Category: Blog

New research reveals UK’s coffee spending habits

Posted on by Sara Walker

New research claims that the myth of millennials not being able to put down a deposit on a house because they’re spending all their money on coffee shop coffees and avocado toast is just that, a myth. Research carried out into Britain’s spending habits on behalf of car company Dacia UK found that those aged 18 to 34, who are often maligned as being frivolous spendthrifts, are actually more cost conscious than their older counterparts.

The younger age group spend around £5.50 per week on coffee, which works out at approximately two cups, while those in the older 35 to 44 age group spend almost a pound more at £6.43. When buying lunches, takeaway food and hot and cold drinks, the older age group spend about £140 annually compared to the younger group. Most of the younger generation aren’t spending their hard-earned cash on avocado toast, either – over half the respondents said they ‘often’ or ‘always’ took their own lunch to work.

It makes sense that the older age group are happier to spend their cash, as they tend to be in better-paying jobs than their younger counterparts and are still moving up the career ladder. Once retirement is reached, though, people seem to be holding onto their money again. The over 55 age group spent less than the other two groups, with an average of £4.14 a week on coffee and around another £15 on other drinks, takeaway food and lunch, making them the most cost conscious.

At the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re specialists in coffee supply for restaurants, cafes, offices and commercial businesses. We supply a wide range of coffee beans and accessories such as flavoured syrups and whiteners, all available at great wholesale prices. To find out more, take a look at our website or call 0800 012 1226 to speak to one of our expert team.

Coffee trends: the ‘doughnut cup’

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee in an avocado. Coffee in a chocolate ice cream cone. Deconstructed coffee. It started out strangely, and honestly it’s just got worse – a bakery in Australia is doing odd and terrible things to a simple and inoffensive cup of coffee by serving it in a ‘doughnut’ cup.

Now, we’re not against a doughnut. We’re not against coffee and a doughnut together, provided that one’s served on a plate and the other in a cup. We do think, though, that serving the coffee inside the doughnut isn’t an improvement – surely you’ll just get a sloppy drink and a messy doughnut?

The Kenilworth Bakery in Australia obviously doesn’t agree – it’s developed a special doughnut which has been coated with cinnamon then hollowed out and lined with Nutella to make it more resistant to liquid. It’s then filled with an espresso shot topped with foamed milk.
The bakery describes the new creation as ‘amazing’, and says they’re proving popular with customers. They took about a week to perfect, and there’s also a version available filled with hot chocolate instead of coffee.

It’s served on a wooden platter, and the customer has to drink the coffee quickly before tacking the doughnut – a task that looks surprisingly difficult, as the doughnut is quite..er…doughy. Don’t expect to look elegant eating one of these!

They do love a gimmick in Australia, and while we applaud this bakery’s innovative spirit we don’t think this is going to catch on. You have to drink the coffee quickly before it soaks too much into the doughnut, and we think you’d have an easier time keeping both items separate!

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’ve got everything you need for your commercial coffee business, restaurant or café including a wide range of coffee beans and coffee accessories. Sorry, we don’t have any doughnuts!

UK now drinks 95 million cups of coffee a day

Posted on by Sara Walker

Have you had your first cup of coffee yet this morning? Well, you’re not alone. It seems that from being the clichéd nation of tea drinkers we once were, the UK is now officially a nation of coffee drinkers. Research carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Research revealed that our national coffee consumption has increased by a staggering 25 million cups over the last decade or so. In 2008, we drank 70 million cups of coffee a day. As of 2018, that figure had risen to 95 million cups a day.

The study surveyed 2,000 adults in the UK. Around a third of the participants didn’t drink any coffee, which the top six percent drank at least six cups a day. The average was around two cups a day.

