Brian Hockenhull, who runs Buckley’s Yard Coffee Shop, talks about the world of coffee and introduces you to their Coffee of the Month.
Buckley’s Yard is in the process of moving to new premises – in the meantime you can purchase the full range of coffees and teas from Coffee UnderLyne situated inside Ashton Indoor Market
For more information, phone Brian on 07973 155030 or email buckleysyarduppermill@gmail.com or find them on Facebook Buckley’s Yard or follow them on Twitter @BuckleysYard
Hello everyone, and a Happy New Year to you all!
Like many other niche retailers, the festive period turned out to be quite a let-down this year. However, one highlight was being phoned by Radio 5 Live one lunchtime – they were doing a piece about supermarket price wars so they rang me to find out what was going on.
As you might imagine, I put them right. There are no Christmas fairies for small independent businesses and the supermarkets still dominate. But that’s life.
At this time of year I guess we all look towards healing our bodies a little, so let’s look at decaffeinated coffee.
In all decaffeination processes, coffee is always decaffeinated in its green, unroasted state. The greatest challenge is to try to separate only the caffeine from the coffee beans while leaving the other elements in their original concentrations.
Water alone is not the best solution because it is not a selective solvent and therefore removes other substances. Therefore the better processes use an agent such as activated charcoal or CO2. These help speed up the process and minimize the ‘washed-out’ effects that water would have on the taste.
Decaff coffee is never going to do you any harm but Matcha green tea is the real deal and will do you a lot of good. Buddhist monks use it to aid contemplation and the Japanese tea ceremony centres on the preparation, serving, and drinking of Matcha.
Matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves and its preparation starts several weeks before harvest and can last up to 20 days, during which the tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight.
Only the finest tea buds are hand-picked. The leaves are laid out flat to dry, they crumble and become known as tencha. Tencha is then de-veined and de-stemmed and stone-ground to the fine, bright green, talc-like powder known as Matcha.
The drink contains around 150 times more anti-oxidants than your standard green tea. It’s expensive but you only need a tiny amount to help you de-stress and detox.
Coffee of the Month – Decaffeinated Sumatra Blue
One of the challenges with decaffeinated coffee is to find a bean that has sufficient character so the aromas and taste remain as good after the process – with Sumatra Blue we have that magic formula.
Full roasted with a complex and condensed flavor, Sumatra Blue has a very rich smooth body and a slight kick with a deep yet slightly sweet finish.
This is a very popular ‘good morning’ or after dinner coffee with woody notes and overtones of dark chocolate – the throaty port wine in the coffee scene.
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