I have recently been a bit paranoid that this blog is a bit too much about me and not enough about coffee and alcohol. It was never intended to be that way, but somehow my inner arrogance has shone through and turned the whole thing into a biography! Perhaps some things that happen in my life are interesting to others, but I don’t think all of them are, that is unless you have the same surname as me. So I pledge to you now that I will make a concerted effort to write more articles, opinions, commentary.

Deep breath, here we go…

I was chatting to someone the other day about the similarities between coffee and wine and it got me thinking about how alike they are as a product and yet how differently they are perceived by the consumer.

I enjoy wine as much as the next person and I have probably tried more wines and had more wine training than your average earthling. You might notice that I don’t talk about it much on this blog though and that is mainly because I think it gets enough attention in the media without me going on about it as well – That and the fact that it is a large subject to tackle and i’ve got enough material as it is.

Television and the media teach us to think very carefully about the wines that we drink, where they come from, how they have been produced and what food to drink them with. Perhaps it is a backlash from the 70’s & 80’s when everyone was necking Liebfraumilch, sweet rieslings and Blue Nun. You can’t switch on a cookery show without having some kind of wine recommendation given to you, in fact you can’t switch on the TV without there being a cookery show, ergo – if you have a TV, you know about wine.

These days everyone is a wine expert, the once daunting wine list that was passed around  from person to person like a hot potato, is now being pulled in every direction. In short, people are more confident in their knowledge of wine, with many folk  comfortable selecting their favourite grape variety and/or producing country/region. What’s more, their choices and decisions come from careful evaluation of past experiences, rather than whatever is currently in vogue or has the nicest label.

True, not everyone cares about what wine they drink, but the restaurants and bars reflect that in general most of us do give some kind of a toss, with detailed tasting notes and large selections on even the lowliest, scabbiest wine list. The backbars of local boozers are being exorcised of their dust covered 5l bag in boxes of ‘plonk’ and they are being replaced by refrigerated bottles of Gewurztraminer and Chablis.

Matt Skinner’s new book Heard it Through the Grapevine - 2008 starts like this:

It was just a drink…Then something happened. Wine became a saleable comodity – a popular one, too. A product with real value. It became clear that particular countries were better at producing wine than others – but it didn’t stop there. Particular areas in particular countries were better than others. Particular producers from particular areas were better than others. Particular wines from particular producers were better than others.

Ring any bells? (Coffee)

When I was chatting to this ‘wino’ the other day, I was attempting to highlight the similarities in the production of  coffee and wine. I told them that coffee comes from different regions - just like wine, different varietals - just like wine, and is processed in different ways - just like wine, all resulting in a different end product. They replied ”Yeh, but it’s still only coffee..!”. As we all know coffee is roasted too (unlike wine), which is every bit as unfathomably complicated as yeasts and fermentation.

Coffee is the 2nd most consumed liquid on earth after water and a trend towards quality is slowly gathering pace. But whilst the supermarkets have got wise to demand for quality wine, the coffee isle is still predominantly inhabited by instant or stale pre-ground packets from the usual companies… but wasn’t the wine isle in a similar state 20 years ago, filled with low quality mass produced brands? I’m not saying that it was, I was only 6 years old and my passion for alcohol had not quite sparked then, but i’m guessing that there wasn’t the offering that there is today? Wine has evolved and will continue to evolve, now it’s coffee’s turn. 

We talk a lot about education and teaching people about the rights and wrongs (See James’s excellent post on educating the customer), but the British public is a tough beast to move. Two years ago Hugo’s cafe, Relish opened in Wadebridge where I live. Before that point I didn’t drink coffee in Wadebridge, but now I do. More importantly than that though there were other people drinking coffee in Wadebridge who now drink it at Hugo’s gaff.

Why? Because they tried it there and liked it more than the place they used to drink at.

So what? Well now the places that they used to drink at have had to up their game because Hugo is making great coffee for all the customers that they used to have.

As a result, this microcosm of industry that is Wadebridge has become more competitive, some places have given up trying to make coffee all-together, meaning that their rather crappy offerings are no longer available, whilst others have attempted to compete through changing their brand and partaking in training courses, thus improving the overall standard. Of course Hugo’s is still the best in Wadebridge, but as a whole the town is a better place to drink coffee. 

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but a single experience can permanently alter one’s perception of quality and re-write the rule book on what to expect from drink, whatever their age.

What I am trying to get at is that I think change is coming from the consumer, not because they want to learn more about coffee, but because their body is telling them that this is good stuff, natural human inquisitiveness takes over and they then feel the need to learn more about coffee. Just like that first sip of a nice Chianti that makes you ask, “what wine is this?” Good baristas are being asked “what coffee is this?” after the customer finishes their espresso. Words like bourbon, gethumbwini and portafilter are still a bit alien to a lot of people, but i’d imagine words like bordeaux, shiraz and muscat were once every bit as strange.

I was in Truro the other day and a local bar was advertising the quality of it’s coffee with a huge image of some latte art. I had never seen anyone pour latte art 5 years ago, now you can’t miss it, even walking through a town in Cornwall! Of course the reason that they are advertising with latte art is to inform their potential customers that they know what they are doing and that the consumer can expect a good cuppa from them. As a result the neighbouring cafes will need to have a word with themselves if they want to compete, competition breeds a higher caliber of coffee and we all end up drinking better coffee.

At the present time the British public are demanding more in terms of traceability, sustainability and quality in virtually every area of food and drink, you can’t look at a menu without knowing the name of the cattle farmers pet dog. We are seeing Starbucks outlets closing down and speciality coffee roasters opening up. The word is already starting to spread about great coffee and even though it is a little frustrating when consumers are more interested in certifications than origin, roast style and processing, it is nonetheless still a good start.

Another negative to throw in to the mix is the very British trait of not complaining, but rather muttering to each other about a terrible coffee experience and then writing a scathing review online! As amusing as this is, it is unfortunately detrimental to the industry as it doesn’t provoke change. Complain!

Stand fast fellow baristas, wine and ‘growing things in your garden’ may still be the big issues at the moment, but soon the public eye will turn to the next big thing, and that my friends might just be coffee.

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