People were also asked about their coffee drinking habits, with around two thirds of us preferring to enjoy our coffee at home, a quarter at work and the remainder while out and about at coffee shops or restaurants. Consumption was unevenly split over the age range, with those under 20 drinking the least at an average of half a cup a day. Those aged 20 to 37 drank 1.3 cups, and those aged 38 to 52 around 2 cups a day. Those aged over 53 were the heaviest consumers, drinking around 2.2 cups a day.

As well as an increase in pure volume, it seems that the last decade has seen us evolve into a nation of coffee connoisseurs, knowledgeable about roasting methods and blends.

As coffee is so popular, it’s reassuring to know that it’s also one of the best-researched foods in the world with millions invested in research. Studies to discover the effect on a wide range of health concerns are carried out all over the world, and current evidence suggests that coffee can support a healthy balanced lifestyle when drunk in moderation (around three to five cups a day).

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we can supply everything you need for your office, workplace or commercial coffee business including coffee beans and accessories. Take a look at our main website to browse our range.

Is coffee flour the next big thing?

Posted on by Sara Walker

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re always looking for ways of reducing waste and being kinder to the environment. That’s why we were interested to hear about a new company in the US, set up to use waste from the coffee industry.

A former employee of a well-known coffee chain, Dan Belliveau was concerned about the billions of pounds of used coffee cherries left after the coffee beans themselves have been removed. While there are various initiatives st up to re-use the pulp, such as using it as fertiliser, most of it is discarded as waste. After some research, Dan eventually came up with the idea of ‘coffee flour’. It’s gluten free, contains only a very small amount of residual caffeine and behaves like cocoa powder when used for baking. The idea has received backing from coffee industries, and Dan has worked with leading chefs to come up with recipe ideas.

One of the problems with making coffee flour commercially available is that of collecting the used cherries from various diverse sources. Dan has decided on drying the wet, used cherries at the mills where they’re processed to make them easier to transport, and hopes to make use of the existing coffee supply chain.

The coffee flour, which apparently tastes ‘fruity’ rather than of coffee, contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals including iron and potassium as well as fibre and protein and is said to give baked goods a ‘rich and earthy’ flavour. So far, the product is mostly being sold to commercial bakers and restaurants, with a limited number of retailers selling directly to the public.

Dan hopes that eventually coffee flour will become a mainstream ingredient, helping to reduce waste and provide a valuable protein and food source.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’ve got everything you need to make your commercial coffee business a success. To browse our range, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

Customers could be buying inferior coffee, says study

Posted on by Sara Walker

A study by British researchers has revealed a possible unpalatable truth about the coffee for sale on the shelves of UK supermarkets. In around 10 per cent of cases, packets labelled 100 per cent Arabica contained a mix of inferior beans as well. The study was performed as a test for a new and more accurate way of testing coffee.

Arabica beans sell for higher prices than Robusta as they are harder to grow and have a superior taste and complexity. The cheaper Robusta beans are used in cheaper blends and products such as instant coffee granules. Up until now, it hasn’t been that easy to identify what’s actually in a blend, particularly when the beans have been roasted and sold as ready-ground. The technique that’s been used to date is expensive and takes three days to process, so it hasn’t been practicable for regular checks. The new test is far more sensitive, detecting Robusta at one part to a hundred, and takes only half an hour to complete. The study looked at 60 samples from outlets around the world, including 22 from the UK, and found several ‘suspicious’ samples. These showed the presence of a much higher proportion of Robusta than could be accounted for by accidental contamination. Two of these samples came from the UK, and one showed levels of over 20 per Robusta in a blend that was labelled as 100 per cent Arabica. One US sample showed Robusta levels of a third.

The Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit said that they would be ‘looking to explore the results further’. The British Coffee Association welcomed the study as helping to improve assurance measures, but also pointed out that the vast majority of products were unaffected by the findings.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re completely confident that you won’t find anything in our bags of coffee that isn’t on the label! To browse our complete range, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

UK set to have more coffee shops than pubs by 2030

Posted on by Sara Walker

Research commissioned on behalf of the 2018 London Coffee Festival has revealed that by 2030, coffee shops are set to outnumber pubs on Britain’s high streets. In the UK, we’re currently seeing around 21 new coffee shops opening every week, while a similar number of pubs are shutting their doors for the final time. With the demand for housing increasing, pubs are often turned into housing…or even coffee shops, to serve the demands of a bigger community.

