The ScotHot Show: La Cimbali Will be Exhibiting for the First Time

Every 2 years, the largest hospitality catering and tourism show in Scotland, ScotHot, runs in order to showcase Scottish hospitality, catering and tourism industries.  This event was launched in 1973.

This year, the event will be held on March 4 & 5 at the SECC in Glasgow and will be opened by the Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism as part of the Scottish Tourism week.

This event would be the perfect opportunity to showcase the latest products from over 200 suppliers in the UK.  Visitors will get inspired by live demonstrations for culinary cooking and have a look at the top industry developments as well.

This year, the programme of events is exciting and full of competitions such as the event for the best coffee in the country, as the UK Barista Championships will take place in front of a live audience.

20 of the UK’s top baristas will compete in front of a live audience, and test their all-round coffee knowledge, presentation, and preparation skills.  They will get 15 minutes to set up their work area and then 15 minutes to make 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 espresso based non-alcoholic speciality drinks. 

The winner will go on to represent the UK at the World Barista Championships in Seattle in April.

This is a new event for La Cimbali, whose stand (number 4454) will be right across from the UKBC stage where the UK Barista Championships final will be taking place, so very easy to find.  Visitors can pop along to taste an espresso, prepared on either the M34 coffee machine with the award winning PGS Magnum on Demand Grinder, or on the even more impressive M100 HD with its clever pressure profiling technology. 

The M100 HD also features Cimbali’s exclusive thermal system consisting of twin Heat Exchanger pre-heating system, independent group boilers which are hard wired to a solid metal group giving complete temperature control of each group, and is the ultimate traditional espresso machine.  It is packed with many features to ensure that it delivers the very best espresso & speciality coffee experience, with an exterior that oozes style and flair.

La Cimbali’s Coffee Specialist Rob Ward, and Head Barista Matt Lasek will be on hand to demonstrate their coffee machines for all types of business. 

The Cimbali team which comprises of Matt, Rob and the rest, are really looking forward to being at the show. They would also like to wish all the competing baristas a very good luck for the competition!

For more information please visit: www.scothot.co.uk

Gruppo Cimbali exhibited at The Gulfood Show, Dubai

The Dubai World Trade Centre once again opened its doors this week for the world's biggest annual food and hospitality show. This year, it celebrated 20 years and people have said that it was bigger and better than ever. There were more exhibitors bringing with them the latest innovative products and lots of big brands to choose from!

There were almost 5,000 exhibiting companies during the show and was able to provide visitors an unrivalled opportunity to be inspired by exciting flavours, smells and even source a variety of fabulous products from the many brands showcased.

There was a very warm welcome at the show for all visitors, and the event was buzzing with thousands of industry peers and people passionate about the food and beverage market. Throughout the five days, guests were entertained by demonstrations from the food & drink sectors, food service & hospitality and restaurant & café industries. They also had plenty of conferences and seminars to choose from, where they could connect and network with key regional and industry players in a focused environment, sharing their knowledge, experience and expertise.

Representatives from the Gruppo Cimbali Spa team based in Italy had a great position in Hall 1, where they had their top performing coffee machines on display, including the award winning M100 HD.

La Cimbali’s M100 HD espresso coffee machine with magnum on demand grinder features an exclusive thermal system consisting of a twin heat exchanger pre-heating system. Independent group boilers, which are hard wired to a solid metal group give complete temperature control of each group, and make it the ultimate traditional espresso machine. It is packed with many features to ensure that it delivers the very best espresso & speciality coffee experience, with an exterior that oozes style and flair. Visitors to the stand were shown by baristas how using the M100 HD they can easily enhance the flavour characteristics of a finished drink, by using the machine’s integral pressure profiling system to adjust the pressure at any point during the extraction process.

Also being demonstrated on the stand was the M1 which is a super automatic bean to cup coffee machine, compactly designed for locations where there is not much space but is still one of the most high performance machines on the market, and the Q10, which is able to deliver a complete beverage (chocolate optional) menu, designed for locations with a production of up to 100 beverages per day.

