Searcys Celebrates International Coffee Day on October 1st 2021

Why is it that we love coffee so much? First of all, it’s a great energizer and a pick me up, one that many of us can’t imagine starting a day without it. It also gives us a great respite in the middle of the day – and a timely opportunity to catch up with friends, family and colleagues and stop what we’re doing for a few minutes. Finally, the taste is key, and there are so many variations, flavours, aromas, and additions that there’s something for everyone.

In a small coffee cup – whether you opt for a simple espresso or a creamy flat white – there’s a whole lot more going on than first meets the eye.

Searcys Signature Coffee Blend

Here at Searcys, we have created our own signature coffee blend in partnership with Bristol-based artisans Extract Coffee Roasters. It has a heavy body, bold taste and subtle sweetness. The tasting notes include caramel, cocoa, black cherry and liquorice. Naturally, it is sourced and roasted in keeping with our sustainable credentials, and our roasters Extract Coffee pride themselves on having long-lasting relationships with their coffee growers.

Like many food and drink products – chocolate, wine, cheese to name a few – there’s a real art to tasting coffee, an appreciation and understanding that only grows with time. A lot of this is down to the sourcing. Our blend of coffee is 100% arabica coffee organically farmed by smallholders in Peru and a family of coffee growers in Colombia.

Extract Coffee Roasters have been working with La Marianela, a coffee estate and nature reserve in Columbia who provide around 40% of their beans, for over a decade. The farm’s optimum altitude and reliable rainfall produce juicy coffee cherries and unbeatable flavour. The other 60% comes from the mountains of northern Peru. It is farmed by a group of smallholders, working together in an organic cooperative.

The beans are then hand-roasted in Bristol especially for us, in 120kg Probat Roaster who is affectionately named Bertha. Since we first met her, Bertha is now 85% more energy efficient, thanks to being restored and modified by one of Extract’s co-founders Dave. Extract hand-roast over 9 tonnes of coffee a week.

Indulgent Moments

The art of serving coffee is something we also take seriously across all our Searcys venues. Indulgence shouldn’t just be saved for special occasions. We believe there’s a well-earned place for it every day, even in something as simple as a really excellent cup of coffee, served with a homemade shortbread biscuit, to send your day in the right direction.

Whether it’s leisurely cappuccino in the sun before work or a decadent afternoon tea with our homemade cakes, coffee drinking is a ritual which has become a special part of the day for many of us.

To celebrate International Coffee Day on 1^st October, we’ve invited our friends from Extract Coffee Roasters to come up to London and join us for a day that’s all about caffeine. The team will spend the morning at St Pancras Brasserie and Champagne Bar and Osteria in the Barbican making the most delicious Searcys coffee and showcasing professional latte art, with a custom Searcys decoration only available for that day. In the afternoon, the Extract team be joining our bar managers and shaking up proper espresso martinis across the two venues.  

Competition time!

We are also giving one lucky winner a chance to win a month’s supply of Searcys ground coffee, delivered directly to your doorstep. Follow us @searcyslondon for the instructions.