Not that long ago coffee came in the form of a powder that you mixed with hot water and drank at home. In most cases it didn’t really taste like coffee should. Sophisticated people in Europe who sat at sun-drenched sidewalk café tables drank real coffee. And it came in variations we’d never heard of. That all changed, however, with the global march of Starbucks and other high street enterprises, that introduced coffee culture to those who hadn’t enjoyed it before.
Coffeehouses offered a cool place to go, meet friends, talk and look good. You could sit on a comfy chair, read the paper or scan your computer. It might be too wet or cold to sit outside, but the relaxed interior of the coffeehouse made sitting inside just as enjoyable.
With the popularity of coffeehouses increasing it didn’t take long before other companies entered the market, offering competition and variation. These include Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Coffee Republic.
Starbucks
The story of modern high street coffeehouses began in the 1970s on the west coast of America in the unlikely city of Seattle, where a little known coffee store resided in the Pike Place Market. It was named after a character in Herman Melville’s brilliant novel Moby Dick. The seafaring name was chosen to highlight the fact that the store imported the finest coffees from around the world.
By the 1980s Starbucks had imported Italy’s coffee culture to Seattle, selling espressos, lattes, mochas and more. It caught on in a big way and ten years later Starbucks had expanded, with outlets across the United States and then across the globe.
Today Starbucks has over 15,000 outlets in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim and sells tea and ice based frappuccino drinks as well as its famous coffees.
The first of the major high street chains, Starbucks uses only the top 2% of high-altitude Arabica beans grown for their products. They come from Latin America, Africa and the Pacific producing coffees with their own distinct regional taste.
Starbucks say that 100% of their coffee is Shared Planet, environmentally sound, and ethically traded and will become 100% Fairtrade certified in 2009.
They offer all of the classic espresso based drinks as well as filter coffee and a special called Caramel Macchiato. It is frothed milk with espresso and vanilla topped with caramel.
You can customise your drink by selecting which size and milk you’d prefer, add an extra shot of coffee or a variety of syrup.
Starbucks offers the usual range of sandwiches, Paninis and salads as well as a range of pastries to compliment your coffee. Some, be warned, are high in calories and should be treated as an indulgence…
Costa Coffee
The brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa started Costa coffee in 1971 in London. It’s now the second larges high street chain. The Costa Roastery was set up to produce a unique blend the brothers called Mocha Italia. This secret blend is the signature of Costa coffee drinks.
Costa likes to sell on their warm and welcoming atmosphere and they succeed in most cases. They use the best coffee making machines as well, what they call the ‘Ferrari’ of machines. All of their baristas are professionally trained to develop the required skills.
All of the classics are sold but you can customise as well, adding syrup at an additional cost or choosing skimmed or Soya milk. They offer Fairtrade certified coffee as an option.
As well as coffees, Costa offers teas, infusions, iced coffees, such as the mint iced latte and frescato.
As well as drinks, Costa offers sandwiches, Paninis and a range of cakes, muffins and pastries.
In 2006, Costa set up the Costa Foundation to help coffee growing communities. It is designed to initiate programmes that will improve the social and economic welfare of these communities including providing children with access to education.
Caffe Nero
It says it offers ‘the best espresso this side of Milan’ and they seem to be doing it right considering the ratings they’ve had, including being ranked ‘Best UK coffeehouse’ brand by UK consumers (Allegra report).
Caffe Nero was founded in 1997 to recreate in the United Kingdom a European cafe style. The idea was to serve very high quality Italian coffee with fresh deli-style food in a friendly, relaxing atmosphere – pretty much what any good coffeehouse would want to achieve. Today it has over 360 stores in Britain.
Seven different beans are blended to make Caffe Nero’s house coffee. It gives a rich, strong flavour that, they say, betters their rivals. All of the classic coffees are available. Caffe Nero uses double shots in all its regular and large sized drinks but if you prefer a single shot, just ask.
Food includes Sandwiches, Paninis, Italian wraps, soups, pasta and pastries. Hot food has an Italian feel although the pastries are imported from France. There is a Lighter Choice range where fat content is significantly reduced.
Staff are well trained and work in a cosy, friendly atmosphere. Caffé Nero coffeehouses are designed to incorporate local features into their locations, such as arches, columns and large windows. Where possible the furniture includes armchairs and sofas to create that feeling of relaxation where you can chat, read the paper or work on your computer. Caffe Nero offers Wi-Fi in its stores now, so if your computer is Wi-Fi enabled you can connect to the Internet while enjoying your coffee, or you can buy BT Openzone time.
Coffee Republic
Started in 1995 by brother and sister Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, Coffee Republic set out to duplicate the coffeehouse experience they had enjoyed in New York. Today it is one of the best known coffee chains and has branches throughout the UK.
All Coffee Republic’s coffee varieties are espresso based and are made using their own blend.
Food is of the deli variety – think New York – and includes sandwiches as well as a breakfast menu including filled baguettes, bagels and muffins.
Some outlets offer a delivery service. You can download their menu, order form and credit account application from their website www.coffeerepublic.co.uk/deliveries.php.
The majority of Coffee Republic outlets offer a free (for the first ten minutes) Wi-Fi service.