January 2015 heralds a whistlestop tour of South America to visit our producers and maintain the fantastic relationships we've worked to build. We’ve always been proud to establish and maintain excellent relationships with our producer partners around the world. In the past we have visited growers in Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia and more. And 2015 will herald the arrival of yet another whistle-stop tour – this time in South America. Our founder and director, Bryan Unkles, will visit three countries in eight days, taking in Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica. His visit to Guatemala is especially exciting as the Guaya’b cooperative there is the supplier of our new Bird Friendly coffee, which we launched at the end of 2014 with the SHOP and Smithsonian Institution . To take the journey along with Bryan follow this link to his blog , which will be regularly updated throughout the trip. It’s the perfect opportunity to see how your coffee travels from bean to cup.

We had a fantastic bank holiday weekend at the Sheffield Food Festival, which ended yesterday. We were debuting our brand new Piaggio Ape van - a duel fuel vehicle that offers a fantastic solution for mobile cafe requirements. The Piaggio was a strong talking point at the festival and a great success – as well as the subject of many photographs! We had our Rancilio Classe 7 machine on board and served coffees, teas and hot chocolate to festival-goers throughout the weekend.Cafeology is an official Piaggio supplier in the UK and has already worked to provide Piaggio vans to establishments including Universities and to people wishing to start a business. The vans are a perfect cafe solution where there may not be the space or funds to install a fully operational cafe facility. They also offer a compact and economical ‘ready made business’ that can be used at outdoor event, corporate functions or private occasions.

We are pleased to announce that we have opened our first Cafeology retail outlet. The coffee 'pod', located in the Decathlon sports store entrance, is designed to enhance the experience of shoppers, while also being perfectly placed for people wanting quality, barista-made coffee in Sheffield city centre. May 1st 2014 saw the official launch of our first coffee 'pod' retail outlet in Sheffield. The coffee menu offers a wide variety of Cafeology coffees, teas, frappes and hot chocolate, which is supplemented with sandwiches, salads and breakfast items from Urban Eat, as well as snacks such as Derbsyhire-baked Mission Cookies and Sheffield-made Cocoa Chic chocolates. Our founder, Bryan Unkles, said: “Our coffee has been well received in Sheffield and it’s exciting for us to now have our own outlet too. It will help to boost the brand and make it even more recognisable for everyone who stocks our coffee around the city. “We’ve wanted to do this for a long time and have been waiting for the right site and partner, which we have found in Decathlon. The location is great for students, business people and shoppers, plus there’s ample parking space whether customers are drinking in or swinging by for a take-out.” He added: “We wanted the pod to reflect our strong ethics while serving excellent quality coffee. We use 100% Arabica speciality grade coffee, which we grind freshly from our beans as needed. It carries Fair Trade certification and is sourced directly by us from growers in order to show full traceability.” Follow the pod on Twitter: @CafeologySheff and Facebook: Cafeology Coffee Pod – Sheffield.

After months of planning Cafeology is excited to launch a new Fairtrade single origin, triple certified gold standard coffee with the RSPB and Smithsonian Institution. It’s been hard keeping quiet, but our director Bryan has been quietly working away on an exciting coffee project for the last few months. And after a lot of hard work, we’re excited to announce the launch of our new shade-grown Guatemalan Fairtrade Bird Friendly® coffee. We’ve launched it in association with the RSPB and the Smithsonian Institution and it’s designed to reduce destruction of the world’s rainforests – something which affects coffee drinkers around the world. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind oil, and it is estimated that around 30,000 cups are consumed across the globe every second*, so it’s important that we think about where our coffee comes from and how it’s grown. This is an excellent quality single origin coffee, which we have sourced directly from Guatemalan producer group Asociacion Civil Guaya’b – a cooperative of around 300 indigenous farmers in Huehuetenango near the Mexican border. The coffee is grown under a diverse shade tree canopy at a high altitude of 1600-1800 metres, allowing the plant’s cherries longer to mature. This makes for an excellent quality, denser bean with a unique taste. Follow these links for more information about the RSPB the Smithsonian Institution . *Statistics from Derek Thomas’ guest blog on http://markavery.info/

Research has today revealed that some less scrupulous coffee suppliers have been 'cutting' their coffee with fillers including soil. But you're safe with Cafeology. We have personal relationships with our farmers in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala and make regular trips to see them. We all remember the UK horse meat scandal of 2013 - it's arguably what led to a rise in consumer awareness of the provenance of our food and drink. So we were troubled to hear Radio 2’s similar discussion topic this morning. A rise in drought and plant diseases has been the catalyst for some coffee farmers bulking out their coffee with added extras: think soil, wood, brown sugar and coffee bean husks. Although not harmful, once the coffee has been roasted and ground, the consumer is powerless to tell the difference. At Cafeology it’s a different story. We’re proud to have personal relationships with all our growers thanks to our regular producer trips to their farms to ensure quality and standards are being upheld. This, alongside visits and certifications from other bodies such as the Fairtrade Foundation and Soil Association, reiterates the quality and traceability of our coffee. We ship the whole, dried beans to our roaster in the UK, where they are then roasted to our own special recipe, with no nasty surprises! And the coffee masquerading as soil? The University of Londrina in Brazil has developed a test to identify impurities in coffee with 95% accuracy. Need we say you’re better off with us?!

