Tag: black coffee

Coffee entrepreneur flies the flag for Scottish produce at Number 10

Perth based entrepreneur and co-founder of Mhor Coffee, Tricia Fox, has been flying the flag for Scottish produce in London at a UK Government reception held on 8 March 2023 at No.10 Downing Street, to mark International Women’s Day.

The event, which was attended by 150 guests including representatives across Government, industry, and civil society, as well as female business students, invited nine female led businesses from across the UK, including Mhor Coffee, to showcase their products in the State Rooms inside No 10.

Mhor Coffee was one of only two Scottish businesses taking part in the showcase at the event, the purpose of which being to celebrate female entrepreneurship and showcase support for women’s enterprise and economic empowerment.

Tricia, who is also founder and CEO of Perth headquartered PR and marketing agency, The Cunningly Good Group, which recently celebrated its twentieth year in business, started Mhor Coffee with her husband during lockdown in 2020. An -ecommerce platform offering a wide range of artisan coffees for purchase, deliver direct to a customer’s door, Mhor Coffee was born out of the observation that the consumption of artisan coffee during the first UK lockdown rocketed. The husband-and-wife team saw an opportunity to turn their love of artisan coffee into a profitable business.

Mhor Coffee means great coffee in Scots Gaelic and guests at yesterday’s reception at No.10, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, were given the opportunity to taste the six-core artisan blends available from Mhor Coffee, all named after Scottish mountains. These include Aonach Mhor, Etive Mhor, Creag Mhor, Bheinn Mhor, newly launched Carn Mhor, and decaff No Mhor Caffeine.

Tricia Fox, co-founder of Mhor Coffee, said: “I was delighted to fly the flag for Scotland at this reception to mark International Women’s Day. It has been an incredible honour, and a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Mhor Coffee artisan blend of coffees to an entirely new audience, including the Prime Minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, who is a keen coffee fan. We’ve been told Mhor Coffee will be served at the next cabinet meeting.”

 

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2023 off to a healthy start? Don’t forget your coffee…..

January is my least favourite month of the year. Not because it’s cold, damp and dark, but because the world around me seems to erupt into a fervent attempt to get fit, lose weight and act all smug about it.

Ditching or cutting back on caffeine usually seems to be high on their agenda. But that’s where their smugness should end.

Thanks to my latte-swigging, laid back lifestyle I managed to catch Professor Tim Spector (of the Covid Zoe app fame) on ITV’s Lorraine last week, talking about healthy eating. According to the Professor, coffee is healthier for you than fruit juice. He had my attention.

Evidence, Tim explained to Lorraine, is now “incontrovertible” that coffee drinkers have less heart disease than non-coffee drinkers. Studies have shown that the micronutrients naturally occurring in coffee, called polyphenols, have a protective effect on the heart, with Tim likening them to “rocket fuel for your gut microbes.” Great!

In fact, Spector believes that improving your gut health (microbiome) and metabolism can lead to weight loss without counting the calories. That was music to my ears (and waistline) and, since everyone else I know was out exercising, I had time to do some proper research (for your benefit, of course) to check out if what he was saying was really true.

After scanning a range of different publications, including the British Medical Journal, for scientific studies on the effects of coffee I’ve since discovered that: 2 cups of black coffee provide more fibre than a banana; you can ‘healthily’ drink up to 5 cups of coffee a day; most cups of coffee contain more fibre than a glass of orange juice; and habitual coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. This is all good news.

Apparently, and here’s the science bit, the fibre from the coffee ferments in our guts to produce “short-chain fatty acids” that help both our metabolism and our immune systems perform better. Lovely.

Either way, all the scientists are unified on their conclusions that the long term health impacts of coffee are positive. It’s good for your heart, your liver, your gut and your health. 

So, if you’re checking off New Year’s Resolutions but struggling with the reduction in caffeine intake, for the sake of your gut microbiome (and your own sanity), pop the kettle on and have a brew. It’ll be worth it in the long term.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine in The Courier and Press & Journal

 

Extra Hot, please! Temperature matters when it comes to coffee.

