Dipping into the latest drink trends
You can nearly smell the gorgeous roast coffee from this episode. Rosalind visits Dear Green Coffee Roasters in this episode to hear what's hot in the coffee world. Recent high street chains have been experimenting with olive oil. Rosalind finds out if these fads stand up.
Michele Mariotti Gleneagles, Head of Bar, also joins Rosalind on this episode to talk about all things cocktails. He has spent much of his career fine tuning his cocktail skills and talks to Rosalind about how cheese and sushi rice are getting a look in in recent trends. He also talks about changes at Gleneagles and the launch of a brand new cocktail menu this autumn.
Michele Mariotti Gleneagles, Head of Bar, also joins Rosalind on this episode to talk about all things cocktails. He has spent much of his career fine tuning his cocktail skills and talks to Rosalind about how cheese and sushi rice are getting a look in in recent trends. He also talks about changes at Gleneagles and the launch of a brand new cocktail menu this autumn.
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:05 Hello and welcome to Scran, the podcast passionate about the Scottish food and drink scene.
00:09 I'm your host, Oznderskin, and this week we're talking drinks, namely cocktails and coffee.
00:15 I want you to find out what was happening in these worlds and what kinds of trends are being seen at the moment.
00:20 First up, I spoke to Michele Mariotti, Head of Bars at the Gleneagles Hotel.
00:25 Michele told me all about recent changes in focus at the hotel and what's going on in the glorious playground as it's known.
00:32 Michele talks about what's new in the world of cocktails, including some interesting chat around using cheese and sushi rice.
00:39 He also gives us a preview of the new cocktail menu they're introducing this autumn, which sounds delicious, by the way.
00:45 [Music]
00:48 It tends to change a lot depending on what city or market you're in, you know,
00:52 because I think it depends on what the people that you serve ultimately want to drink.
00:57 [Music]
01:01 Next up, I chatted to Lisa Lawson of Dear Green Coffee Roasters in Glasgow.
01:05 We hear about how Lisa came to set up the business and how it has evolved, as well as her take on some recent fads in the coffee world,
01:11 and just how important it has been to focus on sustainability, something that we were recently recognised for at the Scran Awards.
01:18 [Music]
01:21 Just to have a cold coffee on a really hot, sunny day is really delicious,
01:25 because the last thing you want is a hot coffee when it's so warm outside.
01:29 An extension of that has been the espresso tonic, which is super refreshing and feels like you're having something really tasty and well-crafted,
01:37 and, you know, like having a cocktail.
01:39 [Music]
01:45 I'm joined by Michele Mariotti, who is the new head of bar at Glen Eagles.
01:49 Hi Michele, how are you?
01:51 I'm great, thank you for having me. How are you?
01:53 Good, yeah, thank you. I'm in a good mood today because we're here to talk about cocktails, which is one of my favourite things.
01:58 So, before we get into cocktails and your role and things to look forward to,
02:03 could you just kind of tell us a bit about your background and how you got into your current job?
02:08 I was born in the north-east of Italy, and so, like, my hometown is nested in between the Alps and the seaside,
02:15 and we tend to get a lot of tourists there, so it is quite common for people to work in hospitality during the summertime,
02:22 especially when you're a teenager. It helps you get some pocket money, you see.
02:27 So, essentially what I did, I ended up working in this five-star hotel during my studies,
02:33 and what I really enjoyed about it was the fact that, like, hospitality used to be slightly different, like, when I started,
02:41 especially in these bigger resort areas, because people used to spend a lot of time in one location, like,
02:47 because it's so much easier to travel these days. People tend to hop from one destination to the other or change destination every year,
02:54 while back in the days, because there was limited information, people used to find one place they liked and just stick there to that specific location.
03:01 So, then you had a lot of regular guests that would come over and just visit the hotel,
03:06 so they could spend time in the bar with the head bartender, this guy called Riccardo, and he was the funniest guy I've ever met,
03:14 and just the atmosphere was so positive, and I get a lot of energy from the people around me,
03:20 and I was all of a sudden catapulted into this environment where everyone came in to have a good time, right, which is what a bar is all about.
03:28 And so, that kind of stuck with me. So, then when I completed my studies and I ended up working in a travel agency,
03:34 I really couldn't do it. I really didn't like it. I didn't like the atmosphere on a Monday morning in an office,
03:40 where everybody comes in and just, they don't really want to be there. So, I couldn't wait to go back in bars, really.
