Krups XP4050 - Case example of support in theory

It's that time of year when as a retailer you find out just how good the support is for espresso coffee machines you sold prior to Christmas.

We had a query on a Krups XP4050 espresso machine that we sold which wasn't functioning as expected. In anticipation of receiving the machine I took a brand new machine from our stock line and set up the machine ready for use.

The first thing you notice about this machine is its level of automation at such a competitive price which should be applauded. You sense that the manufacturers are a little nervous of "real users". Upon filling the water tank the machine primes itself, that is fills the boiler with water automatically, which is fine as long as it works. In my case no problems.

However just to make sure I made a few cups of coffee and deliberately ran out of water, like many a "real user". This results in the pump sucking air into the boiler.

I refilled the water container and then went to make another coffee only to discover that the machine couldn't get any water into the boiler - it was air locked. I turned to the troubleshooting page in the manual and found ............nothing!.................yes that's nothing on how to overcome a simple air lock. Extraordinary!

For those of you who experience this problem the solution couldn't be easier - simply press the water button on the front panel. This has the effect of opening the boiler valve and forcing the air out which in turn is replaced by water and away you go.

The second issue about which there is no mention in the manual is if you experience problems foaming your milk for cappuccinos. Again all is simple in theory, and the principle used is one used on much more expensive systems, so it should work well. What I got was a lot of "spitting" hot milk and only a hint of foam. Yes I used fresh milk, yes it was cold but now what? Manual troubleshooting? - you'd be lucky

So I turned to the "helpline" who couldn't or wouldn't deal with the problem but instead offered to send me a replacement part. Now I don't know if I even have a faulty part, all I want is someone to tell me what I might try, to improve the situation - surely in the computer vaults of Krups someone has had to deal with this very same problem a zillion times, sadly if they have, Krups are keeping the information close to their chest.

A solution I found and not a particularly satisfactory one was to raise the milk container from which the milk is being drawn so that the flow of milk down the tube into the steam wand
was much greater. More foam was produced, however I still wasn't comfortable with the amount of milk that ended up in the cup.

So Krups whoever is responsible for customer care at your multi-million pound organisation, please take a long hard look at your manuals, particularly the troubleshooting bit and put some really helpful tips in; and when it comes to a 'phone helpline, please allow your support "engineers" access to the kind of information that might just help me a simple user.

The beauty of language

This evening (Sunday 23rd December) was the annual "festival of nine lessons and carols" at Holy Trinity church in Jersey.

The Church was packed, the choir and congregation were in great voice and one got the sense that it was a wonderful community event. Community! such an old fashioned word in today's highly mobile society.

What though was it that made this service such a wonderful event? For me it was the language - the readings were mostly taken from the King James bible which turns the English language into an art form. The opening lesson from Genesis3: 8-15 with Adam complaining that "the serpent beguiled me"- What if instead of beguiled, the word "tricked" or "deceived" were used in its place? No sometimes the beauty of the English language is that we have a word when used in its correct context adds so much to the imagery and immensity of the occasion.

The language though that I wish I had learnt at school is Latin - the choir sang two pieces with Latin titles - "In Dulcie Jubilo" and "Laudamus Te "; it's so frustrating when you don't know what these titles mean so with apologies to all Latin scholars this is what I came up with from the dictionary: "Good Christian men rejoice" - incidentally there appears to be no "e" on the word "dulci" but I stand corrected.

As for "Laudamus Te", it appears to be a shortened version of the full sentence "Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur", which translates to "O God, we praise Thee: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord." - a few words that mean such a lot.

The one hymn that I felt could be improved by not being sung in English though is "Silent night, Holy night", I've always thought that the German language gets across the magic of this hymn, not that I have much knowledge of the German language , I think it's just the sound. For the record here is the hymn translated:

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Halleluja,
Tönt es laut von fern und nah:
Christ, der Retter ist da!
Christ, der Retter ist da!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.
Christ, in deiner Geburt!
Christ, in deiner Geburt!

