Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf brews Quality Promise initiative

Friday, 18 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Senuri De Silva The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Sri Lanka’s premier specialty coffee and tea retailer and part of the California based brand’s international franchise network, launched a Quality Promise initiative called ‘Origins’ to support its brand promise of being Simply The Best. They also launched a series of new food dishes as part of a planned extension of its popular pastry range and ‘bistro’ style food menu. The quality promise initiative is designed to guarantee the brand’s Simply the Best trademark by declaring the origins of everything the brand makes, and every ingredient they use.

“Our customers have the right to know what they are eating and drinking, what goes inside, where it was made, and by whom,” International Brands Ceylon Ltd. MD Roman Scott said, adding, “You want to be able to trust quality and safety, and know it’s going to be consistent. Origin is everything.” According to Scott, this initiative would also ensure their customers that the premium pricing for Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf products made with the best ingredients flown in from around the world was value for money. “I want customers to know the difference they get at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and to know just how good our products are and why they sell for premium prices.” The brand plans to state the origin of all its ingredients for all products.

A barcode system is used to track coffee back to the original estates where they were picked, as Scott said, “Every coffee bean we grind can be traced back to the original estate where it was picked, from the bar code on each coffee bag. That’s impressive.” The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL), America’s oldest specialty coffee brand, is famed for its coffees. CBTL buys the top 1% of all Arabica beans in the world. CBTL coffee is freshly roasted daily in small batches in a manual, European roast style in the company’s Californian roasting facility in Camarillo, Los Angeles. In Sri Lanka, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf imports all its coffees, powders and flavours directly from the CBTL central roasting facility in Los Angeles. All such products served in their Sri Lankan outlets are tested and certified by the State of California Department of Public Health, under the standards of the US Federal GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) regulations for food, and each shipment is certified.

“We pride ourselves on making simply the best cheesecakes, muffins, and chocolate-based patisserie in Sri Lanka,” said The Coffee Bean’s Executive Chef Athula Mudaligama. “We want our customers to know what makes them so good. For example, we use the world’s best Belgium chocolate from Barry Callebaut, and combine it with

pure fresh cream, and nothing else, for our chocolate ganache used in our cakes and éclairs. We select the best cream cheese, milk, butter and fresh cream for our patisserie and drinks; and use only American grade A walnuts, almonds and blueberries.” The brand plans on going a step further to show customers the standards of their kitchens. “We are confident enough of our quality that we will allow customers to visit our central production kitchens and see for themselves what we do and how we do it,” said Chef Athula. “We will launch a visit day each month from October after we have opened our new stores.” Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera

New range of wraps, burgers and macaroons

The Coffee Bean also launched an extended range of foods. “We responded to our loyal customers who liked our wrap – the Middle-Eastern inspired Chicken Arabiata. They wanted more variety for this healthy choice to complement our popular sandwiches,” said Chef Athula. The extended range of wraps now include: Tandoori Chicken, Rosemary Chicken, Curried Chicken, Chicken Chipolte, Yellowfin Tuna, Grilled Veg & Pesto, and Chicken Arabiata. All wraps are served with handmade potato chips fried in pure olive oil, and salad. The Coffee Bean is also launching two burgers, a chicken burger and a seven-spiced beef burger, made with 100% pure meat handmade patties, blended with a secret recipe of herbs and spices. The final new product, which has created great excitement, is macaroons. Three flavours, Real Strawberry, Belgium Chocolate, and Fresh Passion Fruit, were recently introduced and a further three flavours, Coffee Bean Espresso, American Blueberry, and Tea Infusion are being developed.