We are delighted to announce that Cafeology Ltd has been awarded the contract for the supply of coffee, tea and associated products to YHA from 1 March 2013. The supply agreement will see Cafeology products supplied in all the hostels throughout England and Wales and will include heavy focus on the sites which feature branded coffee bars. We are delighted to announce that Cafeology Ltd has been awarded the contract for the supply of coffee, tea and associated products to YHA from 1 March 2013. The supply agreement will see Cafeology products supplied in all the hostels throughout England and Wales and will include heavy focus on the sites which feature branded coffee bars. Bryan Unkles from Cafeology commented ‘We are extremely proud to be working with John, Lauren and the team at YHA and feel our ethical stance mirrors that of the YHA. I believe that with a strong partnership and mutually ethical synergies we will be able to deliver a premium service throughout the varied locations. The prospect of developing the hot beverage offering throughout this fine charitable organisation is extremely exciting. John McGrath, Head of YHA Enterprise & Procurement, Sales & Marketing Department at the YHA said of the new agreement ‘Tea and coffee are a great part of the friendly sociable atmosphere that guests value about YHA so we’re really pleased to have Cafeology as our partners. We’ll be serving their tea and coffee at our award winning London Oxford Street, recently voted the best hostel in London, as well as in some of the best parts of the countryside like our newest hostel, YHA South Downs, due to open this year’.

Bryan has returned from his recent visit to Costa Rica and El Salvador following a very successful trip. The focus of the trip was to create the direct supply agreement between Cafeology and Coope Dota and a first time visit to El Salvador which is where the coffee is sourced for for Cafe Cereza, the new sister brand to Cafeology. Visit Bryan's blog for full details or visit Cafeology HQ on Facebook.

TCG set to grow coffee sales with Cafeology partnership Managed pub and bar group TCG has selected Cafeology as its new coffee partner. The ethical beverage company will supply coffee to the majority of TCG’s sites, and the launch will be supported with ‘hands on’ barista training for all operational staff, colourful marketing materials and in house merchandising as it rolls out over the next three months. TCG set to grow coffee sales with Cafeology partnership Managed pub and bar group TCG has selected Cafeology as its new coffee partner. The ethical beverage company will supply coffee to the majority of TCG’s sites, and the launch will be supported with ‘hands on’ barista training for all operational staff, colourful marketing materials and in house merchandising as it rolls out over the next three months. Cafeology has unique direct supply agreements in place with Fairtrade-audited coffee producers in Central and South America and has recently formulated a new blend especially for TCG, which includes coffee from a new producer, Coope Dota of Costa Rica. TCG chief operating officer Nigel Wright said, “Working with Cafeology, an independently owned British company, will give us a point of difference in the competitive coffee market. The partnership puts us on a strong footing to develop our coffee sales and daytime business. “Increasingly our venues are trading for longer hours. Coffee is a growing part of the sales mix, particularly during the day and alongside food.” He added, “We are impressed with Cafeology’s early grasp of our business. They understand that our sites are all individual pubs and bars and they are providing tailored coffee solutions for each of them, rather than offering a ‘one size fits all’ approach.” Support for the introduction of Cafeology will vary from site to site, but all will receive Cafeology signage with its ‘Great Coffee, Great Cause’ strapline, branded crockery and barista training. Bryan Unkles, Cafeology managing director, said, “We’re delighted to be working with TCG, whose pubs and bars are among the best in their local markets. “Strong branding, well-trained staff and of course top-quality product are proven to increase coffee sales in pubs, so we’re confident that the Cafeology offer will enable TCG to increase its share of the growing out of home coffee market. “Additionally, consumer demand for Fairtrade products is increasingly crossing over from supermarkets into the out of home environment, so our strong ethical reputation is set to become an ever more powerful draw.” Cafeology was set up a decade ago to provide an ethical beverage solution for the out of home market and it now supplies tea, coffee and hot chocolate from Fairtrade-audited producers to a growing number of outlets including pubs and bars. One of the first sites to receive the Cafeology offer is the Tattershall Castle, TCG’s floating bar and restaurant moored at London’s Embankment. Deputy manager Elena Villar said, “I’m impressed with the quality of the Cafeology product and we’ve already had positive comments from some of our regular customers that the coffee tastes better. “The barista training from Cafeology was very detailed, giving our front of house team practical skills and general coffee knowledge that will help them to offer a better service. The branded crockery is smart and we’re waiting for signage, which incorporates the Fairtrade logo – I think that’s important to a growing number of customers.”

Read more about Adam Ward and his Bean2Base Camp Everest campaign. Adam Ward will be leaving Sheffield on 22nd March to Kathmandu on the first stage of his journey to Base Camp at Everest where he will be taking on the role of chef. We will be following Adam on his travels to base camp where he will be establishing the highest coffee shop in the world using Cafeology single origin Colombian coffee. The coffee is grown at an altitude of 1800 feet in Apia Colombian and after it has been shipped to the UK for roasting will return back to a higher altitude of 17,000 feet before it brewed. Follow us on Facebook Cafeology HQ and Twitter @cafeology under the hash tag of #bean2basecamp for further update. We wish Adam luck on his next adventure!

We will be holding a coffee tasting event at The Crucible, Sheffield. If you would like to join us please contact us for further information and a ticket.

We would all like to say a very big well done to Anthony on competing in this year's UKBC competition in Newcastle on 17 February. It’s obvious that Anthony’s hard work and dedication paid off on the day as he attracted very favourable comments from the judges on this is first year of entering the competition. Watch out for 2013, he surely is a barista to look out for!

We are pleased to announce that you are now able to enjoy a Cafeology Fairtrade Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate at the prestigious Ally Pally in North London. For further information of coming events contact www.alexandrapalace.com or contact 0208 365 2121 for further details.