Opportunities: Tea and coffee

Licensing reform will offer pubs the chance to cash in with coffee and tea.

For all its many uncertainties, the 2003 Licensing Act heralds an important step in the evolution of the British pub. Once the public gets the hang of 24-hour opening it won't just be the late-night trade that benefits. There is a whole morning opportunity out there waiting to be exploited.

You might assume that the trendy coffee bars that have sprung up on every high street in the last few years have got that one sewn up. But some believe that pubs can offer people much more. Among them is Jeremy Torz, co-owner of Union Coffee Roasters, a small but growing firm which is targeting pubs with its premium filter coffee.

"The coffee bar revolution has woken people up to coffee but it's gone too far," he says. "Their focus is on price rather than trying to do something better. There's coffee out there that can stop you in your tracks but you can't develop a market category if you're only providing mediocrity. Independent retailers have an opportunity to do something different, to attract people and excite them. They said the coffee bar was the pub of the 21st century but the honeymoon is over."

Jeremy believes that people are getting tired of the often uncomfortable, unrelaxed environment offered by many coffee bars. "That's where pubs can come into their own," he explains. "They have the space, and they are more comfortable. But pubs are less good at adapting their business to different parts of the day."

To have a successful morning trade you have got to get the offer right and make sure people know about it. According to Jeremy, if you're just going to give them a mug of instant from the cash and carry, don't bother. "You could get away with that five years ago but people have more experience now. If you make an exceptional cup of coffee you give them a positive reason to come back, it will build your business because it's trade you weren't getting before."

Licensees have to try to make a morning visit a memorable experience, not just with good tea and coffee but with all the extras that go with it - baskets of pastries and newspapers, for instance. "It means changing the ambience of the pub to suit the occasion," Jeremy says. "It's not difficult and think about the revenue it brings in."

If you do it well, and push the extras, he believes a pub could serve two cappucinos and pastries for £7.50.

To get the right price, research the local coffee bars and pitch a cup at around 10p cheaper. You can afford to buy better quality than them, too. The coffee in a cup will cost you around 5p, and the premium you pay for something special is a fraction of a penny. It also makes it viable to offer free refills.

Some pubs have splashed out thousands on a flashy coffee machine, but Jeremy believes a simple cafetiere coffee service, based on good quality coffee, suits most outlets better. Union has worked with Laurel Pub Company's traditional pubs on this over the last nine months and sales are on the up.

Traditionally the beverage that Brits automatically turn to in a crisis, tea might have been overshadowed somewhat by the rise of coffee.

But for Lisa Merrick, senior brand manager at Tetley, morning opening is a great opportunity for licensees to sell a cuppa.

"Despite the impact of the much-reported growth in coffee shops and trendy coffees, tea is still this country's favourite drink," she said. "More people drink tea than drink coffee."

A third of all tea is drunk at breakfast time but, even taking that into account, Lisa - like Jeremy - agrees that licensees need to do more that just offer an ordinary blend if they are to attract the morning trade. "Tea may have been sidelined because people tend to order 'a tea' rather than explore the range of speciality teas that are increasing in popularity," she says.

Independent research carried out for Tetley shows that 73 per cent of establishments now offer a speciality tea. Earl Grey is by far the most popular blend stocked, with Darjeeling and Assam in second and third place respectively.

"The research shows that 86 per cent of speciality tea drinkers are more likely to have a cup if they can see a display or list of teas on a menu," said Lisa. "Blends such as English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Darjeeling are particularly popular."

The Union Coffee pioneers​

Union Coffee Roasters was formed three years ago by Jeremy Torz and Steve Macatonia after they left coffee bar giant Starbucks in a somewhat disillusioned state.

Jeremy and Steve were among the pioneers of today's coffee bar explosion. After living in California in the early 1990s they came back to London inspired by the quality of coffee they could get in the US.

"We tasted flavours we'd not tasted before," says Jeremy. "It was more like drinking a chateau wine than coffee, it had so much depth and richness of flavour."

They scoured the world for coffee to roast and soon had accounts with top restaurants such as the Ivy and Caprice - and worked with Greenalls to develop the coffee offer in the Henry's café-bar chain.

In 1997 they merged their own company with the Seattle Coffee Co, putting their brew into the burgeoning coffee bar group.

But when it was taken over by Starbucks in 1998 Jeremy and Steve lost their treasured independence. "It was not the business we started and enjoyed," says Jeremy.

The pair left in 2000.

"At first we didn't want to do coffee again but the passion was still there. It genuinely excites us when we find something special and we realised we still had something to offer.

"We are not interested in being a large coffee company," Jeremy explains. "We want to work with single producers and reward them for doing an outstanding job. We want to be like the top wine chateaux, focusing on top-end quality."

Pictured: Steve Macatonia roasting coffee beans​

Create great cafetiere coffee​

• Boil freshly-drawn water or, better still, filtered water
• Spoon about one rounded dessertspoon (10g) of ground coffee per person into the cafetiere. Skimping on the coffee causes over-extraction and bitterness
• After the kettle has boiled allow it to stand for a few seconds before pouring it on to the coffee
• Once made, do not leave coffee in the cafetiere for longer than 20 minutes. A vacuum air pot will keep it hot for longer periods, up to three hours
• Keep your coffee brewing equipment clean
• Once you have opened a pack of coffee keep it in an airtight container and use it up within two weeks. Storing in a freezer will extend this period to a month.

Pictured: Jeremy Torz of Union Coffee Roasters​

How to make a perfect cup of tea the Tetley way​

People can be fussy about their cuppa. Tetley's research shows that the most important features by which a customer judges the quality of a cup of tea when they are out are:

• temperature
• fresh milk
• colour
• the type and condition of the cup or mug.

Tetley has devised its own formula for making the perfect cup of tea.

• Boil freshly-drawn water to at least 98.5?C
• Pour the freshly boiled water on to the bag in the cup and brew for two minutes
• Squeeze the bag against the side of the cup with a spoon for two seconds
• Stir once, then squeeze for a further two seconds
• Remove bag
• Add milk to brew last. For a standard 270ml mug, the optimum amount of milk is 16ml.

The jury may still be out on the controversial milk issue. Earlier this year white-coated boffin D