Silent night, holy night
All is calm all is bright
'Round yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia;
Christ the Savior is born
Christ the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

It's a difficult decision for a Church in Jersey to sing a hymn in German on such an auspicious occasion given the history of what happened nearly 70 years ago, but surely that's what Christianity is all about forgiveness - I hope that one day we'll have the priviledge of hearing this wonderful hymn sung in what traditionally isn't a language particularly renowned for its beauty.

Now we move on to Christmas, and I wish all those who read my blog a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year

Ethiopian Coffee Trademarking & Licensing Initiative

We're really pleased to be mentioned in dispatches on the CSRwire web site. We recently signed up to the above initiative as we believe that it is vital for inidividual countries to keep control of their unique coffee heritage.
Our job as coffee roasters is to communicate this wonderful heritage to our customers and endeavour to highlight those unique characteristics that come out of each origin by roasting the coffee as carefully as possible. In our case we sell Ethiopian Harrar as a single origin coffee, as well as using its unique characteristics in some of our finest espreso blends.
Where better a country to start such an initiative than in the true homeland of coffee.

Briel Espresso machine cleaning - updated

I was reminded the other day when two Briel espresso machines were recently brought into us that I first did a blog on this topic back in August 2006, however we still seem to be getting the same issues.

HEALTH WARNING

Before you attempt any of the following take great care to ensure that you are aware of which surfaces are hot and give them time to cool down. When using any chemicals flush the machine thoroughly with clean water afterwards, and should you splash any chemicals on your person wash away immediately as they can be quite aggressive on the skin.

A further issue though was brought to my attention, that of the steam wand becoming blocked. This part is usually blocked for one of two reasons:

1. Scale

If it is a scale problem, "pray" that you can still get some water through the wand. If you can it means that you can get descaling solution into the heart of the wand by filling the water tank, then turning on the water pump and opening up the steam wand immediately. Once you see a trickle of water coming out of the end of the wand switch off the pump and turn off the machine. Leave for 10 minutes, then switch on the machine repeating the process of switching on the pump and opening the steam wand valve. If there's any justice the flow of water should increase as the scale falls away or is dissolved. Run plenty of clean water through the machine afterwards prior to using it.

2. Milk

The problem occurs because after the steam wand has been used no attempt has been made to "flush out" any milk that may have gone up inside the steam wand. Gradually this builds up to the point where it is impossible for any steam to escape.

We have tried chemicals in the past to clear these types of blockages, however because nothing is moving it has not proved to be a good approach. As usual the simplest methods tend to be the best.

You will need to dismantle any plastic attachments found on the end of the metal part of the steam wand. Check if any of the holes are blocked, they tend to be very small and usually only a pin or "unbent" paper clip will do the trick.

You can very quickly establish if the problem lies in the plastic section by checking if any steam is coming out of the metal part of the wand, if it is all problems lie within the plastic section.

However should the metal part of the steam wand be blocked you will once again need to use (and I have found this to be the best) an unbent paper clip to try to dislodge any congealed milk. Once you think you've removed any solid bits, let the machine heat up again and open up the steam wand valve. Pay a lot of attention at this point as you might find that nothing will come out immediately, however after a few moments the steam pressure may suddenly blow out the last vestiges of crusty milk so don't have your hands or face too near the end of the steam wand.

This process may need to be repeated a few times if the blockage is really bad, however do persevere we've usually got everything working again after a few attempts.

The lesson ultimately is that when you have finished foaming or steaming your milk always flush out the steam wand to air, otherwise you face the challenge of the above activity.

The following is a copy of my earlier blog

Briel espresso machine maintenance (Aug 2006)

We've had a couple of machines in recently which if our customer had been more sensitive to the maintenance requirements of their machine, we wouldn't have seen, so I thought it would be a good idea to highlight a couple of things you can do to increase the longevity of your machine.

