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23/03/2011 THE UKBC & DARK FLUID STATE OF PLAY

Best Cappucino & Signature Drink in National Coffee Comp, we are up & running... Wow!... a busy period has now passed and we are nearly up and running.  We secured 2nd place at the UKBC in the finals at the Excel Centre with our Dark Fluid coffee, and picked up the awards for Best Cappuccino and Best Signature Drink into the bargain. It was a lovely reward for a hard winter at times getting ready for the competition and the launch of our new business. We were extremely happy too that our own roasted coffee scored so highly in the competition at the first time of asking, and it proved a nice route through which to get some early confirmation that our roasting and brewing are capable of being up there with the known established roasters on the circuit. Here are some pictures from the finals.... Following the competition we went straight to the spring Cheese and Wine festival on the Southbank for 3 days, and really blitzed through enormous amounts of espresso for the festival goers there.  We were really encouraged by the feedback on our Burundi, Costa Rica and Nicaragua blend that Lawrence put together for the event, and some fortunate straight espresso drinkers got a taste of the remaining Wathenge/La Perla blend that won us the awards at the UKBC competition. It was our first chance to offer 2 very different espressos at the same time as we'll be doing with our on-line espresso blends . The fuller bodied more traditional tasting espresso blend that definitely works well with the milk based drinks (our Quantum blend will come to reflect these characteristics), and our more alternative espresso blend where we have some fun in manufacturing something a little different (our Schrodingers blend to come soon too) We are just coming to the end of a pretty mad run of festivals following the competition. It was probably pretty daft to think that we could set up a roastery, build a website, launch a web shop, prep for a comp and do day jobs in three months. That's beermat business planning for you! So sorry to all those still waiting for coffee- and a huge thanks to everyone who has been in touch with messages of support, this delay is basically because we do not want to let you or ourselves down when it comes to the coffee and lately there has just been no time. Our little coffee company, Dark Fluid, has been the product of hard work on a tiny budget, good friends have helped with the stuff we could not do ourselves. Massive thanks are due to; Everyone at Monmouth esp AJ, Steve and Richie for greens, advice and general support. Paul aka Blintz Boy for the website and lots more. Toby for printing and  photos. Chris and Miles at Caravan for greens.