Friday Fun – Heatwave

posted at 9:33am, 09 Jul 10 by harriett [ 11 comments ]

Watching the news this morning I saw that we’re going to experience a bit of a heatwave this weekend with temperatures set to soar in some parts of the UK. (Good for my BBQ this weekend in London but sorry Wales if you’re barbequeing- you may get some soggy sausages!)

The BBC has helpfully offered advice for those who suffer in hot spells, and we also suggest a delicious jug of Cafédirect iced tea- great for cooling down in the shade of the garden!

So the obvious theme for today’s Friday Fun is heatwave related songs… and bonus points go to those who link in our delicious hot drinks… so Yasmin’s favourite song ‘Ice Ice Baby‘ is transformed into ‘Iced Tea Baby’.

Post your response in the comment box of this blog post to enter. You have until 6pm today to post your response. We’ll choose our favourite  – the most creative – and the winner will receive one of our limited edition ‘I’m not a paper cup’ mugs and some tea to make into your own iced tea (baby). The winner will be chosen and announced on Monday’s blog. Prizes can only be sent to addresses in the UK or ROI.

The Cafédirect Experience at Caffe Culture

posted at 4:00pm, 30 Jun 10 by harriett [ 0 comments ]

I am happy to report that the last cappuccino cup has just been unwrapped after our Caffe Culture adventure!

We had a fantastic week meeting up with our customers,  practising our latte art and watching the World Barista Champions (and our Barista Simone!) show us how it’s done properly.

Simone’s heart shaped cappuccinos were particularly well received and looked lovely in our new cups!
Instead of the usual trade show stand, we wanted to immerse visitors in a Cafédirect experience. We considered everything from the perfect serve of coffee to the perfect cup to the perfect surroundings in which to enjoy your coffee. I even personally spent time deliberating over which spoons to use – great design doesn’t happen by chance!)

The Cafédirect experience at Caffé Culture

We had some lovely compliments on the experience (so the hard work was worthwhile!) with lots of the international visitors lining up to have their picture taken in our beautiful Machu Picchu armchair. But the thing that struck me the most was how nice people in the coffee world are – maybe it’s the fact that we are surrounded by great tasting drinks or the fact that everyone was drinking an awful lot of coffee! Either way it was a great show and even after all the hard work, I am (almost!) looking forward to next year!

So, now over to you – what do you think of the ‘Cafédirect experience’? Would you like to relax with a cup of our delicious coffee here? What would you like to see on the menu? Would you sink into the Machu Picchu chair and read your favourite book?

If you’re not already a trade customer and would now like to stock Cafédirect please get in touch – email foodservice@cafedirect.co.uk.

Machu Puccino and more….

posted at 8:43am, 21 Jun 10 by harriett [ 1 comment ]

Over the last few months I’ve been busy making ‘the Cafédirect experience’ come to life. A bit like the famous beer company- if Cafédirect did coffee shops… how would we make them the best in the world?
Well, if you’re one of our trade customers, you can come and see for yourselves later this week at Caffe Culture!
Caffe Culture is the biggest coffee industry event in Europe, this year hosting not one but two World Barista Championships- including speciality coffees and the most beautiful latte art you’ll see this side of Seattle!

We have a lovely big space which we’re filling with our gorgeous Hemingway designed furniture, but most importantly, we’re going to be making some seriously good coffee, one of which will be our brand new drink, the Machu Puccino (TM)-a lot easier to ask for than a 100% Arabica, single origin, gourmet, organic, 100% Fairtrade espresso topped with milk somewhere between a flat white and a cappuccino….!

Sourced from our friends at COCLA in Peru, Machu Picchu is a simply fantastic coffee bean and has lent itself beautifully to being made into an espresso!
So if you’re in the coffee trade (not forgetting tea and drinking chocolate of course!) come along to location T9- right opposite the SCEA World Championship Stage  and say hello. We’d love to make you a coffee.

You can register at www.caffeculture.com.

Teatowel X Factor – the results….

posted at 4:57pm, 16 Dec 09 by harriett [ 1 comment ]

At last the results of our ‘Design a Tea Towel’ competition are in! We were absolutely delighted to receive so many wonderful entries, including some from budding designers as young as seven years old!

Andrew and I judging the teatowel competition

The standard of artwork was exceptional and we were quite simply spoilt for choice. But unfortunately there can only be one winner! The judging panel, made up of Andrew Ethuru from Michimikuru Tea Factory (growers of exceptional tea!), Emma Devine, one of our very talented designers, and myself, had a very tough job of deciding the winner.

The winning teatowel entry by Merel Newton

Just like the X Factor, there was one very tough judge, one very diplomatic judge, and one very overly emotional judge (yes, that was me when I saw the wonderful creations from primary school children!), but we finally came to our conclusion… and it is the design created by Merel Newton.
In the words of graphic designer Emma:

‘It had everything that says ‘We Are The Growers’ and what Cafédirect really stands for. The image said so much about the brand and what goes on behind it in a simple pictorial way. I loved the design, and thought it stood out for me as the winner!’

So congratulations to you Merel and we hope you’ll enjoy your year’s supply of our award winning hot drinks, and drying your dishes on your very own set of designer tea towels!

Runners up in the competition are Samantha Jenkin and Kevin Bennett, who will both recieve a Cafédirect goodie bag. Well done!

However, we also felt that there was another design that merited special mention, for attention to detail and a super interpretation of our message. So a special runner up prize is on its way to Martin Cooper of  Croft Malloch Primary School in Glasgow, along with a bumper goodie bag (with lots of extra award winning Cafédirect San Cristobal Drinking Chocolate!) to share with your classmates and teachers.

Congratulations to you all and thank you all for your entries!

Harriett