The following refers in particular to Briel coffee machines, however the principles can be applied to all domestic machines.

1. Maintenance of the group head

When you take out the group handle and inspect the area from which the water emanates, you will notice a large brass screw. Around the edge of the screw there are a series of notches at regular intervals. It is vital that these remain clear of any debris, otherwise the machines pumps will be put under severe pressure, and you will struggle to make a coffee.

The main causes of blockages are ground coffee, and limescale.

When the machine is cold, use a short handled screwdriver to remove this brass screw. It's important that you get the right sized screwdriver, otherwise you are in danger of damaging the screw.

If you experience problems removing the screw, it's sometimes a good idea to descale the coffee machine first. This can help to remove any scale that might be causing the screw to stick.

When you have released the screw you will find that there is a spring and rubber "bung" that comes out at the same time.

This bung helps seal the boiler so that no water escapes into the group head whilst the machine is heating up. The spring helps keep the bung in position. So suffice it to say, don't lose either of these parts.

There are now a couple of things you can do. If you haven't already, now is a good opportunity to descale the machine, following carefully the manufacturer's instructions.

Once you have done this clean the notches that surround the screw with either an old tooth brush or some other tough scarifying material. Wash thoroughly after you have finished.

Once everything appears clean, replace the screw, spring and rubber bung. Hand tight should be sufficient.

Switch on your machine and flush through with water to ensure that any remaining loose material is removed.

If you use your machine regularly then you should look to do this procedure I would suggest once a month. In hard water areas probably weekly.

Remember, if you do have to switch on the machine at any point during the cleaning process ensure that you leave an appropriate amount of time for it to cool down before you continue working on it.

Local heroes

Not quite sure that we justify such an awesome tag "local hero", but great to see a local restaurant highlighting the quality of all things Jersey. We are truly fortunate on the Island of Jersey to have such a wonderful heritage of small businesses doing outstanding things. Thank-you for the public acknowledgement Boathouse, a great idea and may it bring a lot of benefit to all those passionate about food and drink here on Jersey.

Costa Rica - Dota Tarrazu

Traditionally we've always stocked the classic "San Marcos" Tarrazu coffee, however we've decided to give Coope Dota a try and I must say haven't been disappointed.

As you can see from the title the coffee still comes from the Tarrazu region which is near San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica and is grown at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,800 metres.

This coffee is certified by the Speciality Coffee Association of Costa Rica and rightly so,
we love the sweet aroma and caramel notes that come with this coffee particularly when made through an espresso machine.

Another coffee for the connoisseur. The following link will take you to the product on our website

Costa Rica Dota Tarrazu

Papua New Guinea Fair Trade Organic Coffee

Yet another great new coffee for us. It comes from the Eastern Highlands Province and is grown at between 4,800' and 6000'.

We've put it through a Cafetiere (French press) and got wonderful nutty and citrus notes.

For the techies amongst you it's 100% Arabica with a combination of varietals that include typica, arusha and bourbon.

It's a great looking coffee, carefully processed by the "wet" method with no discernible defects. We've roasted it to a full medium colour to accentuate those wonderful flavours.

You can find it on our website by following this short cut

http://www.cooper.co.je/product/productinfo.aspx?id=368&cid=3

Steam wand issues in domestic espresso machines

Two of the most common problems in the steam department of home espresso machines are:
1. Lack of cleaning
2. Air locks

This blog is based on the assumption that the machine is actually producing steam

Today most modern espresso machine steam wands come pre-fitted with an "auto-frothing" device, whilst being a very clever idea, guaranteeing foam when working properly, they can also be very frustrating to use. The main problem is one of cleanliness.

If the holes which let in the air within the frothing device become blocked you will end up with some very hot milk but no foam. For foam to be created air has to be driven into the milk by the steam. What I have found on many occasions is that the user is unaware that the frothing device can be taken apart and washed, as a result the foam mysteriously disappears and the machine gets blamed for its inability to create vast quantities of foam.

