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OPINION
Take
Five
David Cooper is the founder and managing director of two well
known UK coffee businesses - coffee wholesalers Cooper’s Coffee and
espresso machine importer, Dalla Corte Imports UK. Here, he airs his views on
what believes to be five important issues that the UK coffee industry currently faces.
A filter revival? including a lack of respect for the result was memorable, but for the wrong
I am told that filter coffee is having a consumer’s taste and an out-dated reasons I suspect!
revival of sorts. Really? If that’s the case, understanding of the filter coffee market. So many imported coffees from Italy,
and people are sick and tired of 20oz ‘soup Many coffee traders still have a bizarre France and Spain that I have tasted are
bowls’ of steaming milk, then let’s take an belief that being price competitive is the literally stale because they are so old. It is
opportunity to think about the ways to most important thing. This is simply not the my belief that our industry needs a revision
improve this important market sector. case over the longer term. We are not in of the best before guidelines if we are to
Just imagine a UK market where, for the good old days of ‘office coffee service’ grow our market and develop new
example, we all practice the SCAA’s superb any more - we are in the new millennium, consumers without insulting them by
gold cup standards for filter coffee and we have a new and growing speciality serving them old coffee.
brewing. If that were the case, then not coffee market, the likes of which has never
only would our filter coffee tonnage and been seen before. False promises
sales figures dramatically increase by at My final word on this subject is that The motoring industry has an official testing
least 35% (that’s the good news), but also, underweight filter coffee sachets which are standard for safety known as Euro NCAP.
in no time at all, would we achieve a over-diluted with water will only ever return The test rates a car’s safety features
customer satisfaction level from filter you one thing - a coffee with little flavour compared to other manufacturers, and
coffee that the consumer has never before which in turn will leave you vulnerable to dispels the possibility of any potentially
experienced (the even better news)? those who offer a more expensive, quality, false claims about the features of a
However, is it just me who thinks that a heavy weight alternative. particular car. I pray for the day when the
large percentage of consumers are not coffee machine market may have a similar
entirely satisfied with the quality of the Fresh is best professional testing facility that the industry
filter coffee they are served? Or that we in It should go without saying that anything can trust.
the trade supply? There is no catch, no real carefully prepared, cooked, baked or As important as safety is in the motoring
downside, and really I see no reason why roasted, as is the case with coffee, will industry, we have our own vital features to
we can’t do things better by making our subsequently require careful packing and be measured in the coffee machine industry
filter coffee pack sizes 25-50% heavier. But consumption within the minimum amount before choosing our preferred brand. The
what would this mean? How about higher of time. This then begs the question - why difficulty that our consumers face, however,
sales value, better taste, satisfied clients do we have a staggering one year’s shelf is that there is no-one to check and
and happy consumers? life (that’s twelve months! 365 days!) on measure the manufacturer’s claims.
If that’s the case, what stops us from most coffee products? Have you ever made One such claim commonly abused in the
using 3oz or even 4oz instead of 1.5oz or a coffee from a packet that was several coffee industry today is that of group head
2oz to make 1.9 litres of coffee? The months old and found that it tasted temperature stability. This has been a hot
answer, I fear, is a mix of several things excellent? I am sure that in some cases the topic for several years now in the espresso
42 AUGUST 2008 CAFÉ CULTURE
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