In the last ten years or so, the number of UK coffee shops has gone up from 10,000 as of 2007 to 24,000 today. Our pubs have reduced in quantity from around 75,000 to 47,000 over a 40-year period.

If this continues, the UK’s coffee shops are set to overtake pubs in the next 12 years. Current figures indicate that the UK’s coffee shop business is worth £9.6 billion a year, and as a nation we drink around 2.4 billion cups annually, an increase of 4% from 2017.

Around two fifths of us are drinking more coffee in coffee shops than we did a year ago, despite average prices being around £3 a cup. Around 20 per cent of us visit our local coffee shop at least once a day, keeping the UK’s 160,000 baristas on their toes.

UK coffee culture is becoming increasingly more advanced, with establishments offering a choice of everything from flavouring to type of milk with your drink. Although large chains such as Costa and Starbucks are still ubiquitous, there’s a rise in small, independent coffee shops as customers become increasingly savvy about what they’re drinking.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company we specialising in supplying a range of top quality coffee and accessories to the coffee industry, all at great wholesale prices. To view our full range and see how we can help your cafe, restaurant, office or hotel, visit our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

Start the new year in style with these indulgent coffees

Posted on by Sara Walker

January may traditionally be the season of denial, with diets and budgeting figuring largely in everyone’s calendars, but we believe that it’s not a good idea to squeeze all the fun out of life! You’re much more likely to stick to a plan if you allow yourself the occasional lapse, and after all, we all need our spirits lifting at this time of year. If you need a quick pick-me-up, try one of these instant-cheerer-upper recipes.

Black forest coffee

A coffee that models itself on a cake – what more could you ask for? To make one to two cups, you’ll need:

– 250ml strong, fresh black coffee
– 1 good tablespoon chocolate syrup
– 1 tablespoon cherry liqueur, such as Kirsch
– Maraschino cherries
– Chocolate flakes
– Whipped cream to taste

Pour the coffee into one large or two small cups, preferably glass. Stir in the chocolate syrup and cherry liqueur, then add a spoonful of whipped cream on top. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles and a cherry or two on a cocktail stick.

Creme brulee coffee

More pudding-themed coffees, bring it on! To make one to two cups, you’ll need:

– 250ml strong, fresh black coffee
– 1 good tablespoon caramel syrup
– Whipped cream to taste
– 1/2 teaspoon Demerara sugar

Pour the coffee into one large or two small cups, preferably glass. Stir in the caramel syrup and spoon the whipped cream over the top. Sprinkle over the sugar and serve.

For all your commercial coffee needs including top quality coffee beans and accessories for your restaurant, cafe or catering business, visit our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

Coffee fads: coffee leaf tea

Posted on by Sara Walker

Can we offer you a cup of tea? Or coffee? Or, if you can’t make up your mind, how about a hybrid version of both? The new kid on the block is coffee leaf tea, made from the leaves of the coffee plant rather than from beans. Scientists have discovered that the brew contains high levels of antioxidants, as well as a natural anti-inflammatory.

Researchers, including staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, believe that up until now the value that we placed on the coffee berries themselves prevented anything thinking about the health benefits of the rest of the plant. The drink apparently has an earthy taste, without any bitterness, and doesn’t have coffee’s distinctive strong taste. Although the drink is relatively unknown in Europe, it’s been drunk in South Sudan and Ethiopia for centuries. The drink was briefly popular in the mid 19th century, and was believed to assuage the pangs of hunger, combat fatigue and provide a mental pick-me-up. It seems to have been the ‘Marmite’ of its day, with contemporary reports describing it as both ‘refreshing’ and ‘undrinkable’.

