# Tutbury Tea Room



## garydyke1

https://www.facebook.com/TutburyTeaRoom

This place is owned by a guy I work with at Vodafone. We had been talking for some time about swapping expertise to help each other out. He admitted he didnt drink coffee, or know how to produce it, however, he wants the very best for his customers. I agree to pass on my coffee geekery and passion to the staff. Although tea is a focus, they sell more coffee than tea.

Yesterday I went down and observed the place , it was open, and I asked for an espresso and cappucino. I cringed when I saw the prep and ''pour'', and the cappucino was latte-sized with chocolate sprinkles on top - it did little to hide the bitter pain underneath the oversteamed UHT milk. It was clear there was a problem here, well actually several.

I organised a cupping of their previous ''coffee'' versus Extract Coffee Roasters Espresso Blend versus a Has bean single estate. I explained the impact of roast level , roast freshness and how to taste. They agreed the coffee they were using was horrid.

Next I took them through the basics of keeping the machine and grinder clean. The water coming from the Fracino Bambino was like the birmingham Grand Union canal. eeew! So machine now clean I dialled the grinder in (a horrific slow, clumpy Fracino thing) and explained how to pull espresso properly. The timers on the machine were set to 7 seconds, 14 seconds and manual! We amended these to all be 25 seconds which seemed a sweet spot for the Extract blend. At least now the espresso was delicious. We didnt worry about dose or even output - just filled the basket level for consistancy and adjusted the grinder so we got 'mouse tails'. weighing these for my own sanity we were getting 34g from 16.5g - it was tasting 500% better than the old coffee - they were not even tamping before! (they now have a tamper on order)

The next big culture shock for them was milk steaming, >70c with UHT was tasting terrible. It was clear this had to change, so did the temperature! Sadly customers we spoke to seemed to rate coffee by how hot it is! I produced a few drinks for customers to gain some feedback and generally they loved it but would prefer it a little hotter, thats the conversation the staff need to have about educating customers on sweeter milk naturally without sugar. Anyway , by the end of the day the staff were producing some semi-latte-art : )

It was a great day and I was in my element helping these guys increase coffee quality and start to enjoy the process.


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## autopilot

Nice work mate. I know a few cafe in my area which could do with you popping in!


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## painty

Sounds like you have a second career as the cafe equivalent of Alex Polizzi, Hotel Inspector


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## bubbajvegas

Good work Gary,new TV programme in the making 'the travelling barista' helping out struggling cafès


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## garydyke1

autopilot said:


> Nice work mate. I know a few cafe in my area which could do with you popping in!


Haha. Anytime


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## Yes Row

Nice work. It is in the next village to me and I have been once. I would not go again! However I will give it s try next weekend now they hopefully will produce decent coffee


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## garydyke1

Yes Row said:


> Nice work. It is in the next village to me and I have been once. I would not go again! However I will give it s try next weekend now they hopefully will produce decent coffee


Please do and report back. It will be a while before I can drop back in again to check they are following the standards


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## lookseehear

garydyke1 said:


> Please do and report back. It will be a while before I can drop back in again to check they are following the standards


I think this depends very much on how interested the staff are. You've given them some enthusiasm but I think repeat training is pretty essential in this kind of setting. Maybe ask the manager about doing monthly sessions (paid of course). Have they switched bean suppliers?


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## CoffeeChris

lookseehear said:


> I think this depends very much on how interested the staff are. You've given them some enthusiasm but I think repeat training is pretty essential in this kind of setting. Maybe ask the manager about doing monthly sessions (paid of course). Have they switched bean suppliers?


Very true. Have been to a few cafes that had undergone training. Yet everything was wrong, cappuccino so hot i couldn't drink it. Think there will always be a battle with temperatures of coffee in a non specialty coffee shop.

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2


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## garydyke1

They have enough Extract blend for another week , then I have suggested they speak to Has Bean as they are local


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## ttrtimmy

Yes Row said:


> Nice work. It is in the next village to me and I have been once. I would not go again! However I will give it s try next weekend now they hopefully will produce decent coffee


Hi all, really appreicate Gary's time this weekend and am chuffed that he has posted his experience on here, it's been a massive learning curve for us as even though our new business doesn't have it's identity yet, signage etc., this is my wife's baby and we had opened it as a tea room and not a coffee shop, however we were caught completely off guard as to how much coffee we started to sell, hence me wanting advice from Gary, this brings me to Yes Row's post, I would really appreciate your feedback when you do visit again, please don't let us know who you are untill you have been servered so as to get an unbiased drink (which will be free of charge either way







), I will be working at the shop this weekend as I don't during the week due to my 'day' job and would really appreciate what you have to say, we are still having teething issues with the new process for producing coffee and are having to rely on staff that were not available on Sunday to take second hand information to recreate what only two of us have achieved.

A couple of interesing things though, a lot of our customers have said how good the coffee was previous to Gary's visit, this reinforces what Gary said to me in that most people have not tasted 'real' coffee so when they are servered cr4p they still like it, also from speaking to the staff today is that some of our customers are now saying the coffee is too strong, so I definately thing we need to adjust our shots to suit the different drinks.

Anyway, I now have a whole new world opened up to me and even though I drank more coffee on Sunday thank I have drunk in my whole life and I could tell what was bad and what was good, I'm still not a coffee lover, but my customers mean a lot to me so I will percivere, you never know one day I might be turned to the 'dark' side:act-up:

Regards, Tim.


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## Yes Row

Tim

Sorry, really busy this weekend and could not call in. I will though and will introduce myself.


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## garydyke1

Anyone visiting TTR this morning - Smokeybarn's Blue Ribbon will be in the grinder for a short time this morning. When that runs out it'll be some super fresh HB Jailbeak.

Sadly you will have to put up with my ugly bald head also ; )

Come down and try the awesome food !


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## garydyke1

FYI - Ill be at TTR this morning with *Inaboxmedia* dialling in a loan Azkoyen Capriccio grinder. Hopefully doing HB Jailbreak justice


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## coffeechap

Have fun let me know how you get on.


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## garydyke1

Grinder worked faultlessly. Coffee pouring well.


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## bubbajvegas

Fantastic grinder for a coffee shop,just needs hiding behind a menu board,looool


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## garydyke1

A respray in jet black and it would be lookin good next to their Fracino Bambino whick is in black n chrome


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## Yes Row

Called in yesterday, with the good lady. Had a flat white and other half had a black coffee . Has Bean Jailbreak was the blend of the day. They were both excellent and my Flat White had artwork!!!

They were made by Gary and it was good to meet you!

Thanks very much to you all and I/we will be back, I think we will incorperate a breakfast next time' the one Gary was tucking into looked the business

Good luck


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## garydyke1

Nice to meet you too! I can confirm the breakfasts are well worth a visit, very tasty!


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## coffeechap

perfect i look forward to mine maybe on wednesday on my way through!


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