Awards & Recognition

Awarded 'Great Taste Award' for E1 Project Espresso. 

Nominated for 'Coffee Bag Design of the Year' at London Coffee Festival 2026. 

Adam (Wholesale Account Manager at Clifton) placed 3rd at UK Coffee In Good Spirits Championship

Coffee in Good Spirits is a competition centred around coffee based cocktails. In the preliminaries each competitor has to make 2 hot and 2 cold coffee cocktails. For Adam's routine, he wanted to focus on my journey as a barista and my experiences leading up to my first competition.
 
"My routine follows the journey from my first interaction with specialty coffee working as a barista in Cardiff. I speak about the coffee that changed how I understood how coffee could taste, a natural Ethiopian. I use this as a focal point along with memories of first moving to Cardiff to create a drink with a strong welsh identity backed with my first specialty coffee memory. Hiraeth, was my hot course and was a riff on a hot buttered rum, substituting rum from Courvoisier, the spirit sponsor for that year. The drinks profile was built on the same spice mix found in Bara Brith, a traditional welsh tea cake. The drink was rich, warming a spice forward with a delicate soft tannin finish echo’d by the Ethiopian coffee I used.

My second course, Clockwork Oren, represented where I felt I was then in the industry, with more knowledge and a different palate. This drink was my cold course and was designed to be clean and elegant. The drink was a riff on a brandy Manhattan with a rapid cold brew as the base. I used an advanced process Colombian coffee that skewed more herbal to create a more complex cocktail.The finals consisted of any drink from the previous day and an Irish coffee course. I wanted to keep a strong reference to welsh culture in the finals so I presented Hiraeth again as well as using a blend of welsh whiskies from Penderyn. It was an incredibly intense and fun process, the months leading up to competition were amazing, being so laser focused on something and then being able to present your ideas and passion was such an incredible feeling. I still can’t believe I made it to the finals let alone place 3rd in my first competition. I've definitely caught the comp bug and can’t wait to get back on stage next year!"

Zoe (SCA Trainer at Clifton) placed 3rd at UK Barista Championship

Paul (Head of Coffee at Clifton) placed 5th at UK Brewers Cup Championship

The Brewers Cup celebrates the skill of manual brewing. Competitors are marked on their ability to extract the best flavours through different techniques. In 2023, Paul competed at the UK Brewers Cup and reached 5th place. 

Zoe (SCA Trainer at Clifton) placed 2nd at UK Barista Championship

Joe (SCA Trainer at Clifton) Trainer placed 3rd at UK Latte Art Championship

Jimmy (SCA Trainer at Clifton) placed 2nd at UK Latte Art Championship

Jimmy (SCA Trainer at Clifton) placed 2nd at Coffee Masters 

Paul (Head of Coffee at Clifton) placed 2nd at UK Brewers Cup Championship

Dave (Engineer at Clifton) placed 1st at UK Brewers Cup Championship 

Eddie (Co-Owner) placed 2nd at World Coffee in Good Spirits. 

Eddies second attempt at being world champion and it goes down to a draw again, the scores were counted back to the individual categories to find the winner. He retains his 2nd at World Coffee in Good Spirits Championships.

This year, Eddie used a Glass Cona Syphon brewer to make the coffee for his Irish coffee and my signature drink was called a Layer Cake Martini, made up of 4 split and contrasting layers: A dark homemade sugar syrup, clear triple sec, double ristretto shaken with Tuacu and final layer was cream shaken with franjellico and amaretto liquor.

Dark chocolate flakes and the flame of a zested orange to finish, it was like an Italian dessert in a martini glass. Eddie still makes it to this day. 

Eddie (Co-Owner) placed 2nd at World Coffee in Good Spirits. 

His first international competition in Cologne and it ended on a draw. The judges had to count back the category scores and I was pipped at the post.

Eddie (Co-Owner) placed 3rd at UKBC Championships

This was the year when barista competitions really started getting serious. Co-Owner Eddie, UKBC Regional Champion and 3rd place in the UKBC finals. He made bubble tea balls on stage and added them to the signature drink – James Hoffman won the UKBC and went on to become the 2007 World Champion!

Eddie (Co-Owner) placed 4th at UKBC Championships

Co-Owner Eddie, became UKBC Regional Champion in Cornwall and in the finals placed 4th.

Eddie (Co-Owner) placed 3rd at UKBC Championships

As keen barista, Eddie, our Co-Owner, first experienced a barista competition back in 2005. Starting strong, Eddie won the regional heat in the Eden project and then placed 3rd in the UKBC finals.

His signature drink then was a Café Bon Bon, an espresso layered on top of condensed milk served with a cinnamon stick to stir it.