The Coffee Bar
Move over chocolate – UK confectionery company Plamil Foods has unveiled the world’s first ‘coffee bar’.
As smooth as chocolate, the Coffee Bar is made using whole coffee beans instead of cocoa beans.
Thanks to a unique production process – including carefully selected beans roasted in small batches together with a closely guarded refining process – the complex, delicate and unique tones of each bean is fully translated into a bar packed with flavor worthy of the best barista.
“Nobody has done this before,” said Adrian Ling, CEO of Plamil Foods.
“It’s taken a year of intense development, but we finally cracked the recipe to create a coffee bar.”
Plamil are a specialist chocolate manufacturer supplying chocolate as an ingredient to many leading brands. It has been at the forefront of chocolate developments, such as the first UK company to be certified for organic chocolate.
“Coffee made into a bar is a simple concept that sounds strange, but a coffee bar makes a lot of sense if you compare coffee to chocolate,” added Ling.
“175 years ago, chocolate used to be a drink until Frys of Bristol made a chocolate bar.”
The Coffee Bar will be launched at the London Coffee Festival, being held at The Truman Brewery from April 11-14. Inquisitive consumers can also catch it at the Food & Drink Expo at the NEC Birmingham on April 29-May 1. Ling said he is currently in talks with exporters, and also expects the bar to roll out into retail across the UK soon. A wider launch into forecoursts, sports centers and others will follow.
The launch comes at a time of escalating chocolate prices with worldwide shortages of cocoa beans, making alternative snacking experiences even more attractive. There is also clearly untapped potential for an ‘on the go’ coffee that is both barista standard and in the convenience of a bar. According to Mordor Intelligence the global coffee market is forecasted to reach over $166bn by 2029.
“We know The Coffee Bar isn’t going to replace everyone’s cup of joe anytime soon, but this a barista-standard snack is for busy people who want to enjoy a coffee anytime, anywhere,” said Ling.
“We’re confident it has the potential to meet consumer needs and capture some of the world’s billion-pound coffee market.