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Tag: #watermarkcoffee
The Journey Behind Our Coffees
Since our involvement in the coffee business in Ireland since the mid 2000’s coffee consumption has been steadily rising along with the number of outlets selling coffee. The variety of coffee styles is very apparent now too. No longer is coffee just good or bad; it’s an opinions business, where different origins and roasting techniques give huge variation to the flavour.
Coffee in the global village
Soaring global coffee consumption is good news for the economies of the countries reliant on the trade, also known as origins. In a growing market where there is huge demand for new flavours. Coffee origins are key to flavour profiles and have become distinct in their own right, similar to that of wine producing regions. This has allowed many smaller producers, like Charles Mutwiri, who produces the single origin beans for our Green Ocean Dorinish coffee, gain an international foothold enabling them to sell direct to businesses like ourselves. Selling directly allows producers to bypass the commodification of their harvest in the futures markets and coffee bean dealers of the stock exchange. We have labelled this process ‘Direct from Farm’. There is a clear line from the farm to the cup which improves transparency and providence as well as giving farmers like Charles Mutwiri visibility on future orders which is key for him in making investment decisions. Our focus with ‘Direct from Farm’ is to support developing communities by proving opportunity for them to grow and prosper.
What is coffee?
A coffee bean comes from inside a coffee cherry, which grow on coffee trees from a region of the world known as the coffee belt (between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn). We use Arabica coffee beans in all of our Woodland Coffee and Green Ocean Coffee brands. Arabica coffee beans originate from Ethiopia and accounts for over 60% of the world’s coffee. Usually grown at higher altitudes and in mountainous areas under a variety of different conditions like shade / partial sunlight etc which impact the flavour of the coffee. Much like wine, coffee flavours reflect their ‘terroir’ of climate, soil type and geomorphology.
What makes some coffee stand out?
Once the coffee cherries are harvested (when they turn bright red) they are dried and graded. As you would expect, grading is critical to the blending and roasting process and is carried out with reference to the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) rules. Once a coffee achieves a grade of 80 or above, it is categorised as speciality grade arabica. Both Green Ocean and Woodland Coffee are all specialty grade, and this has been a key reason why we won 3 out of the 6 prizes in the two coffee categories at last year’s Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.
Woodland and Green Ocean Coffee
Each of the coffees in the Woodland and Green Ocean ranges offers difference, the flavours are contemporary, balanced and nuanced. Roasted in Ireland, all of our coffees proudly carry the ‘Guaranteed Irish’ logo and both Woodland and Green Ocean fund real environmental projects here in Ireland which deliver long term measurable benefits in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity improvement on land and in our coastal seas.
If you fancy finding out a bit more about our award-winning coffee that makes the world we live in a better place, then please get in touch!
More about Woodland Coffee here
More about Green Ocean Coffee here
Increasing footfall in a coffee business
With more and more new cafes opening, the challenge for a lot of cafes is how to hold on to and attract customers in the door. While there is no single panacea; it’s an accumulation of doing a lot right that keeps people coming back and talking about your coffee business. When all is said and done, the personal recommendation is key whether by word of mouth or on-line in getting customers coming through the door. While this is not a definitive list of suggestions, hopefully it might get you thinking about some of the solutions that might work for your situation.
Quality is key
Having amazing coffee and coffee equipment will unfortunately not guarantee amazing coffee. Coffee grinder calibration, coffee machine cleaning and barista skill all play a pivotal role and these need to be monitored closely. The best way I find is to taste the coffee every day to check that it is tasting the way I need it to. I find that that this requires a little more that taking a coffee ‘on the run’ but more a ‘sit down’ and concentrate on what flavours are coming through.
Try and personalise your business.
Your business is very likely very personal to you as mine is to me. Given the volume of customers that come through your door every day, It can be difficult to give all your customers a personalised experience that feels genuine but if you can start with one customer at a time, it builds up fast. Rather than talking at your customers, try and get them to talk to you. Sometimes this is as simple as asking them – ‘How are you?’ Whatever approach you think works for you, give it a go and see the reaction!
Be easily found
Claim your business on Google, Yelp and Trip Advisor. Listing your coffee shop’s ‘Business Profile’ correctly in Google is a great way to ensure people searching for a café or restaurant p in your area can quickly find out all they want to know, via Google Search or Google Maps. Claiming your business is free. Make sure that you complete every section of your profile, including opening hours, your address, phone number and a link to your website if you have one.
Asking for feedback and reviews
Increasing the number of reviews on google, trip advisor and yelp is a really great way of increasing your relevance on Google. Getting people to leave a review can be difficult as people are busy. Just remember most people want to say something positive. Try and respond to all reviews even the ones you’re not happy with.
Have something interesting to engage your customers with.
Over the past year, many of our Woodland Coffee customers have been telling their customers how many trees have been planted and the expected CO2 that is expected to be sequestered from the coffee sales at their café. Usually this is as simple as putting it on a chalk board. This is a really great way of getting a message across that is specific to the café and their customers.
If you would like to find out more about Woodland Coffee or how we can help, please drop us email oninfo@watermark.ieor call us on 01 4666304.
Optimise your espresso with the Gaggia La Reale – Dynamic Flow Control
TheDynamic Flow Control (DFC) functionality on the Gaggia La Reale allows the Barista to optimise and refine the nuance of flavour from your espresso bean, Easy to programme, this functionality brings to life the opportunity to propel your coffee to the next level of refinement. The Gaggia La Reale is the ultimate high performance coffee machine, like to take a closer look? Then drop us a line on 01 4666304 to set up a demonstration in our Citywest showroom.
Coffee and Sport
With the Olympics starting in a few weeks time, coffee is the drink of choice for many athletes; here are some of the reasons why:
Coffee burns fat and boosts energy
The high levels of caffeine in coffee significantly improve the ability to burn fat during exercise by increasing fat oxidation and metabolism. Once caffeine enters the bloodstream, the body responds in several ways. Blood pressure and heart rate increase, fat stores are broken down, and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream. As a result many people feel energised and ready for exercise.
Coffee Enhances Athletic Performance
“Caffeine is effective for enhancing various types of performance when consumed in low-to-moderate doses,” according to a position stand from the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Caffeine enables an athlete to train longer and with greater power output. Caffeine was also shown to improve endurance levels and resistance to fatigue.
Endurance athletes appear to benefit greatly from coffee. Coffee stimulates the body to burn fat instead of muscle glycogen (sugar), during long workouts. This allows for prolonged use of working muscles.
Coffee Promotes Better Concentration
Coffee and caffeine have been shown to improve mental focus. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that can improve brain function and have a positive impact on the areas of the brain responsible for memory and concentration. When thinking is sharp, workouts and exercise become more productive and effective.
Coffee Reduces Muscle Pain
Based on studies carried out in the US, drinking a cup of coffee prior to exercise may help those who suffer from ‘stitch’ caused by the build up of lactic acid in muscles. Participants who consumed coffee prior to a work out reported less muscle pain and better performance during the final set of repetitions.
Coffee Helps Fight Disease
Coffee contains powerful antioxidants shown to reduce our risk of disease. Antioxidants work by removing free radicals that cause inflammation in the body resulting in illnesses and diseases. According to research published in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “coffee provides one of the greatest sources of antioxidants in the American diet.”
