Hello Foodies and hopefully... avid coffee lovers and welcome to my latest blog. Today we are going to look at Johnson's Coffee, a place much closer to home than I would have thought. Located on the Old Hillsborough Rd just off Blaris Industrial Business Park lies the Johnson's Coffee Factory; built in a former Airship Hanger it houses a warehouse, a factory and a coffee lab. I was lucky enough, under the guidance of Tim (Sales and Marketing manager and all round coffee expert) allowed to explore the factory, learn about the company, taste their luxury blends and try some latte art....some successful latte art (Tim's) and some not so successful latte art (Conor's) you'll see later!
So it was my midterm break so I was able to go here during the day - I travelled the short distance to the factory and I was first met with a mini museum - here you get a real sense of what this company is all about - you see the evolution from selling and delivering groceries on a bike, making soda powder containers to now distributing coffee and a host of other local products around our amazing country.
Here we have the old bike used to distribute groceries, some memorabilia from the good old days and an original and very retro telephone system - which would be used to make and take orders - really cool that this stuff has been preserved and is available to see!
So the Johnson Family have been trading since 1893 and have been importing and roasting coffee beans from around the world since the mid 1910's - only scuppered slightly by the World Wars - so they kinda know what they are talking about. By the 1960's the company had grown a range of blends and was delivering this along with a number of other products all over the country! Fast forward 30 years of selecting the perfect coffee beans, accurately blending them together and ever improving the roasting technique and the company came up with their most prized asset; the Bellagio Blend born in 1999 is their most popular blend and is still today one of Northern Ireland's best selling coffee beans!
What was amazing was getting the chance to see all of this in action - walking through the warehouse I could see deliveries of imported beans - then I reached the factory floor, a quick change into a stylish high vis vest (I am available for modelling) and it was time to see the magic. I got to see the beans being roasted and then distributed. After the precise roasting - it differs for each blend, the beans are allowed time to rest to aerate - this allows for the bean to cool and for the extraction of all the flavours - the smell was incredible, I wish a reputable candle maker would make a candle of this, I don't know, like Hankee - The Extracted Coffee Bean... just a thought; I'd buy it!
Next up we headed to the Johnson's Coffee lab - this was my favourite part, myself and Lauren got to Coffee Taste - a bit like wine tasting, but with espresso instead of wine and without the bucket - Tim guided us through the process - he explained that 80% of our taste comes from the nose (that's why we can't taste anything when we have the cold..duh) - we covered our noses and ate a spoonful of sugar, well I thought it was sugar until I realised the pressure on my nose and it was actually sweetened cinnamon!(this was cool - a good party trick). Next up we got an espresso shot, this time we covered our espresso shots, when we could feel the steam hit our hands, and almost create like a mini vacuum of coffee steam we brought the cup up and gave a great big whiff - we then quickly drank our espresso - the taste was stronger than normal coffee - we then got a flavour wheel and tried to guess the flavours...wood, smoke, orange, chocolate etc... I ended up just shouting random things :(
Next we ate some milk chocolate and tasted the same espresso - it was amazing how much it changed the flavour, it releases all the different notes so you get greater depth to your tasting, finally we tried this with dark chocolate, we let it melt in our mouth and coated our tongues before drinking another shot of coffee (by this stage I was coffee high - alert to the max) again - this same blend of espresso had a new range of flavours and taste - so next time your drinking coffee if it perfectly acceptable to have a selection box/easter egg/galaxy share size (other chocolate brands are available...but are then honestly as nice?)
After multiple shots of coffee it was time to make our own - do you ever see those beautiful images that appear on the top of your cappuccino - sometimes it's a tulip, sometimes a dragon, well I am pleased to announce that, after only 15 minutes of tutelage from the Master Tim, with only 1 practice effort, that my....wife Lauren can now do this, mine on the other hand looks like an image from outer space, of a galaxy yet to be discovered, inhabited or even within this lightyear - on the other hand it looks like a piece of art that if it was hung in the Tate Gallery could fetch upwards of 4 million pounds, I'll let you decide .
So my effort is the one at the bottom - Tim's is the one that is perfect and if I am honest - Laurie beat me in the Latte Art Skills- her's is kinda like a birch tree leaf. That thing on the far right is hanging in a gallery and is worth over $2,000,000 - seriously. I am away to throw some paint at a page, I'll call you from my yacht.
So that was my coffee adventure over - the good thing is you too can experience it! Have you ever wanted to learn some barista skills, or wondered about the origin of coffee - well Johnson's Coffee can definitely help - here's just some of what they offer;
> Gain a City & Guilds accreditation is their own training facility
> Get yourself some Barista Training at the Johnson's Coffee Lab
> Go for a tour of the factory - this would be great for local schools - the mini museum, factory and warehouse are great!
137 Hillsborough Old Rd
Lisburn
BT27 5QR
028 9266 7557
https://www.johnsonscoffee.com/