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Coffee Cold
Cold coffee demand is more predictable than the British weather
People are surprisingly predictable. For every 1°C increase in the daily maximum temperature, cold coffees increase their share of sales by 2.2 percentage points.
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Ideas into action
Let’s meet for coffee at Ensemble
United Baristas is transforming a coffee shop in King's Cross, London. It'll host our events and be a testbed for ideas.
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United Baristas is a suite of interconnected services
Each service connects the specialty coffee community and helps baristas and businesses do amazing things.
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Pre-order • Dispatches 1 October 2026
Coffee tasting is for everyone
The Coffee Tasting Handbook is a practical guide to understanding coffee’s aroma, mouthfeel, taste and flavour.
Follow its step-by-step approach to identify what makes each coffee distinctive, understand why you enjoy it and describe it clearly.
About the Handbook
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Connecting the community
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Source & service coffee equipment
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Boost productivity, pay later
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Connecting people with coffee jobs
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Buy & sell directly with other baristas
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Thought-provoking ideas & actionable information
Coffee Cold
Cold coffee demand is more predictable than the British weather
People are surprisingly predictable. For every 1°C increase in the daily maximum temperature, cold coffees increase their share of sales by 2.2 percentage points.
Collection
VAT needs reform, but this isn't it
Hospitality VAT: a big ask with weak odds
UKHospitality is calling for VAT on hospitality to be cut from 20% to 10%. The appeal is obvious: hospitality is under pressure from higher wages, rents, energy costs and fragile consumer confidence. But the proposal is much larger than it first appears.
Identifying coffee's distinctive flavours
Reinventing the wheel
Coffee tasting notes are broken because the SCA’s Flavour Wheel is incoherent. We need a new framework that’s accurate, intuitive and grounded in how people actually perceive flavour.
Audio
Assessing coffee
How to taste coffee: A guide for baristas, roasters and coffee drinkers
Tasting coffee isn’t hard, but doing it well requires a clear structure and an impartial appraisal. With this guide, you’ll learn how to identify a coffee's defining characteristics and understand why some coffees are tastier than others. Brew a single-estate coffee – and let’s begin.
Coffee Tasting
The Coffee Tasting Handbook
Pre-order • Dispatches 1 October 2026
A step-by-step guide to tasting coffee
The Coffee Tasting Handbook systematically guides baristas and coffee drinkers through coffee’s aroma, mouthfeel, taste and flavour. Written by Tim Ridley, founder of United Baristas, it provides a step-by-step approach to understanding coffee and choosing coffees you are more likely to enjoy.
Action
Building a viable and vibrant industry
Coffee can be commercially viable, socially just and safeguard the environment
United Baristas started as a project to keep used coffee equipment in use for its full working life. Today, our services are used by much of the specialty coffee community and our work extends from crop to cup.
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United Baristas connects the coffee community. Discover how our Services can support your objectives.
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Find out how United Baristas helps coffee people to do amazing things.
Sustainability
Coffee can be commercially viable, socially just and safeguard the environment
We are working with like-minded baristas and coffee companies to equip the industry to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable Development
Industry Viability
Coffee's future requires profitability, from crop to cup
Our services support commercial viability, plus we're working to boost industry acumen and enhance market efficiency to help coffee businesses trade viably.
Supporting commercial viability
Management & Leadership
Coffee's future will be established by capable managers
Drawing on research, over a decade of coffee experience and extensive industry networks, we help coffee people better manage their teams and businesses.
Boosting management
People & Community
People make the coffee community a great place to work
Work in coffee is both rewarding and fulfilling. We're exploring the community's experience to support meaningful jobs and share employment opportunities.
People & community
Climate Change
Coffee is both a cause of global warming and impacted by climate change
Our work to cut coffee’s carbon footprint continues. Key changes can viably reduce a cup's carbon footprint by over 50 percent. Plus, we're cutting our own emissions.
Tackling climate change