Tag: Wholesale Coffee Beans

US sweet company launches caffeinated gummy bears

Posted on by Sara Walker

Every time we think we’ve heard it all, we’re given a reminder that we haven’t yet. In California (where else?) a sweet company called Sugarfina have teamed up with a coffee chain called Alfred to produce the caffeinated gummy bears. For those of you not familiar with the gummy bear, it’s a small teddy bear shaped sweet made from gelatine and sugar and normally flavoured with fruit. The new caffeinated versions are even available in different flavours – bourbon cold brew, iced vanilla latte and cold brew. And yes, the bourbon flavour does apparently contain real whiskey.

Each 100g serving of the sweets contains the same amount of caffeine as a cup of espresso.

According to the coffee shop, they pride themselves on ‘staying ahead of trends’ – and we think they certainly have! The sweets took two years to develop and have been made with real coffee. They retail at around £5.70 for 100g – a lot more than most espressos.

Alfred has collaborated on all sorts of coffee-themed collections in the past, with their partnership with Sugarfina being the latest partnership.

We’re not entirely sure who these sweets are aimed at – although obviously not children! We guess they’re more portable and practical than a cup of hot drink can sometimes be – after all, you couldn’t stick a cup of coffee in your pocket or handbag – and they mean you can get an instant caffeine fix wherever you are. On the downside, though, they contain a lot more than just coffee, including sugar, so aren’t a like-for-like substitute. The sweets are nicely packaged in a miniature coffee cup or a paperbag, and are already proving popular on social media. We think, though, that we’ll stick to the real deal and drink actual coffee!

If you’d like to browse our range of top quality coffee beans, coffee accessories and coffee supplies, all aimed at cafes and coffee businesses, then take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

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.

How a UK start up is transforming coffee waste

Posted on by Sara Walker
Image: Pixabay

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re very conscious of our environmental footprint and are always looking at ways to minimise it. That’s why we were interested to hear about bio-bean, a UK start up company who’s turning used coffee grounds into fuel.

In the UK alone, we produce around 500,000 tonnes of used coffee grounds every year. Only a very tiny proportion is currently recycled, mostly as garden fertiliser. When coffee grounds are sent to landfill, in common with other organic waste they emit methane, a greenhouse gas.

Four years ago, Arthur Kay set up bio-bean with the aim of minimising the UK’s coffee waste. They’ve now got a recycling centre in Cambridgeshire, where grounds from across the UK are transported into new energy sources as biofuel. The new ‘coffee logs’, each one made from the grounds of 25 cups of coffee, burn around 20% longer than wood as they have a higher calorific value. Bio-bean have launched ranges both for industry and for the domestic market.

If you’re keen to get your hands on some ‘coffee logs’, suitable for woodburning stoves and chimeras, then they’re available from retailers including Amazon, Ocado and Morrisons for £9.99 for a bag of 16. Coffee shops big and small have been joining in and sending their grounds in for re-use, and bio-bean promise that they’re transporting it as economically as they can using waste management companies. They’ve also partnered with companies such as Network Rail, so the remains of your early morning latte are now likely to go into the programme. Plans for the future include developing a liquid bio-fuel that could even be used to power London’s iconic red buses.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we supply the finest coffee for your commercial coffee business, including beans and ground coffee, all available at great wholesale prices online. You can find out more by taking a look at our main website, www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

Coffee trends: Vietnamese egg coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee as a drink by the side of a full English breakfast is an idea most of us can get behind. Coffee with the egg actually in it though – sounds revolting, no? In Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, thousands of locals and tourists would beg to differ as they sip their cà phê trúng (egg coffee). The drink was invented in the 1940s during a milk shortage, when an enterprising barman was looking around something else to put in the coffee.

Now, it’s a Vietnamese staple and can be served hot or cold. Adding the egg makes the hot version very thick, so it’s usually served with a spoon on the side. It’s sweet-tasting, but tastes creamy rather than like a coffee omelette.

Nguyen Van Dao, whose father invented the drink by adding whisked egg yolk to coffee, still serves cà phê trúng in his Cafe Giang, although it’s available all over the city. Mr Nguyen’s secret mix involves coffee powder, condensed milk, butter and even cheese but the exact recipe is a closely-guarded secret.

To make your own version at home, you’ll need per person a measure of hot, very strong black coffee, one tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk and one egg yolks. Put the coffee in heatproof jug and stand it in a bowl of boiling water to keep warm while you prepare the topping. Using an electric whisk, combine the egg yolks and condensed milk until very thick and foamy – this will take several minutes.

Pour two thirds of the coffee into a heatproof glass, and add all of the egg mixture. Pour the remaining coffee over the top – this will help to cook the egg topping through. Serve with a sprinkle of vanilla sugar on top.