03:47 So, that's why I eventually decided to make a career out of it, and then I moved to London to pursue a career in cocktail bars,
03:55 and then the rest is history, I guess.
03:58 So, you're now head of bars at Glen Eagles. Obviously, that's what you're doing now. So, how does it feel to work in such an iconic Scottish hotel?
04:06 I mean, the location's lovely, the hotel's lovely. Was that always a goal? How does it feel?
04:12 I spent the main bulk of my time early in my career in London at the Savoy, which is a very iconic property,
04:19 and I remember when you are working in hotels, you always know about other hotels and what they're doing,
04:26 and Glen Eagles has always been one of these iconic properties. It has a strong beverage background.
04:31 It used to be owned by a company called Diageo, which is a big distributor and one of the biggest whiskey brands out there.
04:38 So, I always had a legendary status in my mind. So, then when the opportunity came, I couldn't wait to jump in.
04:47 So, it's a very iconic property, and I think it's going through some huge changes at the moment,
04:54 specifically because we're sort of shifting away. We used to be quite monothematical in terms of how we presented ourselves.
05:00 We used to be quite goal-focused, but since we have been acquired by our current company, which is Annie's More in 2016,
05:10 we are really transforming it into what we like to refer to as a glorious playground.
05:16 So, there's hundreds of different activities you can do there, from shooting to falconry to zip lining, off-road driving, you name it.
05:24 And the cool thing about it is that we have so many people that work in there that are so passionate about what they do,
05:31 and it's just so inspiring. I spent the whole day yesterday with our head of pursuits. His name is Yuri.
05:39 We were out looking for locations where to shoot the trailers for our new cocktail menu,
05:43 and we just drove through some incredible bits of countryside here in Perthshire.
05:48 And he knows all the good spots, and he knows all the flora and fauna.
05:52 And it's such an interesting thing. It's so inspiring. So, yeah, I'm quite happy with this.
05:58 I think Great Eagles tries to represent the best that Scotland has to offer,
06:03 and they use a lot of very talented individuals to do so.
06:09 And they have the freedom to perform and to deliver what they're very passionate about,
06:14 which is ultimately what you want, I think, in a business of our size.
06:19 And what was it like moving from London up to Perthshire? Obviously, it's quite different in terms of location.
06:26 It was worse, actually, because I moved from London to Singapore.
06:31 So, I had three years in Singapore. I was working at Mandarin Oriental there.
06:36 And then eventually, the opportunity to move back to Scotland, to the UK, and move to Scotland, came to fruition.
06:45 So, yeah, it's very, very different. I think I still miss large cities.
06:51 So, I still tend to get a seat injection every now and then, approximately once a month or so.
06:58 My role also allows me to travel a fair bit. So, that's probably why I'm still in contact with cities.
07:05 But, yeah, no, I think there's a lot of interesting things that happen.
07:10 I'll give you an example. So, during lockdown, we were staying – I moved here just before COVID.
07:17 So, during lockdown, myself and my wife were living in this little cottage in the middle of the golf courses.
07:24 And we decided to start to do some gardening with a huge garden.
07:28 We didn't know what to do with a glorious spring, as you know, during the first lockdown.
07:33 So, we ended up planting all sorts of vegetables, including carrots.
07:37 And then, within two weeks of us having our carrots, our garden was flooded with bunnies.
07:44 So, I was chasing bunnies out of the garden with a brush because they wanted to eat my carrots.
07:50 I thought, "This is hilarious." So, yeah, different challenges from a city, but very welcome ones.
07:56 It's a beautiful environment. And, you know, like, Granados itself can be very, very busy.
08:02 It's a big, big beast. But, like, when you're out of the building, it's so peaceful and quiet.
08:08 And you're just surrounded by such beautiful nature. So, it didn't require much of an adjustment, you know.
08:13 The only thing that I miss is sushi. So, yeah, sometimes I go to cities for sushi.
08:18 Over the years, you must have seen quite a lot of trends in drinks and cocktails.
08:22 I mean, I know myself, I sort of have noticed that they've become more kind of complex and people kind of appreciate them more.
08:29 And bartenders are becoming a bit more like chefs in terms of what they do.
08:33 So, what would you say your main sort of takeaway from working in bars for years has been in trends in drinks?
08:39 So, I mean, in terms of trends, I see it more as a constant evolution of what we do.
08:45 When I started bartending, there was zero, absolute zero talk about waste or how to reuse waste or how to minimize waste.
08:53 The final goal was always to make sure that we had the best ingredients available at any given time.
