Radisson calls expert help for perfect coffee

Radisson Edwardian Hotels has called in experts to train staff to make the "perfect" cup of coffee.

About 40 new "coffee champions", based at its 10 hotels across London, have been drilled in an exhaustive list of what to do and what not to do by experts from German coffee company Tchibo, so they can produce the perfect drink.

The scheme was put into motion by David Rickenberg, Radisson's general manager for food and beverage, in January after he read an article on the pitfalls of making good coffee.

"We did an audit of all our units and found some of the reasons why our coffee was not perfect," Rickenberg said. "There was poor froth because people were using the wrong size jug, or people were using semiskimmed milk instead of full-fat. In some cases, the wrong coffee was being used."

Ashley Meddings, Tchibo's national account manager, said: "Coffee is often the forgotten part of the F&B operation but it is also the first impression that many people get of a hotel, at breakfast."

Meddings said that everything had to be just right to make a perfect cup. This meant that all rogue beans had to be removed, that the roasted beans had to be ground correctly for the various types of coffee to be made, that the right machinery, properly maintained, had to be used, and that coffee had to be stored correctly as exposure to oxygen can rob it of 40% of its taste in half-an-hour.

To make espresso coffee, the basis for all speciality coffees, pressures and temperatures had to be right, and even the cup had to be hot.

Meddings compared making a perfect cup of coffee, where everything was done correctly, with being a high-class cocktail waiter. "Small things can affect a cup of coffee," he said.

Rickenberg said that Radisson had spent thousands of pounds on new equipment, including thermometers, and the "coffee champions" had spent two days working with the experts who had come to the hotels.

Meddings said that Tchibo staff had since made unannounced calls at Radisson hotels to check the quality of the coffee and had given it high marks - in some cases 10 out of 10.

He added: "It is the first time I can remember a business the size of Radisson Edwardian investing so much time in something like this."

by Stanley Slaughter