FROM the minute Jeffrey Young starts talking it’s obvious he’s a passionate man. Either that or he’s had one too many flat whites. Perhaps it’s a bit of both, and one would expect nothing less from a man who has devoted the last 3 years of his life to putting London’s coffee culture on the map. Young has penned the London Coffee Guide and is the founder of the Allegra Foundation, the organisation behind the first ever UK Coffee Week and London Coffee Festival. With so much on his plate, it’s no wonder he needs the caffeine.
“In a nutshell, the London Coffee Festival is a celebration of the amazing coffee that is starting to take shape in this city. It’s about bringing together aficionados: people who love coffee, love food, love the city of London and love where coffee is at at the moment.”
At the end of 2010, the UK coffee shop market was worth £5 billion. Allegra’s research with over 16,000 consumers found that 68% visited coffee shops at least once a week.
But it wasn’t always like this.
According to Young, 60 to 70% of the cafes featured in the London Coffee Guide didn’t even exist 3 years ago – most of them opened their doors just last year. Young says the Antipodean influence has played a key role in shaping Britain’s emerging new coffee culture. He mentions the importance of popular Soho and Fitzrovia cafes like Kaffeine, Flat White, Milk Bar and Sacred.
“I’ve been in the coffee industry for 12 years and I got tired of people, mostly Australians, telling me ‘I can’t find a good cup of coffee in London!’ Now I can just hand them the guide and say, ‘Go to one of these places’ and I guarantee you will not be disappointed by the overall coffee experience. It’s a great thing for this city. London’s coffee culture has now gotten to the point where it actually needs a guide.”
Monday April 4 marks the beginning of the first ever UK Coffee Week, which culminates in the London Coffee Festival from April 8 – 10. In addition to celebrating the best of the UK’s coffee industry, it will also raise funds for Project Waterfall, a charitable initiative established by Allegra Foundation to deliver clean water projects in coffee-producing African countries. The first project will be delivered in partnership with WaterAid to communities in the Mbulu District of Tanzania.
“I’ve always wanted to give back, and so I came up with the idea of getting cafes to add 5p to the price of each cup of coffee sold during UK Coffee Week. I think the British population are really giving, they really care. We just saw what happened with Red Nose Day for instance. 5p from each cup will raise a staggering amount of money for a fantastic cause.”
Young says 100% of funds raised will go to Project Waterfall, along with all 100% of London Coffee Festival ticket sales.
Young says the festival will bring together coffee, food, education, charity and entertainment all under the one roof.
“There’ll be an array of chain operators and edgy independents, world barista champions – a collection of the most influential people from the coffee industry will be there, many of them will be making coffee and interacting with consumers. We’ve got a tremendous education program too, including lectures and demonstrations from industry leaders.”
MOBO award winner and X Factor finalist John Adeleye will headline the festival’s music program, which includes a number of unsigned acoustic artists. A highlight will be the launch of ‘Coffee’, a song written especially for UK Coffee Week.
“We’re also aiming to beat a Guinness World Record for the most espressos made in an hour on the Saturday. The current record is 3,386 espressos in one hour, by 86 baristas on 20 machines in Poland on 4 March 2010. This is being challenged by a team of Australian baristas who made 5,016 in under an hour on 7 October 2010. We want to beat this!” If you’re a barista who’s up for the challenge, you can register online at www.ukcoffeeweek.com.
There’s no doubt about it, Young has a competitive streak. In addition to smashing the Guinness World Record, he’s also got Sydney’s coffee festival in his sights.
“As it’s our first year, we’re expecting 10,000 people at the festival. These days, Sydney’s coffee festival attracts 90,000. I think London can do better than that! Don’t you?”
London Coffee Festival is at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, from 8-10 April 2011. We urge you to pre-purchase your tickets online as the event will sell out. Australian Times readers can quote discount code ATIMES to get tickets for £6 each at www.londoncoffeefestival.com. To purchase the London Coffee Guide, visit www.londoncoffeeguide.com.
[ Source: Australian Times ]