08:58 It didn't matter where they come from or what they are or how much of it you actually use.
09:02 So, waste has always been one of those things that, like, I remember coming from, like, you know, you come from a regular household.
09:09 And then the moment you start working at 5-Star Hotel, you realize, God, we're throwing away a lot of stuff.
09:14 That's one of the first changes that I've noticed.
09:17 It's a huge, like, there's a bit more of an understanding of what the impact of waste is and how is it that you can reduce it.
09:26 Not only, like, even if just for pure selfish reasons, how can you reduce your operating costs by reducing the amount of stuff you throw away, which makes a lot of sense.
09:36 So, I think that was probably one of the things there that I'm quite glad started to change.
09:42 But then also, like, in terms of trends, I think bars can only be as good as the consumer.
09:47 So, like, because at the end of the day, we provide something that consumers want.
09:50 So, I think it tends to change a lot depending on what city or market you're in, you know, because I think it depends on what the people that you, like, you serve ultimately want to drink.
10:00 To give you an example, so, in Singapore, people really like stuff from Southeast Asia because most of the cocktail bars there cater for expats and American-born Chinese.
10:11 So, and generally speaking, you cater for people that interact with the city, like, on a sporadic basis.
10:17 So, you know, they land a couple of days and then they're out.
10:19 So, they want to try something that's from the area.
10:21 And then because Singapore is quite small, same for Hong Kong, really, they want to try the extended Southeast Asia a bit.
10:27 So, one of the things that we did there, we launched this program called Nomadic Foragers, where we traveled to 70 different countries and we partnered with different producers, markets, or bartenders to source ingredients.
10:40 Or materials that we could then import into Singapore.
10:43 And if they were fruits and veg, we'd partner with the indoor farms.
10:47 So, we'd bring in the seeds and then we'll get them locally there.
10:50 And I think there are a lot of similarities with Green Eagles because of the fact that we have a quite sizable number of guests that want to experience, as we said earlier on, the best that Scotland has to offer.
11:04 So, what we try to do with our menus there is to try to bring this to life.
11:08 And then sometimes, paired with what we discussed before, a way of using 100% of the ingredients around us, I think that's probably the best way to summarize our main cocktail program across the main bars, which are the Central Bar and American Bar.
11:24 So, try to minimize our wastage, try to make menus that are accessible and that are the best representation of what Scotland or Petchshire has to offer.
11:32 One of the things I've noticed this year, people are using sushi rice in cocktails and cheese in cocktails.
11:39 Could you tell us a little bit about why, the sort of science behind that and why people might be doing that?
11:46 Especially cheese, because that's kind of, any time I've mentioned this to anyone, they've gone "Eurgh!"
11:51 Cheese.
11:52 Cheese.
11:53 But to be fair, cheese comes in all shapes and sizes.
11:56 So, I think when you say cheese in cocktails, people immediately think blue cheese, probably, which is, you know, which, come to think of it, it's something that's been in our industry for a while, especially in martinis.
12:09 In the US, having olives stuffed with blue cheese in your martini is a very common thing to do.
12:16 So, like cheese in cocktails have been around for a while, but, you know, there's all sorts of things you can have in there.
12:22 Cream cheese is another great one, for instance.
12:25 We have a drink on the American bar menu.
12:29 So, the menu there is called the Book of Berries.
12:32 So, all the drinks there are made from some sort of berries.
12:35 The menu is inspired by pocket encyclopedias that were very popular in the UK between the 1920s and 1997 called the Observer's Books.
12:44 So, essentially, they were monothematical encyclopedias, very colorful little booklets.
12:48 You'd have like Flora and Fawn of Perchshire, like Birds of Prey, that sort of thing.
12:53 So, we decided to go for the Book of Berries, which are botanical berries.
12:57 So, we have pumpkins and squashes and avocados and no strawberries and raspberries.
13:02 And one of the drinks there is called Blueberry, which is a botanical berry.
13:07 But instead of getting blueberries, we reuse blueberry muffins from breakfast.
13:14 So, we obviously prepare an awful amount of blueberry muffins, and there's only so many muffins people can eat, including myself.
13:21 So, then we use just a bunch a day, and we infuse them into vodka.
13:25 But they come with some cream cheese in the middle.
13:27 So, this allows us to retain all these fats.
13:30 So, then whenever we blend them into vodka, and then basically what we do, we take this mixture, we put it in the freezer.
13:35 All the solids solidify, so then we can get a clear vodka out of it that really tastes of muffin.
