Investment leads to business expansion

Leading Yorkshire coffee specialist, Casa Espresso, has invested in new roasting facilities to grow the business and become the first coffee specialist to roast its own coffee in the Bradford area.

Founded in 2000, Shipley-based Casa Espresso supplies luxury coffee nationwide and premium Sanremo coffee machines to leading restaurants and cafes across the North of England.

After identifying a gap in the market, Casa Espresso owner Nino Di Rienzo, has made a substantial investment in a five kilogram roaster to enable him to offer high quality coffees in small batches and remain at the forefront of the coffee industry in Yorkshire.

The coffee is hand roasted to order twice a week at the company’s Shipley headquarters, giving Nino and his colleague – roaster and barista trainer Jonnie Drake – full control of the roast and allowing them to pull out and refine fantastic flavours to the customers’ taste or requirement. Customers are already snapping up the new coffees, with Bradford’s The Record Café, Shipley Health Store and recently opened Moo’d Cereal House in Leeds already putting in regular orders.

Nino, whose family has been involved in the local restaurant and coffee scene for more than 40 years, said: “Supplying excellent products has always been our main priority, and what better way to ensure top quality coffee than to roast our own? More and more micro roasteries are popping up – a bit like micro-breweries – but there isn’t one in Bradford so we felt it was a great opportunity to offer an even more bespoke service to our customers.

“We started with a smaller roaster and our coffees were really well received so we have now invested in a much larger roaster to enable us to meet demand. Traceability is important to us – we can track our coffee back to the individual farmer and village – and we source ethical green coffee that supports sustainable development of coffee agriculture.”

Casa Espresso, which also provides specialist barista training and support at its dedicated coffee training facility, officially launched its new roasting business at an event which included a ‘cupping’ demonstration and tutorial on the Sanremo Opera espresso machine.

Casa Espresso is also working on a number of brand collaborations and recently teamed up with stylish cycling clothing company, Pilgrim Cycling Co, to supply a limited edition range of coffee. The custom Expedition Blend is designed to prepare cyclists for the ride ahead, and has been well received by attendees at industry events such as the London Coffee Festival & Spin London.

Nino continued: “Our latest collaboration with Pilgrim was a great success, and we look forward to future collaborations with local businesses. Our aim is to pass on the passion we feel for creating top quality blends, and we were pleased to share our creations with local customers at our recent launch event.”

In a further expansion Matthew Adams has now joined the Casa Espresso team as a barista trainer and account manager.

For further information on the new coffee blends available from Casa Espresso visit www.casaespresso.co.uk