Welcome to the Social Espresso blog…
Find out more about us and the journey we’ve been on since 2016 to create our premium event coffee service.
Looking to Hire a Barista? Some Top Tips From the Experts
One of the terms people often search for online when they’re looking for an event coffee catering company like Social Espresso is ‘hire a barista’. As we provide baristas...
Coffee for exhibitions – our biggest deployment so far, Social Espresso’s September success
At Social Espresso, we believe in creating unforgettable coffee experiences wherever we go, and we’ve been doing just that with our high-quality barista coffee for...
Social Espresso’s 2023: a year in review!
As we bid farewell to the past year, and settle well into the new event season, it's the perfect time to take a quick pause, savour a cup of our favourite brew, and reflect...
Why you should have a barista service at your workplace
The traditional office has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, reflecting a deeper understanding of the connection between the workplace environment and...
Top 5 methods of brewing coffee
Coffee, the second most consumed beverage in the world (behind water!), is an intricate drink with a world of flavours waiting to be explored. The art of brewing coffee is...
Mastering the art of coffee: the top 5 barista skills
A barista is not merely a coffee maker; they are the artists behind every delicious cup of coffee. With a deep understanding of coffee, an array of techniques, and an acute...
Coffee News: The hidden boosts coffee gives your brain
For many, the day doesn't truly begin until they've had that first sip of coffee. Beyond its irresistible aroma and comforting warmth, coffee is a beverage that has the...
Understanding coffee: what’s on the menu at your event
If you’re a coffee lover, it’s clear when you get served up an underwhelming brew. More often than not an event’s in-house coffee offering struggles to hit the mark! When...
Summer update! What we’ve been busy doing at the Social Espresso HQ…
Summer always comes around fast and this year we’ve been busier than ever, planning, evolving how we do things and expanding our capabilities ready for the next event...
How we source our delicious event coffee!
Here at Social Espresso we take great pride in the care we put into our brews! It may seem simple when you have that warming cup of coffee in your hands, but it’s a long and...
Take The Plunge: How to get the best coffee out of your French Press
French presses or cafetieres are a convenient, easy way to brew fantastic coffee anywhere you like. They’re cheap, portable and simple to operate, which is why they’re one...
A chat with one of our head event baristas
Our event baristas are expert problem solvers! No two events are ever the same and there are always challenges and problems to overcome in order to achieve a successful...
Brewing Excellence: A Month of Specialty Coffee Bars at Elite Events
In the fast-paced world of corporate events, where prestigious brands and industry leaders converge, every detail matters. From state-of-the-art technology showcases to...
Our top 5 best dairy free milk alternatives
Plant based milk alternatives are fantastic if you have a dairy intolerance, are vegan or just want to switch away from dairy for environmental, ethical or health reasons....
This forgotten species of coffee may change the way we drink our brews!
Climate change is putting a hefty strain on the world’s favourite coffee species - Arabica. Can a mostly forgotten species be the very future of the way we consume our...
Mobile barista hire for track days: How coffee elevates your event!
Here at Social Espresso, we’re no strangers to a great track day. We’ve been serving our coffee regularly at circuits all over the UK for motoring brands such as Ferrari,...
Smoothie bar service: 5 ways smoothies can benefit your health
Smoothies are a fantastic way to get a quick health kick. They’re easy to make, taste great and can be modified to suit the needs of your own diet. Our very own smoothie bar...
The Humble Coffee Cart – A Brief History
The history of coffee houses, from the first recorded appearance in 1475 of a public place serving coffee in the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul), is well...
Mobile coffee bar for exhibitions: ICE 2023
Every year we bring our high end exhibition coffee to the exciting ICE at Excel London. Over 35,000 figureheads within the global gaming industry come together to discuss...
Reflecting on 2022: A Year of Recovery and Revival
2022 was a year like no other for us at Social Espresso. After the turbulence and uncertainty of the COVID pandemic, we were finally able to return to doing what we love...
Coffee cupping: why do we do it?
Perhaps you’ve overheard coffee buffs in a local cafe talking about cupping their favourite coffees or maybe you’ve even spotted trendy twenty-somethings in beanies rather...
Wondering what to do with ground coffee? 10 great ways to re-purpose your used coffee grounds
If you’re a conscientious about recycling and repurposing, you'll probably have wondered what to do with used coffee grounds after you’ve made your favourite brew. If that’s...