For all your commercial coffee supplies, including wholesale coffee beans, take a look at our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

More good news for coffee drinkers

Posted on by Sara Walker
New research indicates that coffee may help to prevent memory loss. Image: Pixabay
New research indicates that coffee may help to prevent memory loss. Image: Pixabay

We’re always singing coffee’s praises, and a recent European study agrees with us. The study found that coffee can counteract the brain’s natural ageing process, blocking receptors which otherwise gradually wear down over time and cause memory loss. This new research is in addition to a huge, 22-year study which found that drinking a moderate amount of coffee a day could reduce the risk of some types of cancer.

The first new study, published US peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, looked at a particular receptor in the brain which throughout our lifetime gradually wears down with age. Stress can also be a contributory factor, and cause accelerated wear on the receptors. Gradually, stress hormones build up in our brains and start to cause problems, affecting our memories. French researchers were able to induce this ageing process artificially in rats. The rats were then fed a substance design to simulate caffeine, in order to block the receptors. Afterwards, memories and stress levels returned to normal levels. The French experiment will help researchers increase our understanding of how our brains function, and why certain conditions such as Alzheimer’s cause cognitive impairment.

The research has been met with interest in both the coffee and health sectors. According to Chris Stemman, Executive Director of the British Coffee Association, this is an important new study as there have been very few prospective pieces of research looking into how brain tumours develop.

“It adds to a growing weight of evidence, alongside the findings from World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), to show that moderate coffee consumption is safe and may confer some health benefits,” says Chris.

So now, you can switch on the coffee machine in the morning guilt-free.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’ve got everything you need for your commercial coffee business from wholesale coffee beans to accessories. Just visit www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk to find out more.

 

 

Italian coffee tycoon loved coffee until the end

Posted on by Sara Walker
The stove-top Moka pot was the first true home coffee machine, making restaurant-standard espresso
The stove-top Moka pot was the first true home coffee machine, making restaurant-standard espresso

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we thought we’d heard of just about every coffee-related idea out there, but Italian coffee tycoon Renato Bialetti came up with something new for his funeral – being interred in a coffee pot!

You might not have heard of the man himself, who died in Switzerland aged 93, but you’ve probably heard of the foundation of the family fortunes – the Moka coffee pot, the stove-top metal coffee pot invented in the 1930s by Renato’s father Alfonso.

The coffee pot became a success as it was relatively cheap and durable, and was the first true home espresso machine. Previously, the only home method available had been the drip method, which didn’t replicate the strong flavours of espresso produced under steam pressure. Inventor Alfonso had been working in the aluminium industry when he got the idea for the pot from a washing machine! Italian women used a boiler system that drew hot, soapy water out from a pipe and distributed it over the clothes. After some experimentation, his famous design reached the market in 1933. It was based on a classic silver coffee pot used as part of a dinner service in wealthy homes, a design that was cleverly designed to appeal. The

The distinctive design hasn't changed for over 80 years.
The distinctive design hasn’t changed for over 80 years.

pots are still manufactured today to the same design, and to date over 300 million have been sold worldwide, although the Bialetti family are no longer involved.

Renato’s three children designed to honour their father’s work by commissioning a special giant Moka pot to hold his ashes. His remains were then interred, still in the pot, in the family tomb in Omegna, Italy.

If you love coffee as much as we do, visit our main website at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk to find a great selection of coffee beans and coffee accessories at competitive wholesale prices.

 

 

 

How to make your own cold-brew coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

beans and groundsLast week, we took a look at cold-brew coffee, hailed as the hot new summer drink in bars and cafes across the country. If you’d like to have a go at making your own cold-brew coffee at home, here’s what you need to do.

Cold-brew coffee differs from iced coffee in that iced coffee is made hot, allowed to cool then diluted with ice. It has a tendency to a bitter aftertaste, whereas cold-brew coffee, which is actually made cold, has a sweeter and more complex flavour. The only downside is that it takes a long time to brew properly! In Japan, where they’ve been making cold-brew for hundreds of years, they have glass brewing flasks to produce their kyoto coffee, but an ordinary large jug or jar will do the job just as well.

Ideally, it’s best to grind your own beans for this as you’ll need coarse grounds – forget powder and think breadcrumbs. Using finer grounds will make the filtering process tricky and affect the result. Put in around 150g of coffee for every litre of cold water. Cover the jug with a lid or clingfilm and put it in a cool dark place (the fridge is fine but not obligatory) for at least 16 and no more than 24 hours. The length of time you allow the mixture to steep will have an effect on the strength of the finished coffee. Once or twice during the steeping process, give the jug a little shake to move the grounds around.

At the end of the steeping time, pour the mixture carefully through a tea strainer or fine mesh sieve into another jug or bowl. Once the liquid looks comparatively clear, strain it again through paper coffee filters. If you don’t have any filters available, you can use the sieve lined with kitchen roll. The finished brew is quite concentrated, and will need to be diluted 50 per cent with water before drinking. Serve chilled, with or without ice as you prefer. Unfinished coffee will keep in the jug in the fridge for up to a month.