Given the position of the Cimbali team in Hall 1 along with all the machines on display, there were surely a lot of visitors to the stall, curious about the machines. These shows are always a great opportunity for Cimbali to show the world their remarkable coffee machines which are surely able to produce the best quality coffee.

For more information regarding this event and 2016 please visit: www.gulfood.com

Zero Gravity Espresso Cup – helps astronauts to sip their coffee in space!

For many of you coffee lovers out there, how do you think you would feel if you started your day without a cup of coffee? Perhaps a day without coffee would be tolerable for some, but can you last a week without coffee?

Just imagine how astronauts feel when they need to wake up to start their day but having difficulty in creating a really good cup of coffee. Of course, how can they do this when they are in zero gravity? The simple and satisfying act of pouring a hot cup of espresso in zero gravity is not the same. Now aren't we taking this act for granted a lot?

Cimbali have learned that a team of US researchers and design engineers have recently created a unique coffee cup that will let astronauts sip the perfect shot of espresso in space!

This news is a welcome relief for astronauts in space who are struggling with getting up in the morning to start their duties. Researchers have discovered the zero gravity espresso cup which aids in delivering the perfect shot of coffee while in space. This is done by having a series of channels that stimulates the pouring needed to create the perfect drink.

Micro-gravity conditions in space inhibit the production of ‘crema’ which is the defining feature of a decent espresso. A shot of espresso is composed of a complex, low density colloid of emulsified oils, and the earth’s gravity causes these oils to rise to the surface producing the aromatic foam enjoyed by coffee lovers around the world.

Created by a team at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, at Portland State University in the US – 6 of the 3D printed cups are scheduled to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) this month aboard a SpaceX rocket.   The shape of the container can passively drive fluids to desired locations without moving parts – exploiting the reflexive forces of wetting and surface tension. The special design makes the enjoyment of espresso coffee, and other drinks in low-gravity environments of spacecraft possible.

Without the pull of gravity, fluids behave differently than they do on earth, as instead of‘pouring’, a liquid retains a more globular shape held together by its own surface tension. This phenomenon complicates even the most basic of manoeuvres such as drinking a cup of coffee. The 3D espresso cup is designed to cheat low-gravity by channelling liquid along a specifically-calculated contour in the vessel to exploit capillary forces that simulate the action of pouring.

Hovering up to 270 miles (435 kms) above the Earth, the International Space Station is a long way from home, and astronauts have said how they miss their creature comforts such as coffee and beer!

Food and drinks provide an important psychological support for anybody, more so for people who are working in space – away from their family and the usual comforts of being home. Now that the perfect cup of espresso may soon be readily available in space, this could help the astronauts feel just a little bit closer to home.

La Cimbali UK are confirmed as headline sponsor for SCAE UK CIGS Final

When talking about specialty coffee, it could become a race to see the baristas who will be able to create the best cup. This is why there are a many competitions held each year to find the best baristas in the business who would be able to produce the best coffee drinks that would cater to all caffeine enthusiasts.

Of course, in these competitions, there needs to be sponsors who should be able to lend their support to the event. It is fortunate that La Cimbali has this opportunity.

The Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) has awarded La Cimbali as their Coffee in Good Spirits (CIGS) competition, new headline sponsor.  

This year the competition will take place at the 10^th annual Caffe Culture show from 13th-14th May at London Olympia.  The World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship promotes innovative beverage recipes that showcase coffee and spirits in a competition format.  

The highlight of this exciting competition is the mixology skills of the barista/barkeepers in a setting where alcohol and coffee go together perfectly. There are recipes that are surely made to impress such as the traditional Irish Coffee through to unique cocktail combinations and more.

During the preliminary round, competitors produce four drinks – two identical hot/warm coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks, and two identical cold coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks. The six competitors with the highest preliminary round scores will compete in the final round.

The final round requires competitors to produce two Irish Coffees and two coffee-and-alcohol-based designer drinks. The highest scoring final round competitor will be named the World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion. The winner of the competition will represent the UK at the Coffee in Good Spirits event in Gothenburg in June 2015.

As part of the sponsorship package, all the baristas and bar keepers will use La Cimbali’s award winning M100 espresso coffee machines with magnum on demand grinders, to make their exciting coffees and cocktails.