Foaming devices can be easily pulled apart - once inside you will find lumps of dried milk - give each part a good clean, reassemble and hopefully frothy cappuccinos can once again be yours.

If this doesn't cure the problem then issue two as mentioned above, an airlock is likely to be the cause of your problems.

Airlocks can be created if the machine runs out of water and can usually only be removed by driving water through the steam wand and group head of the machine. This is done by opening fully the knob that controls the steam and then switching on the pump that is usually used to drive water through the coffee.

Place a receptacle under the steam wand to catch any water that comes out - When you have a good flow of water, turn off the pump, and shut down the steam wand using the controlling knob. Allow the machine to heat up again and hopefully steam pressure will have returned.

As I experienced the other day, this proceedure may need to be carried out two or three times to remove all airlocks, do persevere because unless there is a more major problem such as an element failure in the machine (which would mean that no steam was being generated) it should be perfectly possible to achieve a good steam pressure once again.

Enjoy your cappuccino!

Population growth - Politics versus Reality

Why is it possible for a brand new Hotel on the Waterfront to get 10’s if not a 100 licences for unqualified staff, yet many existing small businesses on Jersey struggle to get given one un-qualified licence?

Why is it that there are youngsters in our society who struggle to find a job yet many small businesses complain that they can’t find qualified staff to fill critical vacancies?

It all stems from the thorny political problem of wanting economic growth without excessive population growth – So on the one hand we encourage a new Hotel development as a welcome addition to our tourism offer, however sweep quietly under the carpet the reality that there are insufficient locally qualified individuals to staff the Hotel, hence the liberal sprinkling of unqualified licences. What population growth problem?

So why then instead of surreptitiously handing out licences on a case by case basis doesn’t the minister put his cards on the table and openly state what the policy is? Surely if a small business knew they could automatically have at least one unqualified licence then a lot of the heartache, ill will and suspicion that many businesses have towards the Regulations of Undertakings department would evaporate as at a stroke a small sliver of red tape was removed.

But of course if we are going to make any attempt to control population growth long term we have to ensure that we maximize the use of our existing Human resources. To this end an initiative has been put forward to bring the many disparate areas namely Social security, Careers advisory services etc. under one banner called the “Skills executive”.

A commendable idea, but I fear it doesn’t tackle the core problem, that of the right data being in the hands of the right people. It’s a huge challenge particularly when the obvious source, namely Regulations of Undertakings could well be restricted by the Data Protection act. Yet another hurdle, but then what’s new!

If students don’t know about the opportunities, and businesses can’t tell them how can Govt. know what training is required? I know there are careers advisors in schools but they are fewer than 10 versus the 2,500 businesses on the Island who employ 10 or fewer. They are only going to put forward industry sectors, and small business is not an industry sector.

I have been talking with Andrew Gibbs at the Highlands careers advisory service to see if there is a way to set up a central database that can be used by both students and businesses alike.

A relevant, reliable and flexible system; get this in place first, then and only then will in my view a skills executive succeed in delivering its intended benefits.

David Warr

Vivre la difference!

As global corporates do, somehow Nespresso managed to get an Independent Newspaper reporter to do a 3 page spread for free. Because I don't have the budget to compete against that kind of power and in case the Independent Newspaper don't publish my response, here are my views on the editorial:

4/10/07

The Editor

The Independent Newspaper

Re: Article “The cult of Nespresso”

Dear Sir,

As a roaster of speciality coffee I read with despair the item on Nespresso and how two of the top restaurants in the UK proudly use the product.

Comments such as “consistency” and not having “half an hours worth of washing up” only go to highlight why the ubiquitous tea bag and M & S ready meals have come to be such a success in a generation of time starved automatons.

Do the chefs of Sketch and the Fat Duck pop down to their local supermarket for ready made Shepherd’s pie when they put it on their menu, in the knowledge that it will be “consistently good”? I doubt it, so why then should Coffee not be given the same level of respect?

