7 December 2017

Changing perceptions: the business benefit of batch brewing

At this year’s European Coffee Symposium, one of our key talking points was the business benefit of batch brewing. As our head of coffee excellence, Gareth Davies, explains below, batch brewing can have a host of benefits, but perceptions need to change.

Filter coffee hasn’t got the best reputation. It has the image of coffee that’s brewed for too long, sits waiting for even longer and doesn’t taste nice. Because of this, it often sits at the bottom of the menu, below the espresso-based standards.

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But, it’s time for a change of perception. Filter coffee can be a sound business choice and provide a quality, great tasting cup, it just has to be treated with a bit more pride. The major benefit of batch, filter coffee for both businesses and customers is speed. Filter coffee is the perfect queue buster; a quick, highly profitable solution that will keep the queues moving and the coffee flowing, without the need for lots of labour.

However, the average coffee consumer’s palate is becoming more discerning with every cup they enjoy, and whatever the coffee, customer’s expect quality. So, businesses need to make sure their filter coffee isn’t just fast, but it’s of a high quality as well. Despite perceptions, this is possible.

A barista will put time, effort and skill into every cup of espresso-based coffee they make – often optimised by the latte art. If that same skill is put into filter coffee, the results can be fantastic. It can be as simple as making sure everything is dialled in right – be it the grind, the weight, the temperature – to begin with, and making sure every fresh batch of filter coffee is consistent and as good as it can be. Just because the ‘effort’ isn’t happening at the time of an order being taken doesn’t mean it’s not happening at all; the effort and skill simply comes earlier. And this means the coffee can taste excellent.

Filter coffee is a real commercial opportunity for businesses, but as customer tastes continue to improve and evolve, it needs to become more exciting. Move it away from the bottom of the menu and take pride in its quality. Because if you’ve invested in filter coffee equipment, but give it little-to-no value on your menu, that investment may struggle to pay off.

Filter coffee can become more than just a queue buster, it can be an invaluable investment and a source of fantastic coffee.