The M100 features an exclusive thermal system consisting of a 10 litre steam boiler and Cimbali heat exchangers which pre-heat the water before entering individual coffee boilers for each group, which will maintain incredible temperature stability.  A different water temperature can be set for each group head which allows for greater flexibility across the speciality coffee menu.  

For the purposes of the competition, the water temperature will be pre-set at the same level for each competitor.

La Cimbali UK’s Coffee Specialist Rob Ward, who will be part of the team at the CIGS competition, said,  “La Cimbali is extremely thrilled to be a part of a competition which showcases the growing creativity of some our leading baristas and bar keepers.  Anyone who enters a competition such as CIGS has a clear passion for what they do, so I am very interested to see how these enthusiastic and creative baristas use our flagship machine, the M100, to create innovative signature drinks”

Indeed, to be an integral part of this competition is an honor for La Cimbali. It would be great to see the M100 in action and in the hands of artistic baristas.

For more details regarding the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship visit:

www.worldcoffeeingoodspirits.org

How Coffee Can Help Make Your Day at the Office Better!

In a regular day, the average person will need at least one cup of coffee. This single cup of goodness can jump start any person physically and psychologically. Needless to say, the influence of coffee across the world is already so big that there's probably no single country in the world that doesn't know what coffee is.

Based on the results of a new survey about coffee in the US, it was revealed that 89% of office workers said that a good cup of coffee could make the entire workday better!

This is not just the result of a survey, because through the years, coffee has played a big role in the lives of professionals and non-professionals. Most claim that they are not able to start their day without a good cup of coffee, therefore, the result of this survey is not really a surprise; rather an addition to the knowledge that we already have.

The survey provided details about how office workers said that coffee plays an important part in their success in the workplace, as it was identified as key to workers securing some of the offices’ best business deals, networking and helping them fulfill their potential. They also identified themselves as being more ‘professionally successful’ compared to their non-coffee drinking colleagues.

The research conducted by Harris Poll in December 2014 amongst 843 office workers showed that good coffee in the workplace had a variety of surprising social and professional benefits. With a good cup of coffee, 89% of the respondents said their entire workday was better, but without it they felt a range of negative emotions such as exhausted (36%), irritable (35%), unproductive (30%), disorganised (20%) and forgetful (14%).

The majority of respondents (85%) also said that having a coffee with a client or colleague can be a great way to catch-up and build relationships, but over half (52%) wished their company would buy better quality coffee and coffee machines for their office!

Three more ways that can also make your day at the office better include:

·         Sniffing a lemon. Scientists from Tel Aviv University suggest that citrus fragrances – particularly lemon – can alleviate depression and boost moods. The smell of lemon boosts levels of the ‘feel good’ hormone serotonin, and lowers the levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine.  So take a lemon to work or spritz with a lemony fragrance.

·         Make a happy list. Sometimes we dwell on the things that make us sad rather than concentrating on what makes us happy. A good way to help the brain change its thought process from negative to positive is to make a list of things that make us happy, and refer to it every time we feel sad.  Lists can include favourite movies, the date of a holiday or one of the happiest days of our life.

·         De-clutter your desk.   From stray papers to scattered coffee mugs, clutter on a work desk can make you lose focus and hinder productivity. If you de-clutter your immediate outer environment you may feel more organised and better able to concentrate on the task at hand, and have room on your desk for another quality cup of coffee of course!

When at work, it is important that you are at your best. This means your job needs your full attention and functionality in order to produce quality work. Coffee can help with that.  

La Cimbali UK Essential Coffee Machine Servicing, Maintenance and Cleaning Advice for 2015

With another new year well under way, many of us rush to make personal New Year resolutions and try our very best to stick to them!  Some of us are probably thinking of cleaning and organising our homes to get rid of clutter. This would also be good because many of us probably need more space where we can place the presents that we received for Christmas. For this, we give our houses a thorough, deep clean.

For those of us who work with Commercial and Professional coffee machines, now would also be a good time to make sure that a regular cleaning routine is in place.

