CafédirectHay-festival

The Kilimanjaro Journey: the coffee beans reach Europe!

Posted by Paul, April 3rd, 2012, Comments (0)

Kilimanjaro...this way! Hay Festival 2010

When you have a cup of coffee in your hands, you probably don’t think about the incredible journey that the beans have taken from their origin to your favourite supermarket or café, so I have been writing a series of blogs to explain this amazing process. Perhaps next time you … Read more

Making Hay while the sun shines (& rain pours!)

Posted by Yasmin, June 1st, 2011, Comments (0)

We’ve hit the halfway mark here at Hay Festival and what an epic 6 days! We’ve been busy at the Container House offering samples of our Rich Roast, Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro coffees to festivalgoers, testing their tastebuds as well as their ability to come up with creative ways … Read more

May Book of Month LIVE from Hay Festival!

Posted by Yasmin, May 31st, 2010, Comments (0)

This month we are bringing you our Book of the Month direct from the Hay Festival site, where I’ve been reading it in the garden of the Cafédirect Container House. May’s book is The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. The book switches between modern day Massachusetts and … Read more

Hay guys! Get with the (Cafédirect) programme!

Posted by Yasmin, May 26th, 2010, Comments (0)

Join Cafédirect at one of the speaker events at Hay Festival - we'll be discussing ethical labelling, the role of social enterprise, and Cafédirect's solution to some of the threats to livelihoods that smallholders are facing as a result of the changing climate.

hayfever comes to an end

Posted by Yasmin, May 31st, 2009, Comments (0)

last day at hay and it’s been a scorcher! we started off the day with Shakespeare on Toast. Ok, so we didn’t eat the bard for the breakfast but we did enjoy Machu Picchu fresh ground coffee with Ben Crystal and the audience at his breakfast session. Ben’s new book, … Read more

Our Earl Grey creates Hayfever!

Posted by Yasmin, May 29th, 2009, Comments (1)

Sunshine bathed the Hay Festival all day today and the gorgeous weather left festivalgoers in need of some light refreshment. Some people chose Pims or cider but we had crowds of people at the Cafédirect stall this afternoon in raptures about our NEW Earl Grey Tea on this hot day. Our Earl Grey … Read more

Not Stupid

Posted by Whitney, May 29th, 2009, Comments (0)

Hello! I’m the Impact and Sustainability Manager at Cafédirect, which means I study the economic, social and environmental impact of our business (with a special love for the environmental side). I’m currently traveling back from the Hay Festival, feeling good about my choice to travel by train given a reminder … Read more

‘Anything that has already happened is possible’ Desmond Tutu, Hay 2009

Posted by Alex, May 28th, 2009, Comments (0)

I’ve just spent my first day at the Hay festival. Tidy! Tucked away on the Welsh border, it’s refreshing to be away from London’s rat-race, surrounded by open-minded coffee loving people keen to find out more about Cafédirect and intrigued about how our business works, delivering financial, social and environmental … Read more

Tipping our Fairtrade hats at Hay…

Posted by Yasmin, May 26th, 2009, Comments (0)

Slightly chillier day at Hay Festival today – I’ve been told by a number of locals today that it’s “bound to rain tomorrow” so wellies are coming back out then. shucks. The cooler weather has led to crowds of people inside the Cafédirect Friends Café and at our stall. We’ve been … Read more

Sampled out

Posted by Yasmin, May 26th, 2009, Comments (0)

It’s our sixth day at the Hay Festival, and we’re officially sampled out! We’ve run out of sample cups and my hands ache slightly from holding up a tea pot for so long. The problem is, people love the teas and coffees so much and we’ve been swamped. Sue Perkins, … Read more

Taste Test

Posted by Cafédirect, May 25th, 2009, Comments (0)

Jon Snow, newsreader and generally lovely guy, drops by the Cafédirect stall at the Hay Festival for some Earl Grey.

Hay! What's cooking?

Posted by Yasmin, May 23rd, 2009, Comments (0)

The Hay Festival is the place to go for great food, local produce and Fairtrade favourites. We were serving our Organic Mayan Palenque at Jay Rayner’s talk this morning, and ran into Heston Blumenthal on the green. Jay was talking about his new book, “The Man Who Ate the World” … Read more

Day 2 @ Hay

Posted by Yasmin, May 22nd, 2009, Comments (0)

no rain today hurrah! Today we began the EXCLUSIVE preview of our new English Breakfast and Earl Grey teas. Everyone loved them and we’re really pleased with all of the positive feedback we’re getting. Hats off to Kelliewatte (Sri Lanka) and Eastern Produce (Kenya) for growing such beautifully-tasting teas. We’ve … Read more

Day 1 @ Hay

Posted by Yasmin, May 21st, 2009, Comments (2)

We’re finally here … and it’s fabulous! Tucked away in the Herefordshire countryside, the Hay Festival has officially started and the crowds are beginning to make their way into the Cafédirect Friends Café for that essential, delicious cup of warming coffee after a long journey here. Weather update: chilly with … Read more

Win tickets to see Jay at Hay

Posted by Siobhan, May 20th, 2009, Comments (0)

Well known restaurant and food critic Jay Rayner will be at the Hay Festival this Saturday 23rd May talking about his new book, ‘The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner’, for which he travelled the world sampling culinary delicacies. (Wonder if he sampled any interesting … Read more

Turn your fiction into action and your bean into green

Posted by Cafédirect, May 19th, 2009, Comments (0)

Oxfam is one of Cafédirect’s founding partners, and, like our growers, own shares in our company. You can buy our coffees in their shops, and excitingly, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other at Hay! We are lucky to have Charlie from Oxfam as our ‘guest blogger’….… Read more

Hay, it's Shakespeare on Toast!

Posted by Alex, May 14th, 2009, Comments (0)

So our preparations for the Hay Festival are gathering momentum, it will be all go this time next week!! The Cafédirect Friends Cafe will be a hive of activity throughout the festival, we’re excited to announce that Ben Crystal, author of Shakespeare on Toast will be giving a sneak … Read more

Hay there!

Posted by Yasmin, May 13th, 2009, Comments (0)

I’m Yasmin, the Events & Experiential Manager at Cafédirect. At the moment, I’m spending most of my time scurrying about the office planning our involvement in the Hay Festival which kicks off next Thursday 20th May and runs until Sunday 31st May. Cafedirect has sponsored the festival for four years … Read more

Cafédirect