The coffee served in hotels within the UK really doesn’t have a great name for itself. It’s often justified. It’s time to make hotel coffee great again!
We’ve all been to hotels for a breakfast networking session and been given a cup of stewed, bulk brewed coffee, or served a lacklustre (and cold) cappuccino with brunch. Recently, we’ve seen some of the biggest names in the premium hotel business serving under extracted espresso based drinks (making them dull and uninspiring to drink). Hotels who are still using instant coffee and hotels who are nursing old, obsolete coffee machines that should have been retired years ago.
Thankfully, we are pleased to see a change in direction within the hotel industry in recent years. They are clearly looking to catch up with the high street café market with a growing emphasis on the quality of coffee, with premium and specialty coffee choices becoming more prevalent.
Read on to explore with us, the importance of offering a premium quality coffee in hotels and how it can enhance the overall guest experience.
In hotels, restaurants and bars are the main areas where guests can enjoy a cup of coffee. Offering a premium quality coffee selection in these areas will often set a hotel apart from its competitors. Guests are looking for a unique and memorable experience, and the coffee they drink is no exception. A well-crafted cup of coffee can make a guest feel special and taken care of, creating a positive impression that they will remember long after they leave.
One of the biggest issues we find that hoteliers face when servicing premium coffee in their restaurants and bars is consistency.
Some hotels have a high level of bar staff turnover which aids and abets inconsistency and we are seeing more and more hotels look towards super traditional coffee machines to solve this problem. Time after time, machines such as the Eversys Cameo will make espresso’s and espresso based drinks to the same quality as the most highly skilled baristas. Even the newest of staff members can produce latte art and stunningly presented coffees with minimal training as the machines completely deskill the process of making premium coffees.
Don’t confuse the Everys range of equipment with standard ‘bean to cup’ machines. Whilst a decent bean to cup machine definitely has its place in the hotel industry (particularly in self-serve situations) the Eversys range of equipment is demonstrably different. No other machine on the market comes close to producing the same level of quality, consistency and reliability.
Choose your coffee wisely, with emphasis on quality and sustainability.
Speciality coffee choices, such as single-origin or micro-lot coffees, or indeed a coffee that ‘has a story’ will showcase the hotel’s commitment to offering a unique and exceptional experience whilst driving your corporate social responsibility message.
Coffees such as our PERU Café Feminino is one such coffee. It tastes fantastic and the farms on which it grows are owned, farmed and sustained entirely by women. This is such an important and vital step in the right direction for the coffee farming industry which historically has been rife with inequality.
Coffee for Events and Hospitality
It’s an often told myth by coffee salespeople that you cant bulk produce a great tasting coffee! This has paved the way for thousands of gallons of mediocre, burnt coffee to be served at most hospitality events up and down the country over the last decade or so and its simply not necessary.
Whether it’s a conference, meeting, or wedding, guests expect to have access to high-quality coffee and it is 100% possible to meet these expectations. Offering a premium coffee selection can help create a professional and luxurious atmosphere, elevating the overall guest experience.
The coffee itself.
It goes without saying that you need to start with a decent coffee, our ROOTS Botanical Blend is one such coffee. A real crowd pleaser, a blend of premium coffees from Brazil and Peru, its 100% arabica and Fairtrade and Organic too.
Our whole Roots Collection shows respect for coffee from crop to cup, taking you back to the origin and sharing real life stories of the farmers and their communities. Every coffee is 100% certified and helps to maintain the highest environmental and conservation standard, protecting the land where our coffee is grown.
We have also collaborated with Project Waterfall on this collection which means 10% of our profits from each bag sold will help bring clean water to coffee-farming communities worldwide
Decent, up-to-date equipment that is fit for purpose.
If you are still using a bulk brewer designed to make 20+ ltrs of coffee at a time that someone ‘free loaned’ you 10 years ago and has subsequently forgotten about, hopefully I don’t need to tell you that it’s time to upgrade because continuing to use it is doing your clients a disservice!
Click HERE to see our range of bulk brew equipment.
Equipment settings.
The most common oversight! How your equipment is set up is the most important battle to make sure you have won if you are to produce premium quality coffee in bulk. Dare I say that most coffee companies don’t know how to do it either.
To get the correct flavour out of the coffee without it tasting bitter or burnt when producing coffee ‘en masse’ requires skill and knowledge, and our coffee team have both in abundance.
You need to understand brew ratios and TDS readings and water bypass ratios and that is best left to the people who know how to do it.
In-room coffee.
Finally, in room coffee! Instant coffee sticks, coffee ‘tea’ bags and coffee capsules are just some of what you will find in hotel bedrooms these days and we are finding that coffee capsules are becoming increasingly popular. Many hotels now offer in-room coffee machines that use capsules to brew coffee. Offering a premium and speciality coffee selection in these capsules can provide guests with a convenient and luxurious coffee experience in the comfort of their own room.
Capsule coffee machines are easy to use and provide guests with a quick and convenient coffee option.
By offering a speciality coffee selection, hotels can make guests feel pampered and cared for, enhancing the overall guest experience. In addition, the use of capsule coffee machines can also reduce the amount of waste generated by traditional coffee brewing methods, making them a more sustainable choice.
Our Nespresso style coffee capsule range has taken us years to perfect.
With so many imitations on the market, we were keen to make sure we stood out, that is why we went with a 100% recyclable aluminium capsule made on the most innovative capsule packing line in the UK. Coffee quality is on point too having already picked up top 10 spot from the Good Housekeeping Magazine in a blind taste test against some of the biggest brands in the world.
In conclusion, offering a premium quality coffee selection in hotels is crucial in creating an exceptional and memorable guest experience. From the coffee served in restaurants and bars to coffee for events and hospitality, and even in-room coffee capsules, offering high-quality coffee will set a hotel apart from its competitors and provide guests with a unique and luxurious experience.
We would love to work with you
We are working with a growing number of hotels throughout the whole UK and we would love to discuss with you how we could help you improve the coffee offering within your hotel.
Speak to the team