Cleaning and regular servicing is essential for all types of coffee machines – Espresso, Bean to Cup, Traditional or Super automatic, plus your domestic home versions too!  It is important to remember that coffee machines are a huge investment because they are expensive therefore, they require a proactive schedule of regular maintenance.  Otherwise, they will not be performing to their maximum potential.

An inefficient machine will not perform correctly,and is more likely to break down due to baked on residues clogging up parts which will end up incurring more costs and produce an inferior cup of coffee.  

Ideally,when you purchase a machine from a reputable company, they will advise you and give you and your staff hands-on training on the correct cleaning methods for your particular coffee machine. That way you can dedicate time after closing each day to clean the machine to the required standard.

It’s also important that if you’re new to the exciting world of coffee, you receive proper training on using your coffee machine correctly.

It is equally important to check the water quality that enters your coffee machine to improve the taste of the final drink, and increase the reliability and efficiency of the machine by reducing scale build up. 

For more detailed information regarding servicing, regional water variances of the UK and different water treatment systems available, please visit:

www.http://cimbaliuk.com/servicing-maintenance/

We have a team of maintenance and servicing experts who recommend that coffee machines should be serviced at regular intervals. This will depend on the type of machine used and the volumes of coffee made.

Doing this will help to minimise downtime and maximise the lifespan of your coffee machines, which could affect your business reputation.

Each day, you can simply spend a small amount of time to make sure that your coffee machines as well as the other related equipment are clean and working properly. By doing this, you can save money and time in the future.

Happy New Year to all of our customers – and lots of great tasting coffee in 2015!

Welcome the New Year in with a coffee this year!

There are hundreds of ways to say Happy New Year and hundreds of different types of coffee worldwide too.

Coffee is a worldwide phenomenon that is popular wherever you go. Different places also have different types of coffee that the community in that place prefer. It should be fun to be able to try and experience all these types of coffee while seeing the culture that make them as well.

If you go to another country and order a ‘coffee’ or ‘café’ in a non-English speaking country, you won’t always get the drink that you’re expecting! While others may be appalled by this while they are on their travels, there are also those who find a sense of adventure in trying something new--a new type of coffee experience from a new place. This should be a good goal for the New Year, don't you think?

So to save you from coffee disaster, and learn to how to say New Year in a different language we list the most popular varieties of coffee in 5 cities that you might want to visit this 2015!

Lisbon, Portugal – ‘Feliz Ano Novo!’ In Lisbon, two popular coffees are a Pingado, which is a short espresso with just a drop or two of (often unheated) milk, and an Uma bica, which is so strong that the locals advise that it should be drunk with sugar!

Prague, Czechoslovakia - ‘Stastny Novy Rok!’ To keep in with the locals when in Prague…. try a Preso s mlékem – which is a long espresso with cold or steamed milk (usually served on the side) or a Videnská káva, which is also a long espresso but served in a tall glass with lots of whipped cream on top.

Budapest, Hungary – ‘Boldog uj evet!’ There are many different coffees enjoyed by Hungarians, with their three favourites being; Fekete kávé, an extremely strong black coffee which is also used for single espresso, Tejes kávé, single espresso with steamed milk and Hosszu kávé, which is espresso with hot water added.

Mexico City, Mexico – ‘Feliz año Nuevo!’ Mexico City which is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and largest Spanish speaking city in the world certainly has plenty of great coffees to choose from. Café de olla is a filter coffee brewed in a tall clay pot or urn, often with cinnamon and cane sugar, but the most popular drink that will be familiar to most is Café con leche – simply filter coffee with steamed milk.

Rome, Italy – ‘Felice Anno Nuovo or Buon anno!’ Italy, the home of La Cimbali Gruppo, produces some of the best coffees in the world today with endless choices. The most famous are; Caffè Americano, which is simply espresso with hot water added, Latte macchiato, which is a cup of steamed milk with a splash of espresso and Caffè which is a single espresso.

So here they are--a quick guide to helping you greet people when you go different places this New Year. You can keep a copy of this list to help you in case you are planning to visit these places, even without the 'New Year' greeting!

The La Cimbali UK team would like to wish all of their customers a very happy and coffee filled 2015!