Coffee is an organic product, and like meat, broccoli or potatoes varies from batch to batch and season to season, the challenge is to consistently put great coffee in the cup, but then isn’t that true of most foods, and why we recognise great chefs?

In a world of de-skilling and dumbing down none is better than global organisations such as Nestle. Why should I as a business go through all that costly training with real human beings when Nestle offer the panacea of the capsule. Just think how a businesses bottom line is improved, simply pressing a button allows you to carry on paying the minimum wage to the next person off the boat.

To hell with the cost in terms of packaging waste and the double standards of people who on the one hand re-cycle their newspapers, but on the other make every coffee they drink using a Nestle capsule.

I’ve spent the last 18 years of my life roasting coffee for a living, and it is a huge challenge, but it has been and is a wonderful, sometimes frustrating, but mostly exhilarating journey. I’ve met people from all around the world – People who are passionate about what they do, despite being paid very little, mostly because the largest roasters in the world are able to play one country off against another.

I can count growers as my friends; I want to continually do the best I can for them and all their hard work. I can’t morally beat them down when I know what goes into delivering great coffee, and nor should our society.

Great coffee, like great wine and great food can take a lifetime to perfect, please don’t let it be reduced to the equivalent of a happy pill. Where are the Gordon Ramsey’s or Delia Smith’s of the coffee world who will stand up and defend the good name of coffee as roasted by thousands of micro roasters around the globe? It’s time to stand up and be counted, otherwise everything written in the seminal booklet “Mugged” , Poverty in your coffee cup by Oxfam will come true.

Inspiration for small businesses

As anyone who runs their own business knows, it can be a lonely place sometimes. You do what you think is right and what you believe in, however things don't always go to plan and as a result it can leave you deflated and wondering why you make the necessary sacrifices.

Well a customer of mine called today asking why we didn't do a particular product line under our own brand, he believed that our reputation is such that people would fall over themselves to use it if we put our name to the product.

I told him that we continually look for these kinds of opportunities, but that the volumes involved sometimes meant that we couldn't justify the cost. He was pleased to hear this and appreciated my dilemma. He then came out with this wonderful quote which really reassures you that what you are striving to achieve isn't being done in vane and is appreciated:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

Apparently it is attributed to the English philosopher Edmund Burke

I know it sounds dramatic, and not all our competitors are evil, but at least it reflects that other people appreciate our values and that we are not ploughing a lone furrow.


I hope that inspires those of you who run your own businesses

Passing of Marcel Marceau (Mangel) aged 84

This has absolutely nothing to do with coffee, tea, Jersey, simply humanity.

The quote comes from a wreath placed at the graveside of Marcel Marceau who was buried at Pere Lachaise (apologies for the lack of an accent) cemetery alongside such names as Edith Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison.

"The cry of silence will be eternal."

Rest in peace Marcel, isn't it incredible how one man's silence had the ability to bring so much joy to the world.

A classic milk moment

I go on and on about milk handling and it's importance to the quality of your cappuccino however I've never ever been quite as eloquent as Hanna Neuschwander in her interesting article published in the latest Barista Magazine

The article entitled "The House that Foam Built" goes into immense details, but at its core has the simplest message "You can have the most expensive, drug-free, cow-happy milk in the universe - hell, you could milk the cow yourself - and it will still suck if you steam it wrong"

Here here

Stale coffee, blunt blades, leaking group head seals - An everyday story of a low volume coffee site

As a coffee roaster who wants every customer to enjoy great coffee it can sometimes be a frustrating business, particularly when dealing with smaller cafes.

An experience I encountered the other day makes you appreciate that it's not easy to serve great coffee when it's just one of a long list of items from staffing issues to the next rent payment that you need to worry about.

If you are reading this blog and the above sounds familiar, then can I suggest that you pay real attention to the following critical areas in your coffee making day.

