Coffee Week Fun Facts, Coffee Festival Info & Information

Coffee Week is this year on right now and much like Chocolate Week, there is an amazing retail shopping opportunity available at the end-ish of the week at the Truman Brewery. There are some of the best coffees around on sale there, as well as competitions. You can try coffee from around the world as well as the amazing award-winning Kokoa Collection hot chocolate – last year they also had Hummingbird cupcakes on sale (yum). You can buy tickets to the Coffee Festival easily HERE and I will be there Saturday or Sunday so you can always meet me there! It’s a great day out and there is so much to see and buy – I highly recommend it.

Coffee Week is supported by big brands as well as the smaller ones like Pura and Grumpy Mule. Nespresso (I purchased my own machine – this is not sponsored by a free machine from them though I wish it was 😉 ) commissioned some coffee/tea trends research towards the end of last year and I thought it was kinda funky so I wanted to include it. I could have waffled on about the Coffee Festival but you’re going to buy tickets and experience that amazing atmosphere for yourself, buy amazing artisan coffee and hot chocolate and be there so why not give some fun facts instead?

So…. Independent survey of 2,081 UK adults by ICM Research on behalf of Nespresso;

Coffee has taken over tea in the popularity stakes within the UK ‘Three fifths of the UK (60%) are choosing coffee over tea as their preferred drink’ (I start my day with tea – sorry Nespresso!)
High achievers drink more coffee than those who consider themselves not ambitious, with 70% of high earners preferring coffee over tea (clearly I need to change my beverage to earn more dosh!)
Over half (55%) of those in top management roles resort to bringing in their own coffee from home because the office coffee isn’t up to scratch (we use Monmouth coffee at my office – may switch to Union but still – I think ours is up to scratch as much as it can be in an office!)

Due to coffee being an important fixture in Brits’ early morning ritual (that would be husband to a T), Nespresso has recently launched its highest quality Grand Cru,  a new coffee experience that offers the best possible start to the day (except it isn’t a 10 on their scale of strength). Their Linizio Lungo Grand Cru was passed over by husband due to lack of strength so I’m not sure what those hard core will think of it (see list below – I put strength on them and you’ll see what Brits prefer in strength terms!)  So, their press material say that this new lizzie (as I call it at home to husband) is a “round and smooth coffee blend, captures those precious morning moments, creating a moment to be enjoyed ahead of the daily commute to work, the daily school run, and the pressures of the day ahead.” Uh, who the frack has “precious morning moments” – I’m generally in lala land, deep in my own mind planning the day ahead. In fast, I’m often so deep in thought, I miss people screaming my name at the station (sorry Chelsea), people waving to me (sorry Ulrich), people standing opposite me and more. I am a zombie – I have no “precious morning moment” – do you?

Brits prefer their coffee strong apparently but instead of making a new 10 on the 1 – 10 strength scale, they made a 6… :-/  But wait – THERE’S MORE! “Acknowledging that strong coffees (espresso and macchiato) are the coffees of choice amongst the UK’s high achievers, with two thirds of those in top management roles (66%) and more than three quarters of ambitious workers (77%) choosing stronger varieties of coffee compared to milky lattes (43%). This links to the fact that Nespresso’s highest selling capsules are of the strongest intensity, please see the list below of which we have images to accompany.” See point above questioning recent launch. Mind you, their Crealto which was an 8 was an absolutely gorgeous coffee. If I could buy more of that, I would buy 10 strips of it. Husband likes it more than any of the others he has tried (and he’s tried everything but the decaf and anything below a 4)

Nespresso’s best-selling coffee capsules for 2013
1. Arpeggio – 9
2. Ristretto – 10
3. Fortissio Lungo – 7
4. Roma – 10 (I made cupcakes with this)
5. Vivalto Lungo  – 4

So there you have it. I own and Nespresso which I bought and I love it. It also makes milk but sometimes it burns the milk which is kinda frustrating and I don’t know if it is my unit or normal. If someone reading this also owns a Nespresso please let me know if you milk frother also burns the milk – maybe it’s me…

See you at the COFFEE FESTIVAL!