August 2023 Newsletter
The part bag of Cafe de Cuba was a big hit. We sold out the whole lot within a week, I only wish we could discover more. As Marc said in his newsletter, it's unlikely we'll ever see it shipped direct from Cuba again.
This month's newsletter is going to be a deep dive into history and mystery. Way back in 2006, as part of a "round the world" coffee trip, my wife and I visited London. We were on our way to the Specialty Coffee Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, and had already been to Italy and visited the Rancilio and LaScala factories.
While in London I particularly wanted to see the (at the time) famous Tea and Coffee Museum, created by Edward Bramah. I had a copy of his now very rare book, "Coffee Makers: The Hundred Years of Art and Design" and I was fascinated by the size, age and variety of his collection. We arrived at the Tea & Coffee shop on a fine April morning, and after some discussion with the staff were fortunate enough to be introduced to Mr. Bramah himself, and allowed the rare privilege of taking photos inside the coffee part of the Museum.
The tea half was stunning enough, with a large collection of teapots, tea sets and tea kettles which would be greeted with cries of joy on the Antiques Roadshow. Alas, no photos permitted. The coffee portion and shop are laid out in the photos below, taken with my expensive 2 megapixel (!) digital camera.
The tea & coffee sales counter next door to the museum.
The brewing counter.
In the museum, early “Naperian” syphons.
More ornate versions in silver.
Moka pots and original “Atomic” home espresso.
Gaggia “Gilda” Home lever espresso machine.
The first “Melior” coffee plungers.
A “balancing” syphon.
1950s spring lever espresso machines.
Early steam powered espresso machines (pre-1948).
It was a brilliant experience and one I'll never forget.
Edward Bramah passed away in 2008 and the museum was closed. The collection (which apparently became the property of "Don Riley") was put into storage, pending council permission to open the museum at a different site. In 2010 permission was grudgingly granted but the museum never reopened. Apparently Don Riley was a property developer and a bit of a lad and had begun excavations for the building to include the museum without a permit. His son Nicholas eventually got the planning permission through council, and to the best of my knowledge that's where the London history ends.
That's also where the mystery begins. Again, to the best of my knowledge, the coffee collection has never resurfaced. There's never been any sign of any of the more exotic coffee brewers (many of them quite valuable) popping up on auction sites or appearing in UK auction rooms. Don Riley moved to Battle in Sussex and displayed part of the tea collection in a Costa Coffee shop he was involved with some time around 2015, but that's it.
So there is a challenge for anyone reading this: Whatever happened to the Bramah collection? Was it split up and quietly sold off in UK regional auction houses and antique dealers? Dumped or sold for scrap value? Or does it still exist in some neglected warehouse storage lot?
Anyway, there's no mystery about our new coffee special. It's the high grown large bean:
$66 Per Kilogram
Medium
This year's crop has a delicate sweet acidity, a rich body and a smooth dark chocolate and malt finish.
It's the best Central American coffee I've tasted in the last 12 months, so grab it while it lasts.
Until next time,
Alan