1. Review how much coffee you are actually selling, if your usage is below 1 kilo (about 140 cups) a week you should be considering using individually packed pods. The coffee beans being an organic product stale quickly once open to the air, whereas pods are designed to only be opened when they are needed. They seem expensive against the price of beans, but will deliver a consistent cups of coffee whilst you try to build up those sales.

2. If you can justify using beans, then don't overfill the coffee grinder hopper. At most a 1/3rd full will suffice. Better to top up from the bag often, than to have the coffee beans getting stale in the hopper. Just to add that once a bag of beans has been opened, ensure you squeeze as much air out as possible, and then store in a cool place.

3. Don't grind too much coffee, again less and often are two words that if followed will deliver a better tasting cup of coffee. I would suggest throwing any ground coffee left over away, but you'd probably say that that was a roaster speaking!

4. Coffee grinder blades - Their condition is vital to the quality of grind you get. Worn blades will not deliver great coffee. As a rule of thumb, every time you have your espresso machine opened up for insurance purposes, it's a good idea to get the grinder blades changed at the same time. It's not that expensive, and will benefit coffee sales.

5. Before making any coffee, ensure that the machine is at the correct operating temperature. Machines left standing doing nothing will not deliver great coffee if used immediately after a quiet period. Ensure a couple of cup-fulls of water are sent through the group heads prior to making a coffee.

6. Cleanliness - Do a "chemical" clean of the group heads of your machine at least once a week. A water flush at the end of the day is vital to stop the heads clogging up, but a chemical clean will break down any stale oils left hanging around. Also don't forget to clean the group handles and baskets at the same time. Baskets may look clean from the top, but take them out and you will be surprised how black the underside can become. It will all go in the cup of coffee otherwise.


7. Steam wand cleaning - Ensure that milk isn't left hanging on the steam wand, it will clog up the holes and can cause a major hygiene problem, it doesn't look great either to a potential customer and to my mind makes a statement about the place before a coffee is even made.

There I hope that helps those of you who don't sell that much coffee for whatever reason. As a roaster whether you are large or small, we only want you to sell great coffee.

Guatemalan coffee from the Nueva Granada estate

I was introduced to Holly Nottebohm at the Speciality Coffee Association of America coffee conference held in Los Angeles earlier this year where her farm won an award for their coffee quality from the Rainforest Alliance.

Her enthusiasm for her farm shone like a beacon of light; She also tells me that one of her pet hobbies when she's away is to collect books to take back to her local school. A real human face that for me is what has been missing for so many years when coffee was treated as so much commodity.

So it's with great pleasure that I announce the introduction to our range, of her farm's coffee. The particular line is "Monteflora", the estate Nueva Granada. We have been careful not to roast the coffee too dark to ensure that those caramel notes that one of the judges highlighted shine through. It's great in filter machines and French presses with a fresh pastry. I'm feeling hungry and thirsty already!

The total madness that is the Island’s waste management system

My comments stem from what I foolishly thought was a clever idea as to how we might recycle our cardboard waste.

A recent employee of mine who came from Sweden was appalled at the fact that we simply threw in the bin all our cardboard waste, something that simply doesn’t happen in Sweden. So I made contact with John Rive the recycling guru on the Island who gave the thumbs up to the idea that we take our cardboard waste to the Central Market waste area for recycling.

So far so good; however on the last occasion that we walked our cardboard waste around to the Central Market we were told that this was the last time they would accept it. I guess it was all too simple.

Apparently a letter will be making its way round to us from a gentleman by the name of Paul Griffin of Property Holdings; they’ve got nothing to do with waste management, but look after the Central market. Apparently the problem was that the scheme was so successful that their people didn’t have enough hours left in the day to do their other market work. They also aren’t prepared to hire more staff to do work that I guess rightly so isn’t their problem, but of course ultimately it is their problem, because the Island’s waste management is a problem for the whole of our society.

