A big well done to both for surviving the nail-biting competition, especially Nancy who finished in a highly creditable third place.

More pictures of the pair taking part can be seen here.

First up we had a news story in the South Wales Echo:

Coffee shop grinds down the opposition

We also had a great feature in the Western Mail:

Welsh-based company Coffee#1 beats big boys to award

We’ve also heard a whisper that we may be enjoying some national coverage soon! Watch this space…

Following on from our win at the BEV-E awards in September, we’ve again been named the UK’s best coffee chain at a swanky ceremony at the Blueprint cafe in London. Trophy pictured left!

This is a genuine achievement for us that ranks even more highly than the BEV-E awards. Even more satisfyingly, we beat companies such as Costa Coffee, Caffe Gusto, Boston Tea Party and Soho Coffee Company to the title.

Thanks to all our customers for helping us make Coffee#1 the success it is.

We know we’ve been blogging a lot lately about our fantastic baristas, but we can’t let this news pass without due comment.

Our coffee stars Nancy (left) and Liina (below left) have BOTH made it through to the semi-finals of the United Kingdom Barista Championship.

For those not so well acquainted with the coffee world, this is truly some achievement. It’s the Champions League for baristas across the country, the true measure of talent.

As the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe states, it tests your “coffee knowledge, presentation, preparation and all round barista ability”.

Liina (our Clevedon manager) and coffee trainer Nancy now go through to the semi-finals, to be held this Sunday. The full list of qualifiers can be found here.

So far as we know, Coffee#1 has more qualifiers than any other UK company – and that’s not including our former barista Estelle Bright, another semi-finalist.

We are it seems something of a breeding ground for the UK’s best barista talent – we hope our customers can see the proof in-store!

We’re lucky at Coffee#1 in that coffee isn’t just our work – it’s also our passion and our hobby.

On Thursday our coffee trainer Nancy Scott became the latest Coffee#1 employee to put in a brilliant performance at competition level.

Competing in the UK Barista Championships South West in Exeter, Nancy came a magnificent third out of 16 competitors, winning a certificate and a trophy for her efforts.

With any luck, her score will be enough to secure her a place in the semi-finals in London at the end of the month, with the finals to be held in March.

And not only that, but regular blog star Liina also competed and came in fourth, just one place behind her colleague.

All in all, a great performance from the Coffee#1 team. We’re very proud of you girls!

More pictures of Nancy competing at the championships can be found here.

But while we concentrate mainly on getting the substance right, we like to think our lattes have a bit of style too.

So we were delighted to see Coffee#1 being once again represented at the UK Latte Art Championships in Exeter by our Clevedon manager, Liina Nutman.

Competing against some experienced veterans of the competition, Liina turned out some fantastic rosettas as well as a superb dragon, her signature design (pictured left).

In the end she managed a very creditable sixth place. Well done Liina!

Some more photos of Liina doing her stuff at the event can be found on our Flickr page.

The early signs have been very encouraging – on our first day last week there was a queue outside before we had even opened the doors, and it stayed packed throughout the day. It’s been really busy ever since.

For a few pictures of the inside of the new store, take a look at our set on Flickr.

From this Saturday until Wednesday December 23rd, we will be giving away a fantastic, limited edition Coffee#1 hamper (like the one pictured) EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Each hamper contains:

*Five absolutely free Coffee#1 vouchers*

*A branded Coffee#1 mug*

*A bag of Coffee#1’s very own, triple certified, hand-roasted coffee*

*A deliciously large slab of handmade Coffee#1 chocolate*

and not forgetting… *George the Coffee#1 teddy bear*

What could make a better Christmas present than that?!

How to enter

The rules of entry are staggeringly simple. To enter, simply do one of the following things:

• Using your Twitter account, send a tweet including our username @coffeenumber1 and the hashtag #coffeemas

or

• Leave a comment including the word ‘Coffeemas’ under the Facebook status update that we’ll be making each day. If you aren’t a fan of our Facebook page yet, you can become one right here.

At the end of each day, we’ll collate all the entries made via Facebook and Twitter, put them in a hat, choose and announce the lucky winner. The next day’s contest will then begin all over again. Simples!

*The first winner will be announced on Sunday morning, and you can start entering now!

Rules

One person is only allowed to win one hamper (but you can enter as many times as you like). Winners will be contacted directly by Coffee#1. Normal terms and conditions apply.

We need full and part-time baristas – experience is an advantage but not essential.

So come on… are you a has bean or a wanna bean?!

To register your interest, send us an email here.