If you’re looking for the perfect ingredients for cold-brew coffee, take a look at our coffee beans page. You’ll find a range of top-quality coffee beans, all available wholesale at competitive prices.

Speciality coffee market is stronger than ever

Posted on by Sara Walker
UK speciality coffee market looks stronger than ever
UK speciality coffee market looks stronger than ever

There’s good news for UK providers of speciality coffees such as lattes and cappuccinos – according to The Future of Coffee, a recently-published report by Allegra World Coffee Portal, (WCP), the market speciality coffee drinks looks set to rise by 13 per cent year on year. That’s more than the expected growth of 10 per cent across the whole UK coffee market.

Based on over 1500 customer surveys and dozens of UK industry leaders across all sectors of the coffee market, the report makes a correlation between the increase in small, independent coffee outlets focussing on quality and service and the rise in demand for speciality drinks. Small companies are embracing new technology and cutting edge techniques to source and process their coffee from bush to cup for a better experience for the consumer.  “In the future, greater attention to agronomy and processing at origin will help yield higher quality beans”, it concluded.

The report made the following findings:

There are now 180 speciality coffee roasters in the UK. Of those interviewed, two thirds are relatively new businesses, roasting for less than two years.  The speciality green coffee bean market is currently estimated at an annual value of 40 million euros, with that set to double by 2020. The speciality roasted coffee bean market is currently valued at double the amount of the green coffee bean market, at 80.1 million, which is set to more than double in the same time-frame. Estimates put the number of independent speciality coffee shops (i.e. shops whose main business is the supply of coffee to consumers) at around 1,400 in the UK – that figure is also set to double by 2020. Just under two thirds of the retailers interviewed plan to open new shops in the next three years.

If you’re in the business of supplying speciality coffee drinks, we’ve got everything you need to make your business go with a swing, all at great wholesale prices. From coffee accessories to top quality coffee beans and supplies, you can browse our range at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.

 

More reasons to love coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker
It's official - coffee can be good for you!
It’s official – coffee can be good for you!

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, you’d expect us to be big fans of coffee. Until recently, though there was a bit of a perception that coffee was incompatible with a healthy lifestyle and was on many people’s list of ‘thing to give up for Lent’.

A number of recent scientific research studies, though, reveals that current thinking is in favour of drinking coffee to support a healthy lifestyle. Some of the studies showed links between coffee and a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, some kinds of cancer and overall, a lessened risk of premature death.

While this is great news for coffee lovers, it’s obviously not a free pass to drink 30 cups of coffee a day – experts recommend two to four cups to reap the health benefits.

 

Among other positive coffee news, recent studies reveal that coffee drinkers live longer. A study involving almost 1 million people linked those who regularly drank two to four cups of coffee a day to a 14 per cent lower risk of dying prematurely from any cause whatsoever. Drinking one or two cups a day had a proportionately beneficial effect, with an 8 per cent lower risk. Caffeine didn’t seem to be a factor in the study, with regular decaff drinkers enjoying the same lowered risk.

Coffee also has a positive effect on your risk of developing certain kinds of cancer, including liver cancer and prostate cancer. Coffee contains naturally occurring compounds which have anti-inflammatory properties which can be useful in protecting the body from toxins and carcinogenics.

 

 

Drinking coffee can also help to protect you against the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with those who drink more than three cups a day enjoying a 21 per cent lower risk. Again, the type of coffee (caffeinated or decaffeinated) didn’t seem to affect the results. Chlorogenic acid which occurs naturally in coffee can improve your body’s ability to metabolise glucose as well as have an anti-inflammatory effect.

 

 

If we’re inspired you to go on loving coffee, take a look at our range of wholesale, top quality coffee beans and accessories available to buy online.

Our favourite coffee quotes

Posted on by Sara Walker

beans and groundsHere at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we live, work and …er…drink coffee. A lot. In fact, it pretty much fuels our working day. It’s not just us who find it inspirational, though – here are some quotes that underline just how important coffee is to almost everyone.

 

“If it weren’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever.”
(David Letterman, American former television host, writer, producer, comedian and actor)

 

 

 

“I judge a restaurant by the bread and the coffee.”
(Burt Lancaster, 1913 to 1994, American film actor)

“I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.”
(Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769 to 1821)

 

“Coffee makes us severe and grave and philosophical.”
(Jonathan Swift, 1667 to 1745, Anglo-Irish satirical author whose works included Gulliver’s Travels)

“This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place. Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind. The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters. Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder.”

(Honoré de Balzac, 1799 to 1850, French author and playwright, who supposedly drank 50 cups a day and wrote about it in a work entitled ‘The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee‘.)

“Coffee, which makes the politicians wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes.”
(Alexander Pope, 1688 to 1744, English poet.)

“I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.”

(Ronald Reagan, 1911 to 2004, American commentator and actor, best known as the 40th President of the United States between 1981 and 1989)

If all this talk of coffee is making those caffeine cravings kick in, visit our main website now to browse our range of everything you need for your coffee business, including beans, accessories and cups.