So now who do we turn to? Well apparently that’s a very good question; Transport and Technical Services are in charge of the central handling of waste on this Island, that means they run Bellozane, but don’t tell anyone, they also collect waste from some bins around the Royal Square I’m reliably informed. The rest of the waste in the Parish of St. Helier is collected by the Parish. By the time you add up all the parishes together there are an unbelievable 13 different collecting agencies on an Island 9 miles x 5 miles!

What solutions are their on the table? Well for our cardboard waste the answer is none, because TTS and the Parish of St. Helier are fighting it out between them as to who will bear the cost, in the mean time we have no choice but to dump all our cardboard waste, which is criminal.

The Constable of St. Helier is trying to fight the fly tippers by removing Eurobins left, right and centre, which means that instead of full Eurobins we’re seeing epidemic proportions of black bin bags being left on our streets for the seagulls to rip apart, which in turn has to be cleared up by the Parish.

The whole waste management system is from where I’m sitting is in complete chaos, with each public sector empire either passing the buck or blaming the other for the current malaise.

The public are crying out for cost savings in the public sector yet here is as clear a restructuring opportunity as you can get, which no doubt has the potential to save the tax payer hundreds of thousands of pounds but I’m sure it can’t be as simple as that!

The last fossil fueled delivery van?

Today I reluctantly signed the dotted line for the purchase of a Volkswagen Transporter T30 delivery van. I say reluctantly because I had hoped that our next vehicle would be electric powered thereby reducing not only our costs significantly, but also our carbon footprint.

I had high hopes that I might purchase a Smith Edison vehicle from www.smithelectricvehicles.com, but when push came to shove, the price tag which is at the thick end of £35,000 and its size proved too great an obstacle in comparison with the £17,000 of its fossil fuel equivalent.

In addition there is absolutely no publicly available infrastructure on the Island of Jersey which would enable us to charge up the vehicle over night. Tragic really when there is so much rhetoric about eco-friendly activity and so little of significance actually being done.

The Island of Jersey is surely an ideal place to start a culture shift in our attitudes to alternative forms of power? Yet it would appear that it won't be until businesses like mine are prepared to take the financial risk required and only after it has been shown to be financially beneficial that a global change in our psyche will take place.

I hope that as a small business although we haven't felt able to take this risk at present, in 36 months time when we come to replace this vehicle that the world will have moved on.

Flavour stability of filter coffee

We've all been there, sat in a pub, had a great lunch / dinner and then ordered a filter coffee only to find that it tastes as bitter as hell and smells burnt.

Who's at fault here, the pub or the coffee roaster?

Well we've put our filter coffee to the test, we brewed 60g of Kenya and Colombian coffee with about 1.5 litres of water in a Bravilor Mondo 2 filter coffee machine. We then tasted the coffee every 15 minutes to see how the flavour of the beverage held up.

1. Freshly brewed - Pleasant light taste, the brightness of the Kenya shining through

2. After 15 minutes - No discernible change in the coffee flavour

3. After 30 minutes - Some of the bright notes starting to get lost. A slightly heavier coffee taste is coming through. Still quite drinkable

4. After 45 minutes - The darker notes are starting to become more prominent, however still drinkable and a good colour when milk is added.

5. After 60 minutes - Hint of a smoky flavour coming through, the lightness of the original brew has now gone, however still an acceptable beverage and retaining a good colour when milk is added.

6. After 85 minutes - Smoky taste becoming more pronounced, still drinkable and still looking fine when milk is added.

7. After 100 minutes - A very discernible burnt taste is now coming through to back up the aromatic change. Surprisingly the colour when milk is added remains good, and the milk (particularly Jersey Yellow) masks and lot of the damage.

8. After 115 minutes - Not much change to the last commentary

9. After 175 minutes - A caramel burnt flavour has now appeared.

The time-scale we used for our test would be typical for an outlet on a quiet day and highlights how important it is to be aware of demand in a food service environment. It's very easy to get a reputation for inconsistent drinks and drive customers away.

