Past entries
THE NINERS
GO ON TOUR
Why not head out on a coffee tour and try the 9 exclusive coffees we sourced for the Coffee Masters competition? We have got 9 of London’s top cafes brewing these exceptional coffees from Thursday 6th April till Sunday 16th April. Make sure you collect your ‘Niners Tour’ loyalty card and get...
Read MoreLESSONS FROM THE
UK CUP TASTER CHAMP
So, I still cannot believe I won the SCAE UK Cup taster competition, in early November. Winning a competition like Cup Taster is different than a barista contest, or brewers cup. You won't become a superstar and be showered with products. I am like Cinderella, life is still the...
Read Morethe new frontier
of high-quality
specialty coffee
Our green coffee team recently spent eight days traversing the mountains of Ecuador, visiting farmers in a bid create long-term, sustainable, and personal relationships.
Read MoreCaravan goes Stateside
Part II
The added bonus of competing in the New York competition was, in fact, getting to go to New York. Now, I’m no stranger to the big apple having been there a few times already, but every time I have the chance to go, it’s pretty exciting. I have been...
Read MoreCaravan goes Stateside
Part I
What started as a little rush of ‘I could do that’ at LCF2016, quickly became a battle against time and even my own patience. Having been quite involved in our Caravan Coffee Roasters’ sponsorship of the Coffee Masters competition in London, I had been quite attracted to the idea...
Read Morecreating a macchina da caffè
Little did I know that a brief chat with Luigi Morello from Faema (I had no idea who he was) back in April of 2014 would end up with Steve, Mike and myself being invited to Gruppo Cimbali in Binasco, Milan, to take part in some R&D for a new...
Read MoreThe many faces of Cascara
Cascara, in Spanish, means ‘husk’.
Cascara is the dried cherry and pulp, sometimes lightly roasted in order to make a delightful low caffeinated (only 2.02g of caffeine per kg of cascara), quite sweet and very fruity brew.
Read MoreFighting roya in Guatemala
In January 2016 we went back to Guatemala to visit Finca El Hato and to see how they were doing in their fight against roya. We started working with El Hato in January last year after visiting the farm and meeting the owner Christian Rasch. Since then, El Hato has...
Read MoreThe Quality Enforcers
of Nicaragua
Earlier this year we had the pleasure of visiting Nicaragua; It was one of three new relationship building visits in Central America, a story we absolutely can’t wait to share with you!
Read MoreTHE NINERS
IDENTITIES REVEALED
Coffee Masters is a multi-disciplinary global barista tournament designed by Allegra Events and coffee creative duo Rob Dunne & Victor Frankowski. The competition sees some of the world’s best baristas compete head-to-head, in an extreme test of a barista’s skill as they contend for the prestigious Coffee Master. ...
Read MoreCurds & Whey
A signature drink created for UK Coffee Week To celebrate UK Coffee Week, we have designed a signature drink that explores and celebrates the relationship between cocktails and coffee in our bars and restaurants. We have taken inspiration from the robust and vibrant flavours of our recently developed espresso...
Read MoreCarbon Neutral/Positive farming in Brazil
My first visit to Brazil was in 2013, and I’d come away with the classic assessment, that it was a country of never ending coffee hills, humongous coffee processing plants, gigantic semi mechanical farms, and in general, felt there was a lost love for the art of coffee production. I’m...
Read MoreLondon Coffee Festival
'Origin' series: Part 1 - Brazil
London Coffee Festival asked us to write a four part series about our travels to origin in the search for 9 coffees to be used in this year’s Coffee Masters competition, held at the festival in the Old Truman Brewery, Shoreditch. First stop, Brazil.
Read MoreCar Boot Natural – A unique processing method
An interesting phenomenon occurred on our recent trip to Colombia. Whilst cupping in Armenia we came across a dry process coffee that blew the minds of all cuppers present.
Read MoreCaravan on Tour Simon in New Zealand June/July 2015
Since Christmas 2014, I have had the privilege of returning to New Zealand twice. From these trips, albeit only months apart, I have been able to see obvious changes in our thriving industry. Both here in London and down under, two things have stood out for me more than...
Read MoreBrazil – Land of opportunity
There’s an awful lot of coffee in Brazil, this much we know. Historically known as the global powerhouse of the coffee world its production has by and large been focused on commercial grades and quantity. Sadly this has often come at the price of innovation within the specialty sector...
Read MoreMotherland Farms Washing Station
My journey to Rwanda in June was an eye opener in many ways. None more so than my first visit to a washing station where I got the chance to see how the process works first hand and connect all the dots that I have read about and talked...
Read MoreGuatemala Finca el Hato – Back from the brink (A lesson in progressive farming)
This summer we began to work with an exciting new producer in Guatemala as part of our sourcing program for the Market Blend. Choosing a new coffee and producer is often the result of many months of emails, Skype calls which usually culminates in a trip to origin, so...
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