Costa to debut Old Paradise Street No.3

For the first time since their inception in the 1970s Costa Coffee appears to be offering their customers a different type of coffee, the British press report.

When the two brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa opened up a roasting plant in Lambeth, South London, the duo set up an Italian style Mocha blend, which has become their signature taste over the past forty years.

A series of new roasts will be available in some stores from next Friday.

The first of these new, limited edition, coffees is called Old Paradise Street No.3 and is a blend of Colombian and Brazilian Arabicas.

“We started off with a huge array of coffees on the table…it looked a bit like Heston Blumenthal’s innovation table, everything was on there,” said Costa’s Master of Coffee Gennaro Pelliccia.

“For the No.3 we ended up with a predominantly Colombian blend and focused on its dark chocolate and peppery notes, which we hope customers will find interesting.”

Mr Pelliccia, whose parents both worked for Costa, has spent over two decades fine-tuning his tastebuds and has been with the company since 1991.

His tongue is apparently insured for £10m after his employees took out and expensive insurance policy on his tastebuds a couple of years ago.

During the creation process, Mr Pelliccia and two colleagues had to avoid spicy or strong-flavoured foods, were banned from wearing perfumes or aftershaves and had to stay clear of their state-of-the-art tasting facility if they had any form of ailment.

The results of their efforts will be available to customers shortly, with each blend taking its name from a street in the London district of Lambeth.

photo: Michael van Vleet (Flickr), used under Creative Commons