300 m high mountains between Kingston and Port Maria in a perfect climate of high rainfall with cool misty conditions and well drained fertile soil. 

A definite contender for best coffee also has to be Kona coffee (Arabica) grown in Hawaii on the slopes of Mount Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the North and South Kona districts. Again here there is an excellent climate with bright sunny mornings, humid rainy afternoons and mild nights to produce the best coffee growing conditions.

Another region which is rapidly gaining a reputation for quality coffee production is Indonesia, where the variety of climate and altitude gives such a great variety of flavours and also provides us with the favourite term for a cup of coffee – a ‘cup of Java’. But no matter what local knowledge you have there is no substitute for trying some of these high quality coffees and determining what taste and blend is good for you. The best person to ask advice on what flavour characteristics you should be looking out for is your best buddy, your barista.

“Excuse me, madam, would you please be so kind as to bring me a spot of rum? I would like to have a drink.”

Perhaps not rum, but since the beginning of March 2009, Coffee Pirate has been serving Fairtrade, organic and relationship coffees from ‘Java Queen’, its adapted mini-motorhome, to the commuters of Cambridge, Wisconsin, USA.

Coffee Pirate is the brainchild of Sydney Krieger, who came up with the idea while holidaying in New Zealand when she saw coffee being sold from a sports utility vehicle (SUV). She had wanted to open a coffee shop for years, but didn’t want the overheads of a fixed location, especially in this financial climate, and so hunted down a 1978 Toyota Chinook mini-motorhome and had it extensively refitted to include a galley-style kitchen that incorporates a cooker, refrigerator and espresso machine – all powered by propane or an electric generator. This resulted in a vehicle capable of serving the perfect cup of espresso literally in the middle of nowhere. Oh, Java Queen was also sprayed black and had the corporate ‘skull and crossbone’ logo (a cup and crossed spoons) adorned across the bonnet – the quirky, fun pirate theme is impossible to miss …! Gar!

Bestcuppaintown caught up with Capt’n Sydney and we asked her some questions about Coffee Pirate.

So, obvious question really – why pirate?

Actually there were several reasons, first and foremost independence. Just as pirates were the first privateers for independent business (although their methods were a bit dicey) they were free and moved around. I like the idea of being able to go place to place instead of a fixed location. Travelling merchant, coffee gypsy, etc., didn’t seem as catchy. I was also really please with the cool logo of a cup with crossed spoons! For several years my husband was a pirate in a Ren Faire – and I also kinda ‘pirated’ the idea from someone else…! Something with a theme is more fun and it gives people a chance to have a bit of a laugh.

Tell us about the good ship Java Queen

Java Queen is a 1978 Toyota Chinook mini-motorhome. I bought the vehicle with this idea in mind. I searched for a vehicle that would be the right size for me to handle, not be hugely obtrusive, looked interesting and could get decent gas mileage. I wanted an older vehicle, something I could recycle and give new life to. I found the Toyota online when I was searching for other vehicles and loved the shape of it. It has a 4-cylinder engine with relatively low mileage for its age and the window configuration was perfect for walk up or drive up. It was not easy – and quite pricey – to convert, even though I used as much from the original vehicle as I could; but I had to take into account health department regulations, practicality and even the odd shape of it. It required thinking out of the box, literally, to make it all work.

You use Fairtrade, organic, and recyclable products. Does this attract new custom?

Maybe. I prefer to operate in this manner because it is the right thing to do ecologically and my products (coffee, chocolate, etc.) not only encourage fair trade, but are, I believe, the best available. I’m VERY picky about my coffee. If that is not of a first concern to my customers, hopefully they will just like the taste of it!

We appreciate you are limited for space, but have you any plans to extend the range of products you offer, to include (for example) sandwiches, cakes, etc.

Probably not too much, except for special catering events when requested by the client. I have limited room, plus it’s better to do a few things really well than try and do everything. Coffee is what I do. I have tea, cocoa, etc., and in the warmer weather iced drinks and Italian sodas. I have a friend who wants to try crepes with Nutella, but that would only be for fairs and festivals. My baker makes fabulous biscotti and we are working on shortbread as well. Keep it simple, right?

How many people make up Coffee Pirate? Do you have any plans to increase your fleet of Coffee Pirate vehicles?

So far it’s just me – though I have help at special events. But yes I absolutely have plans to expand, but right now I am a flotilla of one. I plan to franchise, so people who want an independent business opportunity can avail themselves of a unique way to earn a living. I am already looking around for another vehicle, but I don’t think I will do anything serious until late autumn when I have a little down time.

What’s your most popular product?

Different days, different folks like certain things. Surprisingly my ‘treasure chest’ has received a lot of attention (latte with flavour of butter rum, hazelnut and caramel). My coffee is made French press style, so that also goes quite well. All in all about 50/50 for café drinks and regular cups of coffee.

How is business, considering we’re in the throes of a credit crisis?

I started this in the midst of economic troubles. If I make it through, yay! I think people may give up some of their big pleasures, the more expensive ones, but keep the little ones such as a really good cup of joe or a nice cappuccino. My goal is to provide the best I can for their money – because they deserve it. AND if you bring your own mug, you get a quarter off (.25)! The idea is to keep the overhead low, move to where the business is best and provide the best service and product available. And hope everyone has a good time as well!

Bestcuppaintown wants to thank Coffee Pirate for taking time out of its busy day to talk to us, and we want to wish Coffee Pirate a prosperous future – we salute innovative, fun, business ventures. Java Queen docks at Deerfield (7-11am, near library) each Monday and Wednesday, Cambridge (6-10am, near junction of Highways 12 and 18) every Tuesday and Thursday, and Fort Atkinson (7-11am, Ace Hardware parking lot) each Friday. Unsurprisingly, June 5-7 this year, they’ll be attending the Pirate Festival in Fort Washington!