13:43 But the cheese, some of the lactose in the cheese, really transfers a lot of the texture into the drink.
13:49 So, it gives you this beautiful, creamy, silky texture, and the vodka is packed with the flavor of blueberry muffin.
13:57 So, I think it's a great way to add texture to some of the drinks, cheese and milk specifically, because of the high lactose content.
14:06 But then when we talk about things like rice, to give an example, I think one of the great things that rice does is that it's quite rich in starch.
14:18 So, it's actually quite starchy. And starch is something that gives you texture again.
14:22 So, we use it in a drink, so there's a twist on a cocktail called White Lady.
14:27 White Lady is a quite classic drink that is made out of gin, citrus, usually lemon, and orange liqueur.
14:36 And then it is a drink that, it's a classic drink that went in print in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1920.
14:43 And it can contain egg white sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't, depending on which book you find.
14:48 Egg white is purely used there for texture. So, you add egg white and then you blend it, and it just makes you, gives you a fluffy drink.
14:55 What, the drink that we're working on at the moment removes the egg white and adds the starch that you can get from rice.
15:03 So, essentially what we do, we take the rice, we agitate it into the gin.
15:08 So, we release all these beautiful starches in there that give you a lot of texture.
15:12 And then we're left with this beautiful rice, which we then cook and then we turn into a crisp to add on top of the drink.
15:17 So, we can use 100% of that bit of rice.
15:19 Also, like a lot of people, like egg white is one of those ingredients that not everybody, it's a fan of.
15:25 So, supplementing it with something that it's a non-animal, like a thickener, it's something that people really, really like.
15:33 That's good to know. So, no one's putting a big block of blue cheese in their drinks, that's good.
15:38 Not yet, not yet. Give us a few years and we'll get there.
15:42 No, but I think, you know, also like in terms of cheese, there's a couple of recipes going on right now with, I've checked online with,
15:50 it popped on my Instagram feed the other day of people adding a little bit of Parmesan cheese on an espresso martini.
15:57 I don't know if you've seen this, but I think, you know, there's lots of ways you can implement savoury ingredients.
16:04 And I think it's probably one of the more on top pool of ingredients that we have in bars at the moment,
16:10 because we tend to produce ingredients that are, we tend to produce drinks that are sweet.
16:16 Like, you know, I think sugar, it does wonderful things for drinks because it helps you not only enhance the texture,
16:23 but also to open up the flavour of drinks. There's a classic cocktail called the Old Fashioned that uses bitters,
16:32 which is basically an alcoholic infusion of herbs and spices, whiskey, and then a little bit of sugar.
16:38 And you'd be surprised, but that little bit of sugar really helps you open up the flavours that you find in whiskey and the bitters,
16:46 and they really elevate that drinking experience, you know, and those add a little bit of texture in there.
16:51 So I think sugar is a great flavour enhancer, and that's why we use it quite a lot in drinks.
16:57 But savoury drinks are still, you know, like they account for like 1% of the total drinks.
17:03 You know, like the only drink I can think of that most people would be able to recognise is a Bloody Mary,
17:10 you know, as being probably one of the main savoury drinks.
17:13 But like there's a whole plethora of savoury drinks out there, and I think adding a bit of cheese here and there,
17:17 we'll just make it larger and larger, you know, as a pool.
17:21 Yeah. So we're in summer just now, and I don't know if you'll appreciate this or not, but everyone is drinking Aperol Spritz.
17:28 What do you think we're all going to be drinking come autumn and winter?
17:32 And off the back of that, can you tell us a bit about your new menu that's launching?
17:36 Yeah, so I think, first of all, I think it's incredible.
17:41 I find it absolutely remarkable to see what Aperol managed to achieve,
17:45 because I think it was a relatively unknown brand less than a decade ago,
17:49 and now like you see Aperol Spritz is everywhere.
17:52 So it's, you know, being Italian myself is something that fills me with joy a little bit,
17:57 especially because I come from the northeast where Aperol is super, super popular.
18:01 So that's a good one there.
18:03 But yeah, no, I think generally speaking, when it comes to autumn and winter drinks,
18:07 people tend to move more towards the more full-bodied and spirit-forward drinks.
18:12 So everything that encompasses like martinis, Manhattan's, old fashions,
18:17 that sort of thing, as we discussed earlier on.
18:19 In terms of like our menus, they cycle for about a year.
18:22 So the content that we have to include in our menu usually has to give us enough variety of drinks for us to cover all seasons.
