Dublin’s 3FE: Specialty Cups for Specialty Coffee. Tabletop Matters.

TabletopJournal talks frequently about how important it is to differentiate the guest dining experience and the guest beverage experience, as well. That would also include the coffee experience.

Dublin’s Colin Harmon – a former investment banker turned coffee entrepreneur, who also happens to be the reigning Irish barista champion – in late 2009 founded Ireland’s unique specialty coffeeshop 3FE.  The continual search to improve the coffee experience led Harmon to local ceramicist Christien van Bussel with the idea to develop just perfect vessel for serving 3FE’s specialty coffee, and in particular, its espresso.

Speaking to CoolHunting.com’s Julie Wolfson, Harmon explained “I’ve always struggled with cups when it comes to coffee. It’s important to have the right heat retention, aeration space, milk ratio, size, shape and texture. Much of what was on offer was designed and made for mass consumption commodity coffee. I wanted something that was a better fit for what we are doing at 3FE.”

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Harmon and consultant Orlaith Ross, together with van Bussel went to work to create a new design for a cup to present 3FE’s coffee product in the best light possible. 

“The cup is too small for a traditional cappuccino however with the roast and flavor profiles that we prefer at 3FE, it’s perfect,” Harmon told CoolHunting’s Wolfson. “Conversely, the cup is too large for a traditional espresso, but it’s perfect for cooling the espresso and enhancing the aromatics.”

This is one more example of the approach that we continue to feel foodservice/hospitality operators need to take when choosing their tabletop service items. It’s not that every restaurant or coffeeshop has have custom-designed tabletop pieces. Only that a thoughtful approach to selecting tabletop items that present both the establishment’s food and their beverage menu items in the best possible way results in an overall improved guest experience. Better guest experience translates to happier…and more profitable customers who return more frequently.

Far too often, operators look at tabletop as an area where they can save money. We would much prefer that tabletop be seen as a great area for improving the overall guest experience. 

And guess what…..we think the guests would prefer that, as well.         Tabletop Matters.

To read the entire article on CoolHunting.com, go here:
http://www.coolhunting.com/food-drink/christien-van-bussel-ceramics.php

To learn more about artist Christien van Bussel, go here:
http://www.turningthistle.com/index.php

And to get a great cup of coffee or learn more about Dublin’s 3FE, go here:
http://www.3fe.com/