As seasons change, temperatures fall, and demand for hot drinks soars. In coffee circles, heated debates continue about the “correct” temperature to create the perfect brew, and how much to heat the milk.

We’ve all done it. I’ve heard myself saying “could I have that extra hot, please?” But, know this, deep down inside the Barista is mentally shaking their head at your not-too unreasonable request.

Why? Because too hot, usually means too bad for your coffee.

There’s two parts to this heating problem. The brew and the milk.

The brew is the easy part. It is generally accepted that water just off the boil, is about ideal – between 90-94 degrees Celsius to be precise. And some coffee afficionados are that precise when they are brewing, even at home. The hotter the liquid, the faster the coffee extraction. As most roasts are dark, the extraction is already quick, and speeding that process up further still with boiling hot water will only add a hint of bitterness to your coffee that nobody wants.

So, from now on, if you’re making coffee at home, count 10 seconds after the kettle has boiled before pouring into your cafetiere.

The milk, however, is where it can all go wrong. I say that as someone who loathes a lukewarm latte. When it comes to heating the milk the Barista has to tread a really fine line between creating lovely frothy (or silky) bubbles and actually heating up the milk. All the while they run the risk of over-heating it because, at 68 degrees celsius, milk begins to degrade in taste. Mouthfeel diminishes too as the milk proteins are irreversibly broken down.

So what to do? Well, it sounds simple, but if you are on the move a good insulated re-usable cup with a lid will strike a balance between taste and temperature, keeping your drink hotter for longer and tasting fine (the goal).

Another solution is to avoid larger cup sizes. Coffee was never meant to be drunk like that anyway. Blame the Americans for that one, bigger is not always better.

If you’re making coffee at home and like it milky, invest in a Nespresso Aeroccino milk frother which, for me, is my gadget of the year. Forget air-fryers to save money this winter, this little automatic milk frothing pot has saved me a small fortune at Costa and delivers a perfectly hot frothy coffee experience.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine in The Courier and Press & Journal

 

We need to support our independent coffee shops, or lose them forever

By the time this column is printed, the doors to our wee coffee shop in Perth will be permanently closed.

Like a great many small independent businesses in the hospitality industry, we concluded it was just no longer viable to carry on.

Over the last few weeks I’ve read silently, with growing horror, article after article about small independent cafes and restaurants giving up their fight to stay in business. Fika in Dundee, Blasta in Stanley, Grand Italia and 269 Vegan in Perth, a heartbreaking list of broken dreams which continues to grow.

Hospitality is, literally, on its knees.

Almost two and a half years of lockdown closures, slow economic recovery, low city centre footfall, unavoidable VAT increases and now the cost of living crisis have borne down on this industry. It’s as if all our Januaries have come at once.

So what’s this got to do with coffee? This is still a coffee column, right?

Well, yes it is. Humour me while I get into the economics of your coffee and how it’s reaches your table.

Coffee roasting is, generally speaking, performed using gas apparatus to toast the beans. And we are all aware of the rising costs of wholesale gas.

The fantastic baristas who make your coffee? Well they all got a bit of a pay rise in April when the national living wage went up.

The standing charges and the electricity that powers the coffee machine? Well they have also increased.

The milk that makes up roughly half the drink? Well that’s endured several separate price rises since January this year. Not a single price increase. Several.  

Add to that, coffee is a bit of a treat. So it’s an easy win to save some pennies. And literally thousands of people are doing just that. On every high street. In every town.

So the small business that’s tweaking their prices by 5 or 10 pence per cup, here and there, really needs to do it or they simply won’t survive.

So please, if you can, support your local independent coffee shop. They put love, care and passion into every cup they make and every cup sold makes a genuine difference to them. Every single cup.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine on 13/087/2022 in The Courier and Press & Journal

 

Give your coffee some Ooh La La with a Cafetiere!

