Costa hit by taste for artisan coffee

COFFEE lovers are turning their backs on high street chains in favour of more expensive and better brews, industry figures show.

Drinkers are developing a taste for artisan coffee and lighter brews, with greater emphasis on the quality of the harvesting, roasting and brewing process.

It has forced Costa, the UK’s largest chain, to turn to craft blends to boost revenues. Sales at Costa, which has 2,326 stores across Britain, slowed from 2.3 per cent growth last year to just 0.6 per cent in the six months to August.

Likened to fine wine and whiskies, the artisan process puts more emphasis on the subtleties of flavour and single-origin coffee, rather than blends and latte art.

Costa’s first ‘finer coffee’ store opened in Covent Garden in June, selling artisan coffee and an ‘enhanced beverage range’. That includes the cortado, a Spanishorigin coffee or espresso mixed with an equal amount of warm milk, and colder thirst-quenching brews.

Alison Brittain, chief executive of Costa, said the number of Britons drinking coffee grew by about 6 per cent this year and the firm has a ‘prime opportunity’ to capitalise on the artisan trend.

Our tastes may be getting more refined but the UK is only the 45th biggest coffee drinking nation. The US is ranked 26th with Finland in first place.