SSP UK develops new Rainforest Alliance certified blend of coffee

The new blend, Belluno, was created exclusively for SSP UK by its National Coffee Specialist, Graziano Moroni. The product comprises 70% Arabica beans from Central America and Brazil and 30% Robusta beans from Uganda. SSP brands including Pumpkin Café Shop, The Pasty Shop, Real Food Company and Food Village will be serving the new blend from March 2011, in addition to SSP's bar brands such as Sloe Bar, Flutes and Blanc et Noir. It will be introduced to more than 210 units in total. Graziano Moroni, SSP UK's national coffee specialist, said: "SSP serves over 22 million cups of coffee each year in the UK so it is very important to us that we get it right – particularly when we're serving the travelling public who rely on us to keep them going throughout the day. At Pumpkin, for example, hot drinks are our largest category accounting for 40% of the sales mix. "We wanted to make sure we were offering a blend of coffee which meets the demands of our customers. And as they are becoming more and more knowledgeable and know exactly what they want, we felt the best way to do that was to get them involved. "It was a fascinating experience. We trialled the new blends with more than 340 consumers, not just to see which was their favourite but to better understand their coffee needs and behaviour too."