Earlier this week I had the opportunity to sample an espresso from one of the biggest branded coffee chains. I don’t often frequent branded coffee shops but every now and again I like to pop in to see what they’re up to. The branded coffee chains will be watching current trends very carefully and will…
Tag: carvetii coffee
The Big Sleep 2015
We first heard about Cumbria Community Foundation’s Big Sleep last year and have been looking forward to spending a night under the stars in aid of such a good cause. It was also a great opportunity to support Gavin and Cheryl from Rather Be Cycling who had taken on the task of organising the event…
Espresso Extraction
We roast our coffee to a relatively light degree which allows the origin characteristics of the bean to shine through. The down side of this approach is that we run the risk of underdeveloping the coffee, particularly when it comes to espresso. Underdeveloped coffee can taste harsh and sour, which are characteristics we definitely do…
New Espresso Blend
New components in our espresso blend This week the components in our seasonal espresso blend will change to coffees from Brazil and Rwanda. The Brazilian component will be Fazenda Pedra Redonda, which came highly recommended from our coffee broker, Mercanta. Pedra Redonda is situated within the Minas Gerais state in Brazil, which is a well…
Baristas who know their stuff
As I dropped off some coffee with one of our customers this evening I was greeted enthusiastically by a member of staff who wanted me to try the espresso. As a new customer to us, they are only just beginning to understand the importance of dialling in the grinder on a daily basis. This involves making…
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,…
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,…
Sourcing coffee
We often get asked how we source our coffee, whether or not we source directly from farms or whether our coffee is Fairtrade. The following post aims to outline the process we go through when selecting coffees. We can probably condense the decision making process down to four key questions: 1. Is the coffee in…
Carvetii Espresso Bar: the line-up
Over the course of the Taste Cumbria weekend we’ll be serving coffees from our Espresso Bar. Here you’ll be able to enjoy your favourite espresso based drinks from the cappuccino to the flat white, and the latte to the piccolo. Joining us on the espresso bar will be guest baristas from our wholesale customers. Some…
The Carvetii Pop-Up Espresso Bar
As I type this post, Angharad is busy roasting a batch of our seasonal espresso blend. This batch is going to remain at the roastery for the next 10 days or so after which it will be nicely settled and ready to be served on our pop-up Espresso Bar during this year’s Taste Cumbria Event….
Coffee Cupping
When we set about choosing some new coffees, we will ‘cup’ a number of samples beforehand. The cupping process is a standardised method of tasting coffee, used throughout the coffee world from farm to an ever increasing number of baristas. The aim is treat each coffee the same, giving each one a fair opportunity to…