UK baristas smash Aussie World Record at London Coffee Festival 2011

April 11, 2011 - PRLog -- ‘The London Belle Baristas’ team, using 31 commercial espresso machines, eclipsed all previous records in front of London Coffee Festival attendees at 6:30pm on Saturday, 9 April.  The official Guinness World Record was held by a Polish barista team with 3,386 in March 2010, but an unofficial record was claimed by a team from Brisbane, Australia in October last year making 5,061 espressos.

The first ever London Coffee Festival, which attracted more than 7,000 attendees over the weekend in the Old Truman Brewery of Brick Lane, is part of UK Coffee Week and aims to raise funds and awareness for clean drinking water for communities in coffee producing countries around the world.

Jeffrey Young, Managing Director of consultancy Allegra Strategies, the company behind the event said, ‘This record is a tremendous achievement and really shows the rest of the world London’s leadership in artisan ‘Third Wave’ coffee culture.  London offers best-in-class food and coffee with many visitors coming here to learn from trends in this great city.  In the spirit of competition, and in the run up to the 2012 games, we will be taking award this to Mayor Boris Johnson.  Perhaps he may be able to get our Barista championships be featured at next year’s Olympics.”

Taking part in the record for the London Belle Barista team were representatives from many of the leading companies across the entire coffee industry including: Costa Coffee, Union Hand-Roasted, Lavazza, La Cimbali, La Marzocco, Alpro Soya, United Coffee, Joe & The Juice, Bean About Town and a host of independent coffee shops from London and other parts of the UK.  The record attempt was made in the presence of Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) officials and expert witnesses from the coffee industry and will formally submitted to the Guinness World Records team.

Notes to Editor

UK Coffee Week 4-10 April 2011
UK Coffee Week provides a unique opportunity for branded coffee chains, independent coffee shops and industry suppliers to collaborate and celebrate the success of the industry while giving back to an extremely worthy cause.  A nationwide programme of charitable collections, in-store activities and public events raised funds for Project Waterfall to deliver clean water projects in coffee-producing African countries.  Participating venues were encouraged to invite customers to add a voluntary 5p donation to purchases for the duration of the week.  To find out more visit www.ukcoffeeweek.com, @UKCoffeeWeek and www.facebook.com/UKCoffeeWeek.  Alpro Soya is proud to be the Premium Supporter of UK Coffee Week.

The Allegra Foundation and Project Waterfall
The Allegra Foundation is a registered charity (No. 1133540) established by the Allegra Group to support sustainable development projects in coffee-growing countries.  Project Waterfall is the central focus for fundraising and aims to deliver clean water projects in African coffee-producing countries.  100% of all funds raised from consumer donations will directly benefit this cause.  The first project will provide clean water to communities in the Mbulu District of Tanzania in partnership with WaterAid.

The London Coffee Festival 8-10 April 2011
The London Coffee Festival is proud to be the flagship event of UK Coffee Week 2011.  The festival was held at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, from 8-10 April 2011.  100% of all ticket sales will go directly to support Project Waterfall.
Find out more at www.londoncoffeefestival.com, www.facebook.com/TheLondonCoffeeFestival and twitter @LdnCoffeeFest.

About Allegra Strategies
London-based management consultancy Allegra Strategies publishes the most comprehensive research conducted on the European and UK branded coffee shop market: Project Café UK and Project Café Europe.
With 12 years of research experience in the European branded coffee shop market, Allegra Strategies is recognised as the thought leader and the most trusted source of information in the industry.

About WaterAid
WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.  The international organisation works in 26 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities.  Over the past 30 years, WaterAid has reached 14.38 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 9.4 million people with sanitation.  For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @wateraid on twitter or facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.  

Video footage and images available on request.

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London-based management consultancy Allegra Strategies publishes the most comprehensive research conducted on the European and UK branded coffee shop market: Project Café UK and Project Café Europe.
With 12 years of research experience in the European branded coffee shop market, Allegra Strategies is recognised as the thought leader and the most trusted source of information in the industry.