We all remember our first fancy coffee, right? The time where the coffee is not just that little bit different from what you’d expected, and all that more thrilling for it.

For me it was on a regular after school natter with my best mate, Victoria, at the then newly opened Willows Restaurant in St John’s Place, Perth. Back then they served all their coffees rather elegantly in cafetieres. And the sheer novelty value and fun of plunging the coffee was something neither of us had experienced before. So very cosmopolitan and grown up it seemed to two giddy 16-year-olds.

Fast forward 30 years and Willows is, rightly, celebrating its third decade in business at the heart of Perth. Cafetieres, however, have slightly fallen out of favour amongst the coffee elite in the last three decades but, despite this snobbery, I’ll hazard a guess that there’s one in every home up and down the country. In fact, if you ask, Willows will still serve you up a cafetiere coffee and is one of a very few cafes that still do.

As a piece of speciality coffee brewing kit, the cafetiere still means business, no matter how fashions move on. My very first Bodum was given to me by colleagues as leaving gift in 1998 and is still going strong almost 25 years later. Furthermore, and I’m not ashamed to admit it, when it comes to sharing a brew, it’s my go to brewing kit – trouncing v60s, aeropress and espresso machines each and every time for its casual coffee table glamour and simplicity.

The best brewing results come from using fresh coarse ground coffee (and Aonach Mhor is perfect made in a cafetiere) and hot water that’s just off the boil. You can vary serving according to desired strength but I’ve always used the two fingers method to measure out the coffee. I can almost hear the coffee elite’s teeth grinding at the thought of this utter abandonment of scientific measurement.

The bloom in a cafetiere, where the grinds rise up and the bubbles gather on the top, is one of my favourite moments in making coffee. A quick stir then you need a few minutes to let the coffee steep, and finally you are ready to plunge and serve. It’s quick, it’s simple, and it’s exactly why (I bet) it’s still a winner all these years later. Why not pop into Willows this Summer to celebrate their 30th anniversary and order yourself a brew.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine on 9/07/2022 in The Courier and Press & Journal

 

Ice, Ice, baby.

As I write, Scotland is sweltering in the grip of an early Summer heatwave. Beside me is a clinking high ball glass, filled to the brim with deliciously ice-cold coffee, my inspiration for this month’s column.

Like a grown-up milkshake, with the added value of caffeination, an iced coffee is the ultimate sophisticated treat when the sun is out.

Across the globe, the iced coffee trade is literally booming. Fuelled by the big international chains, and much coveted by the cool kids, these (often) sugary sweet, cream-laden summer brews are more than a contender when it comes to getting cut through in a crowded summer soft drinks market. And the good news is they don’t have to be dessert-like to taste divine.

I’m a big fan of the Italian “granita” style lattes, which only requires milk, a shot of coffee, and some ice in a blender to be brought to life with the minimum of fuss.

For those who prefer to follow trends, and like a bit more drama in their drinks, the Dalgona Coffee surged in popularity in 2020 when it became a bit of an Instagram/TikTok hit during the first lockdown. Essentially a whipped creamy coffee layer sitting on top of ice-cold milk, there are hundreds of variations of the drink and more than a definite nod to artistry when it comes to presentation.

Unlike iced tea, iced coffee can taste just as good served white, as it can black – although I’ve often found a black iced coffee to be a little more of a bitter drink, rather than a refreshing one. A quest to eliminate the bitterness is why cold brew coffee has risen in popularity over the last decade, where the coffee brews slowly in cold water over a period of about 12 hours, and you pop it into the fridge to chill until you’re ready to drink. It’s a smooth alternative, if you have the patience, which I don’t if the cold brew Puck Puck at the back of my cupboard is anything to go by.

Still, a huge variety of options awaits you when you venture into the iced coffee market, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Take it from me, sitting under a parasol, in beautiful Scottish sunshine, day-dreaming I’m in Venice, enjoying an iced latte made with Bheinn Mhor: there’s nothing better.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine on 11/06/2022 in The Courier and Press & Journal

 

Stronger is better, right?