18:30 There is a certain element of change in there.
18:32 So we have some ingredients that are relatively seasonal that we can play around with,
18:38 and we can change so we can swap some of the drinks here and there.
18:41 There are some ingredients that we tend to champion during autumn.
18:45 One of the main ones is pumpkin.
18:47 There's a lot of bits that you can get out of pumpkin.
18:49 We like to use the seeds a lot.
18:51 Seeds are like somewhat underutilized, I believe.
18:54 So what we do usually with pumpkin seeds, we just gently roast them in an oven for a bit until they pick up a little bit of color.
19:01 And then we add some rose water, some actual water and a little bit of sugar.
19:07 And then we just blend the whole thing, and it turns into this very, very thick syrup.
19:11 So syrups made from seeds, they're called orgeat.
19:14 And it's shelf-stable, stays forever, and it just has this beautiful, fresh and grassy flavor.
19:22 And you can just like we basically with it, we make a whiskey highball.
19:26 So we add whiskey, a little bit of coconut water, and this orgeat.
19:30 So it's a quite simple drink, really.
19:32 But orgeats are great because you can always keep them in the fridge. They last forever, ever, if you add enough sugar.
19:38 And then you can just top them up with sparkling water.
19:40 So, you know, I think that there's lots of bits there.
19:43 Yeah, generally speaking, when it comes to our menu, the way that we have decided to go about it this time.
19:50 So we like to conceptualize our menus for both bars.
19:54 So basically, by that, we mean that we give it a theme.
19:57 So the theme for this menu, it's inspired by our glorious surroundings.
20:02 So what we have decided to do is to bring to life four idyllic Scottish landscapes.
20:07 So we have divided our 24 drinks in four categories that go from the glens and rivers to the locks, seasides and harbors and forests.
20:17 And each section tries to encapsulate some of the flavors that we have in those areas.
20:22 And we use those as a mean for people to navigate through the menu.
20:26 So the menu is going to look like a little notebook that you have if you were an explorer going around Scotland with like handwritten notes here and there and that.
20:34 So, yeah, I'm quite excited about it.
20:36 So we'll be launching it somewhere mid-September.
20:39 So I can't wait to have some of you over for a couple of cocktails.
20:43 But yeah.
20:44 Yeah, that sounds great.
20:46 And obviously, you've been working on that.
20:48 Are you planning anything for the next half of the year and to next year?
20:51 What can we look forward to?
20:52 There's another couple of things that we'll be working on.
20:54 As a hotel, we have quite a lot of beverage led activations in there that help us keep people entertained.
21:01 One of the things that we'll be doing soon will be a something that we like to call the Autumn Pass.
21:08 So essentially, it's a room package that people can book and they get exclusive access to a lounge where people will be able to try cocktails that are based on Talisker whiskey.
21:22 There will be a selection of five which are inspired by the cycle of leaves.
21:26 So during autumn, leaves tend to change in color.
21:29 So we have decided to have five different drinks that cover these five spectrums of color that we have during this time.
21:37 And the flavors in the drinks reflect the color that they are assigned.
21:41 People will be able to have stargazing walks and walks with owls.
21:46 And then there's going to be the usual stuff here and there.
21:48 I'm sure there's going to be some shooting here and there.
21:50 There's going to be some axe throwing.
21:52 So all sorts of activities that people can access from the lounge.
21:55 And then basically, there's going to be a pickup point where you can start your own little autumn adventure.
22:00 So I'm quite excited about that.
22:02 It's going to be quite nice.
22:03 And yeah, axe throwing is a great activity as long as you do it.
22:09 Like it's a good way to get out of your negative energy.
22:12 And it's good if you do it with someone you like, because if you do it with someone you don't like, you might end up throwing axes at each other, which is not super...
22:19 And so long as you're doing it sobered as well.
22:22 True, true. That's true.
22:24 Actually, coming to that, we strongly believe that non-alcoholic drinks should give you the same experience that alcoholic drinks do.
22:32 And I think sometimes we put so much energy into our alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks sometimes can be a little bit of an afterthought.
22:39 They alcoholize a lot of spirits for non-alcoholic experiences.
22:43 So we have a machine that basically allows us to distill alcohol out.
22:47 So we can drastically reduce the alcohol content into some of our spirits.
22:53 So we have, for instance, 12% tequila or 10% whiskey.
22:58 So quite, quite low alcohol, but still packed with flavor.
23:01 So we can still deliver drinks.
