At Carvetii Coffee Roasters we have set up a variety of systems to help manage our business on a day to day business. These systems invariably throw up a lot of data. We use some of this data to manage the business on a day to day, and month to month basis, but some if…
A Year of Coffee 2014
Over the past couple of years I’ve enjoyed looking back over the coffees we’ve used over the previous twelve months. Up until now this has been a relatively easy task which I’ve mostly been able to do from memory. However, looking back over 2014 has proved very different and is probably a good indicator as…
Relaxing with a cup of coffee
This Christmas, due in part to my desire not to visit the Roastery for a few days, I have broken one of my own rules when it comes to making coffee at home – I’ve set up an espresso machine in the kitchen. Aside from a brief dabble in my early days as a barista,…
Making Espresso – a personal journey
I made my first espresso on a commercial machine in 2006. It was quite an exciting moment as, up until that point, I’d always been on the customer side of the machine. I’d received a little bit of training and knew how many times to pull the lever on the grinder hopper to get a certain…
Are sales the only success criteria?
Last weekend we took Carvetii Coffee Roasters on the road to the Cumberland County Show, which was held at Carlisle Racecourse. We’ve been to a few events this year, ranging from food festivals to agricultural shows and while the core elements of our stand remain the same, we take a slightly different approach to each…
Coffee Taste Challenge
At the Cumberland County Show this year our stand included a coffee tasting challenge. We brewed four flasks of filter coffee and challenged visitors to match each flask to a flavour descriptor. We offered a selection of prizes to anyone who correctly identified all four coffees, including a coffee brewing kit and lunch for two…
Why we’re messing with espresso!
It seems I’ve spent my life pursuing two careers where people hold very strong views about what is right and wrong. Nearly twenty years in the teaching profession has taught me there are numerous approaches to educating children (and adults for that matter), each of which can have desirable results at the hands of a…
Raising money at Taste Cumbria Ulverston
In April of this year a good friend of ours, Ashley Charlwood, set out to run the Marathon des Sable (MdS), the toughest foot race in the world. Apart from wanting to complete the race and return in one piece to the UK, Ash wanted to raise money for the Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma Research Fund,…
Taste Cumbria Food Festival Ulverston
On the 24th and 25th May we’ll be taking the Carvetii Espresso Bar on the road once again, this time to take part in the Taste Cumbria Food Festival in Ulverston. For all you coffee buffs out there we’ve got some delicious and varied coffees to sample (and our samples are full cups of coffees!). We’ll…
Espresso is not a flavour descriptor
When I talk to people in Cumbria about espresso it becomes obvious they have a predetermined notion about the drink (this may be true in other regions but I can only comment on my own personal experiences). They associate espresso with a particular taste; they are using the term ‘espresso’ to describe a flavour. When…
Kendal Festival of Food & UK Coffee Week
UK Coffee Week takes place this year between the 7th and 13th April 2014. I suppose the event has two main purposes. Firstly it’s a bit of a celebration of all things coffee, and is another excuse (if we ever needed one) to sit down and enjoy a coffee with friends. Secondly, the event aims…
Blackburn Estate Pick of Harvest
This is our first coffee from Tanzania, delivering flavours of plum, caramel and hints of spice (possbiby a little caraway), combined with a syrupy mouthfeel and lingering notes of cocoa. Blackburn Estate lies on the southern edge of the Ngorongoro Crater, which is a haven for wildlife. As the threat of damage by elephants is…