Coffee article in the Daily Mail

November 28th, 2006

Interesting to see the tabloids having a go at a coffee article. Name drops for the London School of Coffee, as well as Union Coffee though I must confess to being a little disappointed about how their comments on home coffee roasting were presented.

Hopefully clicking the thumbnail will take you to a nice full size version of the article. (Which took me far too long to piece together from their online site!)


[tags]coffee article, coffee, daily mail, newspapers[/tags]

Comment Policy

When posting comments please use your name or your initials, please do not use your company name. Please don't link to your company name in the comment text either. This will be considered spam, and will be deleted. Opinion of any kind is welcome, but any personal attacks will also be deleted.

  • CakeBoy

    It is a shame hat the article has a condescending edge to it by projecting speciality coffee in the same way it might present the latest yuppie fad.

    On the humerous side, presenting Arabica OR Robusta to guests sounds like fun :)

    The LSOC mention was good, but the article again presented the price with some exclamation using the term “basic barista” then failed to balance that with what one gets for that payment, leading the reader back to the idea of middle class fads.

    Union Roasters did not come out well with the comments. It makes them look arrogant and certain that they know best.

    It’s nice to see a coffee article in the national press, but it would be better if it was not presented without the novelty overtones.

  • http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/index.htm DaveC

    I think Stephen Macatonia has an interesting perspective on home roasting….

    Brings to mind the thoughts of Henry Kissinger:

    “To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.”

    :)

  • http://www.jimseven.com jim

    Well at least they are vaguely having a stab.

    I know Kevin Gould is planning to write more – possibly including a name drop for a friend of ours.

    Union don’t come out well at all, which is a shame cos they are nice folks.

  • http://www.jimseven.com jim

    That, Dave, is a splendid quote.

  • http://ben.szobody.com bz

    is it just me? your scan, james, is FAR too small for me to read. on my screen, it’s about 10 cm by 4 cm.

    i’m appreciative, however.

  • http://ben.szobody.com bz

    never mind. it was my rss reader screwing it up. thanks, james.

  • Pingback: Annoying Article pt2 at Hasbean weblog

  • http://www.toomuchcoffee.com Gouezeri

    Cakey. Make mine a Union Roaster Robusta single origin, cos they’re the only ones who know how beans change when roasting. Oh dear, they don’t do one, better give it a miss then!

  • http://ozgreens.net.au NeilA

    In representing a loose co-op of home roasters, I can say that in Australia, we have a similar struggle to get the local press to write intelligently about coffee (example: http://ozgreens.net.au/article/42/ozgreens-outed ).

    But I admit, the almost slanderous put-down of all home roasters in the Daily Mail piece is harsh! :)

  • http://www.coffeegeek.com Mark

    I’m glad they put Macatonia’s title in quotes. Over on this side of the pond it’s more a subtle indicator of questioning the validity of his claim to be a roast master. He’s quite the snob in his own right, yes?

    Home roasters are an often overlooked, definitely undervalued contributor to the rise in the specialty coffee movement.

  • SteveP

    I was interested to read the article – sort of the tip of an iceberg being sighted – a new Tabloid Trend. Perhaps the recent deluge of capsule coffee machine ads for Christmas piqued their interest.

    I must say Union have a nice website (much improved from the original) and I trust you if you say they are nice people. But a couple of years ago I was looking for information on setting up a roasting business (outside the UK) and I contacted them. I did not receive the courtesy of a reply. Fortunately, LSOC was created.

    While the Master Roaster in question may have supernatural powers, I always relate my coffee preferences to wine and beer tasting. If there was a “right” way to create flavours, we would not have the vast range of wine, beer and coffee we do now.

    Having worked with British tabloid “journalists” I should point out that their “quotes” are often made up later. So possibly we can hear the other side of the story some day. If Mr. Macatonia actually said what was quoted, he should refrain from speaking in public.

  • Overextracted

    That Macatonia is just so scared that people with home roasters will do a better job than what he does with his crapy coffee.
    Roasting is not hard at all specially when you have hi tech roasters like they do.
    Grow up Maca i have seen many people like you before and the only thing your type do for our industry is bring arrrogance.