23:03 Once you put it in a cocktail, the cocktail itself will go probably below 2-3% alcohol, which is nearly alcohol free.
23:10 So we try to minimize alcohol intake if people don't want to drink, but still give them this full undiluted cocktail experience.
23:17 When you're not working and you're not hanging in Gleneagles, where's your favorite bar or bars?
23:24 I know this might sound a bit of a cliche, but I think Edinburgh, to begin with, especially in recent years, has developed an offering which is very complete.
23:34 So there's lots of very, very cool bars there.
23:37 Lots of cutting edge cool bars, but also bars that deliver delicious, well-made classic cocktails.
23:43 So there's a lot there.
23:45 London, obviously, it's another great city that we have here in the UK that has a lot of cool cocktail bars.
23:51 But like globally, I think a trip to Barcelona is always welcome.
23:56 I think it has the highest concentration of bars that happen to be in the world's 50 best bars.
24:02 So it's a big list that we have here in our industry.
24:05 So I think Barcelona is fantastic.
24:08 There's a lot of very, very interesting and niche cocktail bars there.
24:13 That sounds great. Thank you very much.
24:15 And yeah, good luck with the menu launch.
24:17 And it sounds like it's going to be a great autumn and we'll need to come up and visit.
24:20 So thank you.
24:21 Please, please don't be a stranger.
24:23 Can't wait to have you over.
24:24 Thank you.
24:25 Awesome. Thank you so much.
24:27 [Music]
24:35 So I'm now at Deer Green Coffee Roastery in Glasgow with founder Lisa Lawson.
24:40 Hi Lisa, how are you?
24:41 Hi, I'm OK. Thank you. Thanks for visiting.
24:43 That's all right. So we're here.
24:45 You've got really nice, colourful, coffee-themed artwork on a wall.
24:49 It smells amazing.
24:51 You've got all your coffee and equipment behind us, but we're sat at a big wooden table.
24:56 We've got some coffee, but we'll come back to that.
24:58 For anyone that doesn't know or hasn't heard our podcast with you before,
25:02 could you let us know a bit about how the business all came to be?
25:05 Sure. Yeah. So I started Deer Green in 2011.
25:09 I had roasted coffee previously in the year 2000 for three years in Australia
25:16 and got back to Glasgow and thought there is not really any good coffee here.
25:20 It seemed to me all to be European brands and not very well-prepared coffees.
25:28 So it got to 2011 and these years of frustration and I thought I'm just going to buy a coffee roaster.
25:34 So yeah, that's how it all started. I didn't have any money.
25:36 I didn't really know what I was doing, but I kind of had a lot of passion, a lot of drive,
25:41 a lot of probably risk-taking in me to be able to get off the ground
25:45 and just started to sell coffee wholesale only to restaurants and cafes and bars.
25:52 And yeah, we've got to this place now where we're now in year 12.
25:57 We've got a team of 10, so it's not just me, thankfully, anymore.
26:01 And yeah, we're continuing to do the same thing.
26:03 We now sell a lot of coffee online.
26:05 We host events like the Glasgow Coffee Festival
26:08 and yeah, just try and support the industry and the competition scene
26:14 and visit coffee farms and do all the other great things that have happened along the years to support us in our journey.
26:21 So one of the things you're big on and you just recently won a Scran Award for was sustainability.
26:25 So can you tell us a bit about that as well?
26:27 Sure. Yeah, we were so excited to win that.
26:29 We went to the awards evening and didn't expect to win, so thank you.
26:36 Yeah, it was really nice for the team.
26:38 This year we hired someone to be our sustainability coordinator and that was really to help us.
26:43 We tried to measure our footprint for the past three years, but never quite managed to get it to a point where we were happy enough with it
26:51 or had enough time and resources to put into it.
26:54 So really to get that on the back of hiring someone to focus on it and to complete our carbon report and to publish it
27:04 and really for us to be authentic and genuine in our net zero pledge really meant a lot to us.
27:10 We've obviously always had really good environmental practices and always tried to just have good practices within business
27:21 because it's actually cheaper.
27:23 If you repurpose your waste, you're not paying for waste uplift.
27:25 If you don't have the heat and blasting all of the time, you're not having a higher energy cost bill.
27:30 There's just lots of small practices like that that we had implemented and then we got B Corp certification.
27:37 It was an extra layer of education and knowledge, resources and a network to tap into for us to help us in our journey.
27:44 So yeah, to win the award was just like, kind of like, that's where we're at just now is like that little peak of,
27:50 yeah, that's a really great achievement and an acknowledgement of that.