I’ve got news for you. You’ve been poorly trained in how to buy coffee. Yep, you’ve read that right.

In a bid to make things simpler for you, the supermarkets dug out the most basic of marketing techniques, and have adequately lulled you into a false sense of security using a fictional numbers based coffee strength spectrum. You’ve probably already decided you have a preference for a Strong Dark 5 or a Weak Gentle 3 and that’s that. But it’s all nonsense.

That “caffeine laden dark roast” you’ve been boasting about on social media is not actually as caffeine laden as you might think. And certainly not as caffeinated as the light roast you eschewed because it wasn’t “strong” enough to get your revs up in the morning.

Fact: the coffee roasting process actively removes caffeine. That means the darker the roast, or the longer the bean is roasted, the less caffeine it retains.

The art of the roaster is in toasting the beans at the right level, for the right amount of time, to balance out their natural acidity, sweetness and bitterness, while also retaining the coffee’s natural flavours. No small feat.

The lighter the roast, the more of the bean’s original flavours are retained. This sometimes comes with higher levels of acidity (often translated into coffee descriptions as fruitiness) but lower levels of bitterness.

Most artisan roasters lean towards creating lighter roasts because these bring out the natural flavours of the coffee.

It’s designed to make your coffee drinking experiences more akin to that of fine wine discovery, where different grapes, grown in different vineyards, picked by different winemakers, make different wines.

It also means that those darker roasts you think are pumped full of caffeine are actually more bitter, not less. Because we’re quite fond of a milky coffee in the UK, the darker roasts generally sold in coffee shops get away with their bitterness. Ask the Americano drinkers, however, and you might get a different spin on things.

So if you need more caffeine (and taste), why not step back into the light and start exploring lighter roasts which may surprise you – and keep you awake for longer. Check out our Aonach Mhor for a gentle entry into the world of lighter roasts.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine on 14/05/2022 in The Courier and Press & Journal

Black Gold

How do you take your coffee? Black. No sugar.

It’s the line in the movie that lets you know this is someone not to be messed with. They don’t have time for milk. Certainly no time for sugar.

Last month I fessed up that latte is my drink of choice. But don’t be fooled. I’ve always been a bit of a maverick when it comes to how I take my coffee. It depends what mood I’m in. I’m as partial to an espresso as I am a latte.

If you truly want to taste the coffee, and I mean really taste it, then ditch the milk.

At the heart of most coffees is an Espresso, a small, strong (and quick!) serve with a lovely foamy crema on top.

Here’s the magic part. Add water to that Espresso, and you’ve got yourself an Americano.  Flip that round and add an Espresso to some water, you’ve made yourself a Long Black, an Australian serve rapidly gaining popularity in the UK.  You’ll have to trust me when I say they do not taste the same. Honest.

And don’t mistake the Long Black with the Lungo (also a “long” black), which is where you extract a longer coffee, rather than simply add hot water to a coffee already extracted. Confused?

The truth is, black coffee isn’t boring. There are so many methods of extraction to try and it’s the only way to truly taste the coffee exactly as it is.

The impact of brewing methods on what you drink is not to be understated and, if you like black coffee, definitely something to be explored.

This month I’ve been sampling for our new roast, The Bheinn Mhor. It’s one of our darkest roasts and the black coffee serves have really showcased its complex flavours of raisins and nuttiness. It’s great with milk in it too, but that’s fundamentally a completely different drink. In the same way that whisky and coke is no longer just whisky.

If you’re feeling really adventurous, try a Ristretto. Made with the same amount of coffee as an Espresso, but using two thirds the amount of water, it packs a mighty tiny punch. The Italians, however, are more likely to chuck the Ristretto over some vanilla ice cream to create the fabulous Affogato dessert. And just like that, we’re back to milk.

Article First Published in The Menu Magazine on 09/04/2022 in The Courier and Press & Journal