Inside an event coffee company: Our January roundup
It’s safe to say January is always a strange month in the year, with it often being described as the ‘Monday’ of all the months… In the events industry however, (despite the...
Event coffee catering: 5 ways quality coffee keeps delegates coming back!
In the events world, quality in every aspect of planning and executing an event is crucial in order to stand out from the crowd. That’s why at Social Espresso, quality is at...
5 essential barista tools and what they’re used for
Expert baristas have a wide array of tools at their disposal, and each play an equal part in constructing the perfect espresso based coffee! Your daily brew from your...
Coffee news – Italian espresso is aiming for Unesco protected status
Italians drink around 30 million espressos every day, and the world famous Italian espresso is not just simply a shot of caffeine, it is viewed not only as a solitary...
A Look Back at an Exciting 2019 for Social Espresso
2019 was truly the start of Social Espresso’s impact on the industry. We can’t help but reflect on what has been an incredible year for us. From serving coffee at some of...
Coffee trends in the UK to look out for in 2020
As another years starts, here's our round up of some of the trends that we think you'll be seeing in the coffee world in 2020. An increase in speciality coffee shops There...
A mobile coffee stand for the Gilly Hicks press day
Gilly Hicks is a lingerie brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, it specialises in women's intimates and loungewear. Its first store opened in Massachusetts in 2008, but in...
Coffee Trends in 2019
The coffee industry is a leading sector in the UK economy, and in 2018 coffee shops generated more than £10 billion. As demand grows, this figure is expected to rise in...
Our first coffee catering event abroad in 2019
For our first overseas job of 2019 Social Espresso were off to Dublin! Our expertise in providing coffee catering for conferences was on show at BTOG 2019 – the 2019 Annual...
Speciality event coffee service for Lavazza at the Frieze Art Fair 2018
The team here at Social Espresso were asked to provide our speciality event coffee service across four coffee stations at this year’s Frieze London & Frieze Master’s Art...
Barista and mobile coffee bar at the World Travel Market Exhibition at London’s Excel
Social Espresso were recently asked to provide a barista and mobile coffee bar at World Travel Market 2018. World Travel Market is a three day global event and exhibition...
More than just an event coffee catering company!
Social Espresso were recently asked by the phone company One plus to provide all the event coffee catering for their two-day event. As well as serving our delicious...
Mobile coffee stands at Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace
Salon Privé is one of the longest-running and most successful motoring events held in the UK, and this year (their 13th Edition) we were asked by Pirelli and Ferrari to...
Coffee in the news – Health benefits of coffee and coffee consumption statistics
There have been a couple of articles in the press recently about the health benefits of coffee. According to one recent article in the Independent Online (UK Edition), a cup...
Our move from self-storage to our first official Social Espresso Event Coffee London HQ
After a few years of keeping all our kit in self-storage, Social Espresso have finally made the move to our first official headquarters. Our first few years were a bit of a...
Long term speciality coffee catering contract for Shake-Up in Epsom
Epsom isn’t the biggest of towns but it’s still home to three branches of Costa Coffee & one branch of Starbucks. The guys at the newly opened independent outlet...
Event coffee catering in 2017 – what a year it’s been!
Social Espresso set up to provide a high quality event coffee service, with exceptional coffee and great customer service. We had a great start in 2016, but last year was...
Artisan barista hire for Rhianna’s Fenty Beauty Launch at Harvey Nichols
Rihanna's new Fenty Beauty product line was launching in the UK this year, and Social Espresso were contacted about our coffee machine and artisan barista hire service. We...
Sourcing fresh milk in Spain, not as easy as it sounds!
We recently ran a three-and-a-half day mobile coffee service in Madrid, Spain. We had two baristas, one La Marzocco Linea and one Mazzer Major coffee machine, and 40kg of a...
Event barista coffee for Election Night 2017 at ITV Studios
Social Espresso were asked to pull an all-nighter, with our event barista coffee service providing much needed coffees at the 2017 General Election night coverage at ITV...
Social Espresso in 2016
It’s been a really great start for us at Social Espresso in 2016. Our mobile coffee bar service has already brewed thousands of cappuccinos, americanos, espressos, flat...
Social Pantry meets Social Espresso
Social Espresso grew out of founder Jack Howell’s work with Social Pantry, who offer extraordinary socially conscious food along with extraordinary service, while creating...