Coffee Grounds Zero

Can we ever have enough coffee shops?.

It seems that our High Streets, Pubs,Retail Parks, Petrol Stations, Hospitals, Museums and even the quaint village shop are awash with places for us to acquire our daily quota of coffee.

It is a fact that 85% of Britons visit a coffee shop at least once a week and 20% of these on a daily basis.

We may think that we have attained a higher plane of sophistication in our drinking habits and I am the first to admit that when indulging myself in a favourite National Chain outlet I can sometimes invent a bit of a fanciful notion but yet we lag significantly behind our European neighbours. The Germans consume three times more than us and the Finns up to five times.

Coffee is seriously challenging tea as our national beverage mainly down to the sensations of ambience, creativity and social interaction that go with the multitude of venues serving up latte's, capuccino's, choca-mocha's and many a variation of the same.

We are a country of habitual coffee drinkers for all of the cost and addiction involved in this legal high.

The business of coffee shops is now seen by strategists as a backbone to the financial performance of the UK economy which follows on from the statistics of the frequency of our patronage and loyalty to the main players in the High Street.

In actual monetary terms we can spend £177 per person per year and yet out of a price of say, £2.50 for a latte as little as 10 pence is the cost of the beans. The retailers promote the value added elements of marshmallows and cream on some of their blends and we are quite happy to pay at a level perhaps five times the main ingredient.

Many of the big chains of coffee shops actually spend more on their trademark take-away cups than the raw material.

I amongst many have felt a bit overwhelmed when confronted by a blackboard list of possible purchases and in a variety of sizes and embellishments.

I did find it surprising to discover that all of the products come from only two types of beans, Arabica and Robusta.

The former is a sensitive species, temperamental to grow but with a subtle taste. Robusta, as the name suggests, grows easily just about everywhere else but has a coarser, less refined taste. The demand for coffee has been a major boost for the countries who grow it in volume. Brazil remains as the top producer but closely followed by Vietnam and then into Africa.

As consumers we are becoming aware of the social and economic issues of coffee and a major part of our decision over where we drink it will be based on the ethical marketing claims by Starbucks, Costa, Cafe Nero and others. We may insist on some form of Fair Trade acknowledgement and sustainable forest support in order to feel at ease and to further enhance and endorse our visit to the coffee shop.

The Espresso Revolution is quite recent, within the last 15 years and we have seen year on year growth in the businesses in the industry. Starbucks, as one example, now have around 21,000 shops in the United States and continue to saturate towns and cities on a worldwide basis.

At this point I could go on about the Tax situation surrounding the big retailers or rather their clever accountancy practices in exploiting perfectly legal loopholes but frankly, I cannot be bothered.

It appears therefore that we just cannot get enough coffee.