Harris+Hoole, the speciality coffee shop venture which celebrates its second birthday this month, has opened a brand new dedicated training centre in Central London to teach new baristas the craft of making the perfect coffee – its latest step in shaking up the ‘complacent’ UK coffee scene.
H&C News was interested to visit the new facilities to experience the training process – very briefly – and learn more about how excellent coffee is delivered. The combination of impressive facilities and the latest equipment, combined with enthusiastic and expert trainers, made the experience both enjoyable and informative.
We did discover, however, that it takes more than one hour to acquire expertise in latte art! Next time we see a barista in action, we will recognise and appreciate the expertise on display.
And we will also understand that excellence of the final product – the coffee – is the result of applied expertise from the coffee farmer through to the barista with more stages, processes and technical sophistication than is easily imagined.
The ambition
Harris + Hoole aspires to train its new baristas to the same standards as barista championship competitors.
The combination of world-class equipment and the most comprehensive barista of any high street chain, with over 40 hours of specialist coffee training, is therefore designed to produce an end product which stands out from the rest of the major brands.
The cutting edge equipment at the training centre will be used to help teach budding baristas the science behind creating premium coffee that conventional high street chains can’t deliver, from the importance of the grind to the texture of the milk, and how to create perfect latte art.
Living and breathing coffee
Andrew Tolley, Co-Founder of Harris+Hoole and Head Judge at the UK Barista Championships said:“We make sure our baristas live and breathe coffee and constantly strive to ensure every cup is as good as it gets. This is why we’ve opened the dedicated training centre – to produce world class baristas who create the best coffee on the high street.
High quality equipment + speciality grade coffee
“We recognise that quality coffee can only be served by baristas meticulously trained on high quality equipment with speciality grade coffee. Our training programme is delivered by three certified UK barista championship judges at Harris+Hoole, including two head judges. Together we’ve trained over 250 baristas, including a national champion who had no previous experience, in the last year alone through our unique training programme.
Doing things differently
“We want each and every Harris+Hoole to do things differently to the rest of the high street at every stage – from how we engage local communities, the experience we offer to our customers in terms of our app and layout, the way we develop and support our employees, to sourcing top quality direct trade beans from farmers.”
Harris+Hoole holds its own internal barista competitions to recognise those with outstanding skills and encourage all employees to produce only the best coffee possible. This training sits at the heart of Harris+Hoole’s ethos to provide the best customer experience.
About Harris + Hoole
Harris+Hoole is a speciality coffee shop venture founded in 2012 by siblings Nick, Andrew and Laura Tolley. Using the latest barista methods and cutting edge technologies, Harris+Hoole brings premium coffee products to the high street. The Tolleys established Harris+Hoole after the success of their artisan coffee shop business, Taylor Street Baristas. H+H represents the Tolleys’ attempt to bring the same approach to speciality coffee to the high street. Tesco is helping the Tolleys to realise this ambition, providing finance in the form of a non-controlling stake.
Harris+Hoole is focused on putting the customer first and developing innovations that seamlessly blend coffee, people and technology. Harris+Hoole have built an optimised infrastructure to support this vision, designing elements that are automated, integrated and adaptable to evolving customer needs.
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