27:53 So thank you so much to the Scotsman, to the Scran Awards.
27:55 So one of the things we're talking about in this podcast is trends in drinks.
27:58 Obviously we've spoken a bit about cocktails, but we're here today to talk to you about coffee.
28:03 So what are the sort of trends coming through in coffee that you've seen this year so far?
28:07 It's a funny one to answer because there's been lots over the years and some of them come and go.
28:12 I think because of the time of year we're at, then cold brew is a big one to talk about.
28:17 So every year we're like, cold brew, it's so tasty.
28:20 And every year, like you kind of try and like push it and create a recipe for it and tell our customers about it.
28:27 I think it's gained more momentum.
28:29 So just to have a cold coffee on a really hot, sunny day is really delicious because the last thing you want is a hot coffee when it's so warm outside.
28:37 An extension of that has been the espresso tonic, which is like super refreshing and feels like you're having something really tasty and well-crafted.
28:45 And, you know, like having a cocktail or having a treat of an alcoholic drink, like day drinking, you know.
28:51 So having a little espresso tonic is a really nice thing.
28:54 And that's, again, just had a lot more popularity recently.
28:58 In terms of where we're coming from with a coffee roastery, we see different fermentations in coffee beans.
29:03 So what's happening to the coffee at coffee origin, how they're controlling like anaerobic fermentations to create different flavour notes.
29:12 And then how that exhibits itself in the cup, how we roast it and can control those flavours is a trend for our little section of the industry.
29:20 And then the chains, you know, are all doing their things, I guess, seasonally, like pumpkin lattes and different syrups.
29:26 And that's something we don't get too involved in because we like to source really high quality, delicious coffees that we don't want to mask the flavour of too much.
29:37 We want those flavours to shine in a real sort of purist way.
29:40 So one of the things that we've, I've written about and we've sort of talked about is olive oil in coffee.
29:45 Talking of the chains as well. So earlier on this year, Starbucks have started putting a really specific olive oil in certain coffees.
29:53 So what are your thoughts on that? And we also have one here that we can try.
29:58 Yeah, well, I think when you first reached out to me about it, I was like, all right, that's interesting.
30:03 And it made me think of at the start of lockdown and everyone was having a Dalgona coffee and everyone was making this like coffee and orange juice.
30:11 And there was like, you know, there's been bulletproof coffee and there's been little sort of trends that come and go.
30:18 And to me that felt like exactly that. It feels like, oh, let's take a really familiar product and add it to coffee and call it something and promote it and, you know, try and get a flavour balance with it.
30:31 I think it's originated, like you say, in Starbucks. And I think maybe the first one's Milan and they're like a huge store that they have there.
30:40 So it kind of fits like olive oil. It's, you know, a product from that country.
30:46 I tried to source the olive oil that they use, but I don't think it's sold in the UK, so I couldn't get any.
30:54 So we used an equivalent and we've used just a ratio of, I don't know, about 10 percent olive oil in the drink.
31:04 We made a flat white and yeah, it's got a really nice texture.
31:08 I think you can, you know, you taste it as an awareness that there's something else in that drink that's not milk and it's not coffee.
31:15 I think if an espresso is dialed in really well, it's really perfect balance.
31:20 The flavours have been extracted really well, so there's a really nice balance of natural acidity, natural sweetness, caramelised flavours and really well textured milk.
31:31 Then you can actually, you can enjoy, you can enjoy the coffee.
31:35 But I don't think the olive oil for me personally is something I'd probably want to add to my drink or request if I was ordering a coffee.
31:43 So, interesting. I find it interesting. I think of all the trends, it's all right.
31:49 But yeah, not going there like any time soon, maybe.
31:54 Okay, so I'm going to try it. Here we go.
31:57 Go on.
32:00 Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like there's something, you can tell there's something there that's maybe not normally there.
32:06 And from a texture point of view and also like, yeah, there is, I mean, it's cooled down a bit now, so it's probably starting to slightly separate a bit.
32:13 So you can feel like on your lips, there's like a kind of oiliness.
32:17 I would probably just think, well, maybe this is like really fatty milk rather than be like, I can tell there's olive oil.
32:23 But yeah, I'm not necessarily sure what it's bringing to the situation with this kind of coffee, because it's really good coffee.
32:30 It's interesting because some oat milks, you know, they all taste quite different and you can tell what's what or a different alternative milk, whether it's soy, almonds, whatever.