My final comment would be a pat on the back to Bravilor whose machine we used. The hot plate although gradually stewing the coffee was doing so at a much slower rate than I thought it might. The engineers have clearly got their holding temperatures set about right which is pleasing to us roasters.

Party Time!

So who would you invite to a fictitious dinner party, if you could choose from both the living and the dead? I was recently asked this question by the local Jersey Evening Post and the following are my thoughts. I fear it does date me though!

Bjorn Borg – A boyhood tennis hero of mine. When he eventually lost to John McEnroe I was devastated. He never returned to Wimbledon and retired a year or two later. Only as I’ve grown older have I appreciated the fleeting nature of success and how when opportunity comes you have to grab it with both hands. The famous poem by Rudyard Kipling found at Wimbledon …. “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same….you’ll be a man my son” should be taught to every child.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta – I always remember reading her obituary and in particular the fact that all she left was the dress she wore and the bowl from which she ate. She was someone who gave her life to those who have nothing, was known by world leaders and did everything she could to help the helpless. What drives such a person?

Margaret Thatcher – She single-handedly put the “Great” back into Great Britain after the decline and decay of the 1970’s. In Jersey we have been fortunate never to have had queues outside the job centre, the ubiquitous UB40 form. We do well as a society to remember such times and that success isn’t guaranteed Yet by the end of her time the electorate couldn’t wait to get rid of her. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie….gone, gone, gone still ring in my disbelieving ears.

Sir John Harvey-Jones – A man who presided over the now crumbling ICI. In charge of a company that was the first at the time to make £1 billion in profit. Yet it’s his help to small business in his subsequent television career that brought him to my attention. His common sense approach and sense of humour always impressed me.

Shirley Bassey – I’ve always liked her as an entertainer, however it was her recent appearance at Glastonbury that got her on my list. Real star quality, what a gift it is to light up peoples lives even if for only an hour. You don’t see “Star quality” written on too many CV’s!

Bob Dylan – An amazing song writer who caught the mood of a generation. My younger son has just started playing the guitar, and one of the songs he is learning to play is “Blowin in the wind”. He loves it, surely the sign of a great song writer when you can transcend generations with your music.

There are so many it seems almost unfair to choose just six.

Grinder trouble

I sometimes think that equipment failure on coffee machines is a bit like London buses; nothing significant happens for months, and then along come three at once.

In the past couple of weeks I've experienced a number of grinder problems, the major ones being blunt blades and settings that have changed markedly from one day to the next.

Grinder discs wear out, fact! - This means that all food service outlets should have in place a programme to monitor the performance of their grinders, whether it's a case of calling in people like me or routinely changing them after a certain period of time based on the volume of sales. Grinders past their "sell by" date do horrific damage to great coffee. Rather than "cutting" the beans, they tend to simply crush them. It may not sound significant, but boy does the taste in the cup tell the story.

In an effort to break down the bean, worn out grinders use a lot of energy. That energy comes out in the form of heat and can raise the temperature of the coffee so much that it burns the coffee. The other major impact is on the flow of the water through the coffee. The range of particle sizes produced by a set of worn out blades is so great that you could spend a lifetime trying to get the water to flow through the coffee correctly but never achieve success. The moral of the story, set up a monitoring programme.

The second issue, that of wildly mis-set grinders usually comes about when someone is over-scrupulous with their cleaning routine . The button that holds the discs in position accidentally gets pushed thereby releasing the blades which in turn "unscrew" leaving you with "chips" of coffee beans. This has happened to me twice in the last 4 days. The problem is easily rectified by resetting the discs to their correct position and then marking the set position so that it can easily be re calibrated if necessary.

It's actually quite an eyeopener for many of my customers to see the impact that an incorrectly set grinder can have on the taste of their coffee, and proves the old adage that you learn more by things going wrong than you ever do when everything goes right.