The leaves of Arabica coffee plants contained the highest levels of the natural anti inflammatory, mangiferin. which also had other health benefits including reducing the risk of diabetes.

If you fancy trying coffee leaf tea for yourself, you may struggle at the moment. It’s available online, but isn’t widely stocked in the UK. Mainstream coffee producers may be reluctant to turn coffee bushes over to be used for their leaves rather than their beans, which could explain the restricted supply.

Unfortunately you can’t get coffee leaf tea from us, either – but you can get great quality coffee beans and supplies for your commercial coffee business. Just take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk to browse our range of coffee accessories and coffee beans, all at great wholesale prices.

What we’ll be adding to our coffee in 2019

Posted on by Sara Walker

From the country that brought you flat whites and avo-lattes (that’s lattes served in a hollowed-out avocado half, folks, try and keep up!) comes 2019’s big coffee trend prediction. Sales of non-dairy milk such as almond and soy have been steadily climbing, both among lactose-intolerant customers and those who think that non-dairy whiteners are a healthier alternative. The new kid on the block (or drop in the coffee), though, is oat milk. Baristas in Australia are confidently predicting that 2019 will see changes not in the coffee itself but in what customers are adding to it.

In the USA, oat milk is apparently already dominating the non-dairy market, overtaking both almond and soy. According to fans of oat milk, its popularity is due to the fact that it pairs better with coffee and froths more easily. Customers tend to stay fairly loyal to their style of coffee, with hardline espresso drinkers rarely crossing the line into lattes – but are often happy to experiment with alternatives to cows’ milk.
According to figures from payment platform Square, around a third of customers in Australia ordered latte above any other style of coffee in 2018. This figure has dropped from 2016 when lattes made up almost half of orders. Cappuccinos and flat whites have also remained popular, and the three drinks together make up around three quarters of orders.

Oat milk is one of the healthiest of the non-dairy alternatives, made by mixing pre-soaked oaks with water and a little dash of oil. The result is nautrally low in fat, and contains a small amount of carbohydrate and protein. It also may have cholesterol-lowering properties, but unless you drink an awful lot of latte then the amount you’re adding to coffee is unlikely to have an effect.

Whatever you like to add to your latte, make sure you keep your customers onside by stocking up on coffee beans and other coffee accessories. To browse our full product range, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

Coffee fads: ways to serve an espresso

Posted on by Sara Walker

It seems like just drinking your espresso plain and black isn’t good enough any more. Here are three coffee trends involving adding extra bits and pieces to your caffeine fix – we think we’ll just stick with a dash of semi-skimmed, thanks.

Fizzy coffee: Apparently big in Italy, this is a soft of caffeinated soft drink. Just make some fresh espresso, let it cool, chill it in the fridge and add an equal amount of cold sparkling water or tonic water. Add sugar to taste. While this may make sense in a country as hot and sunny as Italy, we’re not sure it’s going to sound as appealing here, where we tend to prefer our coffee hot.

Next up is the Espresso Romano, which confusingly doesn’t seem to be drunk at all in Rome. It’s basically a standard black espresso, garnished with a little lemon juice. This could work well with certain types of coffee bean, especially those that have fruity, citrussy notes. To try it, make a cup of espresso then cut a thick slice of lemon and rub it around the rim of the cup. Squeeze a few drops from the lemon into the cup itself before discarding.

Finally, there’s the ‘Paleo coffee’ – black coffee with added butter and oil, supposed to support weightloss. However, there’s no scientific evidence that suggests that adding butter and oil to your coffee has any effect other than making your coffee greasy. If you’re trying to keep an eye on your weight, then drinking your coffee black is probably the way to go.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’ve got everything you need to keep your commercial coffee business running smoothly. We supply coffee beans, coffee supplies and coffee accessories, all available at great wholesale prices. No fizzy water or lemons, though, sorry! To find out more about our full range, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.