With the large multi-national coffee companies focused purely on
coffee as a commodity rather then a drink to be savoured, it
allowed a new sector to emerge in the coffee industry:
Speciality Coffee. Speciality coffee was nothing new, rather the
opposite; it stripped coffee making back down to the grass
roots: pure arabica beans, roasted long enough for the coffee to
fully develop all its characteristics and flavours.
During the 'Dark Age' of coffee there was still excellent coffee
available, if you knew where to look for it. A number of small
cafes and shops continued to trade, sourcing and roasting high
quality arabica beans. These outlets were typically run and
frequented by immigrants (usually Arabs, Turks, Greeks and
Italians), far from the mainstream.
All this began to change in the 1960s, with the post World War
II 'Baby Boomers' coming into adulthood. Many of this generation
were keen not to follow in their parents footsteps, preferring
to act in a more bohemian way. For them, these cafes and shops
were an ideal place to meet, read poetry, take drugs and
experience alternative culture.
One such coffee shop in Berkeley (California) is widely credited
as being the main inspiration on the emergence of the speciality
coffee sector. Peet's Coffee & Tea store, opened in 1966 by
Alfred Peet (dubbed the 'grandfather of speciality coffee'),
enthused a number of its customers, who later became key players
in the speciality sector. Peet, an immigrant from Alkmaar
(Holland), had developed a distinctive style of roasting coffee
from working in his family's coffee and tea business. After
emigrating to California, aged thirty-five, he opened his shop
employing his artisan coffee roasting techniques to build a
loyal customer base. Peet's coffee was so loved that he even had
his own set of groupies: the 'Peetniks'.
Two of Peet's most important customers (historically) were a
couple of Seattle coffee lovers named Jerry Baldwin and Gordon
Bowker. In 1971, after tasting Peet's fine brews, they were
inspired to open their own coffee shop back in Seattle called
Starbucks. Starbucks opened as a bean-only-store, steadily
building a loyal customer base during the 70s and early 80s
through its fine arabicas and darker roasts.
In 1984, the director of retail operations and marketing, Howard
Schultz, tried to persuade Baldwin and Bowker to open the first
Starbucks coffeehouse. Schultz had just returned from a trip to
Milan, where he had noticed the existence of coffeehouses on
almost every block. These were not just places to enjoy great
espresso coffee, but also served as meeting places. Schultz was
keen to recreate this kind of coffeehouse in America, but
Baldwin and Bowker rejected Schultz's plans as they were
unwilling to get into the restaurant business.
Undeterred, Schultz left Starbucks in 1985 to open his own
coffeehouse, 'Il Giornale'. Still using Starbucks coffee beans
to make espresso drinks, Il Giornale proved extremely popular
with the Seattle public. So popular in fact() that, in 1987,
Schultz was able to buy Starbucks from Bowker and Schultz.
Changing Il Giornale's name to Starbucks, Schultz began to
rapidly expand, opening over 1,000 stores in a decade.
The story of the first British speciality coffeehouse also
involves Alfred Peet. In 1995, Scott and Ally Svenson wanted to
open a coffeehouse in Covent Garden, London. Their background
was in marketing and design and, even though they were
originally from Seattle, they did not know much about coffee.
This is why they approached Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz of
Union Coffee Roasters. Steven and Jeremy had fallen in love with
coffee while working at Peet's in California. On their return
home they decided to open their own roasting outlet and were
soon supplying places such as the River Café, the Caprice, and
the Ivy.
The Covent Garden coffeehouse, named the Seattle Coffee Company,
was another big success and inevitably expansion soon followed.
The rapid growth of the company caused increasing demand on
Union Coffee Roasters, so the two companies decided to merge
together. In 1998, after opening over 60 outlets throughout the
UK, Starbucks came knocking at their door. They saw the
acquisition of the Seattle Coffee Company as an ideal way to
enter the UK market. Soon the Seattle Coffee Company was no
more, with all its stores re-branded as Starbucks.
The popularity of coffeehouses has been phenomenal. Almost every
high street in Britain has a least one coffeehouse now. Words
such as espresso, cappuccino and café latte are commonplace. In
fact the price of a café latte is now one of the products that
the British government use to measure inflation. Market
analysers believe that the success of the coffeehouse is not
solely due to the coffee they serve, but the atmosphere in which
it is served. Coffeehouses in Britain in the 1990s were a break
from convention. In the consumerist landscape of the
high-street, coffeehouses represented a place to relax.
Customers were encouraged to take their time over their coffee;
sit on big comfy sofas; offered the daily newspapers to read;
allowed to idle the afternoon away watching the world go by. In
other words, coffeehouses had returned to playing their original
role in society, as they had done when they first arrived in
Britain back in 17th Century.
The growth of these coffeehouses has helped to heighten the
public's awareness of the speciality coffee sector.
Increasingly, individuals are looking to have a slice of the
coffeehouse in their own home, investing in espresso makers and
other coffee accessories. Coffee is now widely available from a
multitude of origins, roasted to differing degrees and ground to
your requirement. In short, the 'Dark Age' of coffee is well and
truly over.
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