32:39 And yeah, I think if you know, if you're vegan and you want to have that and it's a great experience for me, I do drink dairy.
32:48 Not a lot of it, but I would have it. That's my choice. If I was having a flat white, I'd always have dairy milk.
32:53 So, you know, we source really great dairy milk. We use Mosquitofarm.
32:58 So, yeah, I feel like, yeah, it's just watering down something that I want my perception of how good that could be for me.
33:07 So I am one of those people who possibly psychosomatically only has one coffee and I've had more than one.
33:14 I get like a mad headache or feel really wired.
33:17 One of the things I sort of we've talked about a little bit before we sat down was a trend of low-calf or no-calf.
33:24 So can you tell us a bit about that? Because I feel like I'm very on board with this.
33:28 Sure. OK. Oh, yeah. Perfect customer. Yeah, I guess like years ago, it was like, you know, all the baristas are getting the death before decaf, like tattoo.
33:37 And it was always like kind of shunned in the inner circles of specialty coffee.
33:43 And really because it was it was quite low quality decaf. It didn't taste good.
33:48 It was like an afterthought. The coffee consumer, the customer wasn't prioritised if they drank decaf.
33:57 But the role of the eyes may be decaf behind the coffee bar would be stale.
34:02 It might be pre-ground, it wouldn't be dosed accurately, just wouldn't be taken seriously.
34:07 I've heard through importers that quite often what they do with a green raw coffee is getting a bit tired.
34:12 They're just send off to get decaffeinated, which means you get a tired coffee and this ageing and starting to taste a little bit papery and woody.
34:21 That's losing its like, you know, it's about nine to 12 percent of moisture content inside a coffee seeds.
34:27 And that's where the aromatics are. And that's what's released when it's roasted.
34:31 If it's older, that starts to dry out. So literally it's organic matter.
34:34 It's going to dry out and it will just taste like wood.
34:38 So a lot of decaf tasted like that because it's old coffee that then got decaffeinated just to manage stocks.
34:44 Now decaf has been taken seriously and we're getting coffees in here in the roastery which we're roasting.
34:50 We're tasting blind and we can't even tell it's decaf. It's just so, so delicious.
34:54 And we're so happy. And a lot of like processes to decaffeinate have advanced.
35:00 And there's processes that are quite gentle, we have decaffeinating, which doesn't remove flavour compounds as well.
35:07 So you're retaining the flavour compounds. Some of them even add a sweetness back in.
35:12 So it's a kind of fake added sweetness that maybe isn't natural to the plant.
35:16 But yeah, it has made decaf even tastier. And I think that's in line with that the coffee industry has progressed.
35:24 More people are drinking coffee. Therefore, there's also more decaf drinkers.
35:30 We noticed this in lockdown when we basically pivoted to be an online fulfilment coffee business for a while.
35:39 Because none of our customers were open for a while. And the demand we had for decaf was insane.
35:46 And I think that's still there. But yeah, I think people who drink decaf actually like coffee.
35:53 They're not drinking it for caffeine. They're drinking it because they want to have a really lovely, delicious cup of coffee.
35:59 And there's more and more people can find that delicious decaf and drinking more.
36:06 That's also, like you say, meant that there's a low-caf coffee available.
36:13 As far as I know, there's coffee grown now that has a lower caffeine content.
36:19 There's one we actually taste, or there's two we tasted today in the roastery.
36:23 We had samples sent to us to try and we're looking at different offerings for this market.
36:31 Nice. That's good. So we're coming to the end of the summer, unfortunately.
36:36 But what's next for your planning for the year?
36:39 Well, I guess you've got to really think about Christmas.
36:43 So we're already thinking about what coffees we're going to use in our festive blend.
36:47 We're looking at designs for our festive blend label.
36:50 We do 12 days of Christmas and we're considering what 12 coffees we're going to put in that product.
36:55 That's literally all just about to happen. We've got meetings lined up in the next couple of weeks.
37:00 That's going to be a fun next exercise for coffee tasting for us in the roastery.
37:05 Nice. Well, thank you very much. I look forward to seeing that.
37:07 Thank you. We'll send you some.
37:17 Thanks to Michele and Lisa for being my guests on this episode.
37:20 And thanks to you two for listening.
37:21 Please remember to rate, review and subscribe so you never miss an episode of Scran.
37:26 Scran is a laudable podcast. It's co-produced and hosted by me, Roslyn Derskin,
37:29 and co-produced, edited and mixed by Kelly Crichton.
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