106 E. North Street

Cambridge, WI 53523

USA

www.coffeepirate.net

On 25 March 2009, initially in London only, Starbucks will start selling what it has been calling a “breakthrough in instant coffee”. VIA™ Ready Brew, according to the company, is a transformational instant coffee that replicates the body and flavour of Starbucks coffee in an instant form. Quoting from their official press release, “While some instant coffees use lower-quality coffee beans and add chemicals and by-products, Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew is 100% natural roasted coffee, made without preservatives or processing aids. In developing Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew, Starbucks developed a proprietary, patent-pending technology to preserve the coffee’s taste, quality and freshness.”

Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew was launched first in Chicago and Seattle on 3 March, to much initial acclaim. It is the product of nearly 20 years work and bestcuppaintown was excited to receive pre-launch samples to taste test. In fact, we had enough samples to allow us to put together a ‘tasting panel’ consisting of friends who regularly visit cafés like Starbucks. None of us are professional baristas, and so our thoughts and opinions are those of the vast majority of Starbucks customers.

The idea behind Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew is that you carry around either a wallet of three sachets of coffee (UK price £1.20) or a box of 12 sachets (price £3.95), so that when you can’t get to a Starbucks to buy a coffee, you have this equally acceptable substitute to enjoy instead. [Yes, yes, it's been said already, "when are you ever not near a Starbucks?!] There are two varieties of Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew – a rich Italian Roast and a medium Colombia. I asked our tasting panel to comment on appearance, smell, texture, taste/aftertaste, packaging, and price, and a precis of their opinions follow.

Gary Kifford and Zane Runge

Aroma: Did not have same aroma as filter coffee, in fact there was a slight fishy smell
Acidity: Weak acidity, no aftertaste
Body: Too watery/too thin
Flavour/Aftertaste: No aftertaste, rather flat
Packaging: We like it
Price and overall opinion: We buy instant coffee in 400gms jars of which we will get more than three cups of coffee, yet paying a similar price to this new Starbucks coffee. We would drink this coffee if it was offered in a hotel or similar establishment, but we would not buy it for our personal consumption. Too expensive and although better than most instant coffees, it still is a long way from filtered coffee. We preferred the stronger Italian roast.

Tony and Dawn Sigrist

We preferred the Italian roast (the stronger one). We thought it was distinguishable from instant and was more alligned to coffee made with a cafetiere. We felt the aroma on both was weak as we prefer a bold aroma, which this product did not provide.
Body: The Colombia was a light bodied coffee which, while pleasurable, did not excite us in any way. The Italian had a fuller body, more alligned to filter coffee.
Packaging: Handy sized sachet, nice classy design. Non-recycleable, didn’t like brand name.
Price: Didn’t feel the product was value for money. It works out more expensive than better brands of filter coffee. Not good enough to act as a substitute for filter coffee and is therefore an expensive instant coffee which we would not buy.
Overall:  We were not impressed. If we were buying these for work (as we often do) we would just stick to Nescafe, as it works out cheaper!

Steve and Georgena Bowdidge

The initial thoughts when I poured the contents was “cripes, it’s Mellow Birds (texture)! I was pleasantly surprised by the dry smell as it did smell like real coffee, but that’s about as good as it gets. Tasting first the Italian roast the smell was rather nutty, but then to my nose had an overpowering scent of fish! We both thought the taste was ok (we tried it black), although nothing jumped out at us. It did appear quite ‘thin’ and we found it left an awful bitter aftertaste that lingered for ages (the Colombia sample was less bitter but still didn’t like the aftertaste). Compared to other instants I don’t rate it too highly and it certainly wasn’t anything like a ‘freshly brewed’ real coffee.

Tracey Kifford and Huw Kidwell

Aroma: To us, coffee is like bacon (!) - it’s the smell that first draws you in. With both these samples, we were disappointed with the lacking top notes of the aroma.
Acidity: Very weakly acid – certainly didn’t hit us in the back of our throats!
Body: Far too watery, even when you diluted the samples with less water than they suggest.
Flavour/Aftertaste: Found the taste quite weak. Didn’t taste like freshly brewed coffee, but did taste a little like cafetiere coffee. Didn’t notice any aftertaste.
Packaging: The packaging is functional, but not exactly inspiring. We thought that given Starbucks has spent 20 years researching this product that they’d have chosen some mega innovative packaging, using recycled materials. Instead they used the tried and tested coffee stick packaging.
Price and overall opinion: It is expensive and we’re not sure we’re prepared to add £1.20 or £3.95 to a Starbucks order to ensure we’ve always got some coffee sticks at hand. To us, Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew is nearly there, but not quite. It tastes better than most instant coffees, but it lacks body and aroma and is still some way short of filter coffee. It is difficult to see where it fits into the marketplace, but we do believe it would be very well-placed in hotels that offer in-room drinks facilities.

So there you have it. A bit of a mixed bag. From our limited survey it is unlikely that any of us will be rushing to London on 25 March to be the first in the queue to purchase Starbucks VIA™ Ready Brew. If they could keep the price down and offer the coffee in a jar, I think there will be more interest, because there’s no mistaking that it is a really good instant coffee … According to Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz “This is a big move for us – the opportunity to reinvent a category, create new rituals and grow our customer base is substantial.” This is Starbucks we’re talking about, and they must have done their homework – but  is the European market (or even the US market) really going to go a bundle on sticks of nearly-real coffee? We just don’t think so – but get some main hotel chains to showcase it alongside the Suchard Hot Chocolate and Twinnings English Breakfast Tea sachets in in-room refreshment bundles and I’m sure the company will make a packet!