Bean to cup coffee machines - The battle between the engineer and the coffee connoisseur in the food service industry

I have just returned from a holiday in mainland Europe and couldn't help noticing that everywhere you look the "Bean to cup" coffee machine seems to dominate in the Hotel, Cafe and Bar environments.

I have to say that I struggled to get a decent cup of coffee from any of these machines despite the huge amounts of technology involved. (We're talking about machines costing in excess of £8,000 each). Why the difficulty?

Well I can only go on my experiences here in Jersey where these machines have become so complex that unless a trained engineer is standing next to me I (as a coffee roaster) have no way of being able to adjust the output of the machine.

The engineer knows a lot about the machine's capabilities, but (on the whole) very little about what a great cup of coffee tastes like. This is incredibly frustrating for the roaster who may well go to a huge amount of effort to build a blend or buy a particular coffee only to see all his or her hard work destroyed because the coffee machine has not been set up appropriately.

Coffee being an organic product changes depending upon a myriad of conditions. If the operator can no longer make those tiny adjustments how is it possible to deliver truly great consistent coffee?

So please rocket scientist coffee machine manufacturers think about us humble roasters and come up with some much easier control systems that allow us to deliver that much sought after great cup of coffee.

Bio-energy coming soon from a farm near you!

Human activity is causing global warming. We now all have environmental footprints, we’ve discovered “food miles” and carbon neutral activities, which is all fine but what are we going to do about it?

The challenge for all Governments when it comes to implementing a “green” strategy is that talk is cheap. They can preach about the merits of collecting cans / newspapers / using fewer plastic bags, but in order to make a real impact I believe the private sector has to be able to make money out of green activities.

The Eco-Active event recently held at the RJHA buildings in Trinity focused attention on a number of local businesses all of whom in their different ways are trying to get us to see the error of our ways.

The business that stood out for me though goes by the name of Farmfuels. Their product, that of selling wood pellets and wood pellet stoves seems fairly unremarkable at first sight, however its implications for Jersey are immense.

They are looking at growing a crop called “Miscanthus grass”. This is recognised as a Bio-energy crop; that is it is grown primarily for fuel. Given the current state of the agriculture industry on Jersey, a new crop will help hard pressed farmers if there is sufficient interest shown.

Upon harvesting, the crop is dried, shredded, and finally compressed into fuel pellets or heat logs.

The Islands demand for power is huge. We import over 3,000 tons of coal every year, a significant amount of Gas and Oil and demand / output of electricity has grown by 25% in the last decade. Isn’t it time we looked in our own backyard to give us more energy security, especially if it’s green energy security?

The clever bit though is getting people to change the habits of a lifetime. Deputy De Faye has recently talked about a “green tax” which probably sent a shudder down the spine of the business community. Of course the absolute opposite is happening in southern Ireland where a grant of Euro 1,100 is being given to anyone installing a pellet burning stove / boiler, which is seen as carbon neutral.

The burner falls under the Greener Homes Scheme Registered Product list and is surely a great incentive to encourage people to switch from traditional sources of fuel.

Wouldn’t it be great if planning on top of demanding rainwater harvesting systems as standard in all new builds, also incentivised people to choose a green solution for their hot water and central heating requirements and gave them money to do so?

Finally five suggestions to help save the planet –

1. Think before you print off that email – is it really necessary?

2. Keep a supply of A4 used paper by the printer, because if you really did need to print off that email you could at least use used paper.

3. Switch off the charger for your mobile ‘phone at the wall when you’re not using it for charging. It consumes electricity when left on but not in use.

4. Do you need to print all documents in finest quality? Why not try changing the default on your printer to print in draft. You’ll save a lot of cartridges.

5. Next time the person behind the counter asks you if you would like a bag for your two or three purchases, say no if it’s practicable.