Coffee is an emotional subject; it can make or break a morning, a meeting and a mood.
We love great coffee, so our partnerships with leading suppliers such as UCC, illy and Union Hand Roasted Coffee, are key in helping us to curate a buzzing coffee culture.
We’re also proud to work with industry-changing social enterprises Change Please and Redemption Roasters, suppling their beans in some of our biggest contracts and supporting their cause through events, marketing and customer engagement.
Sourcing great beans is one thing, but any coffee aficionado knows it’s the barista who makes the magic happen! We’re committed to creating coffee champions across the business through ongoing trainings opportunities and competitive events such as BariStar.
BariStar is our annual barista competition, inviting coffee lovers across the business to attend trainings with our bean suppliers. Front-runners are then selected to compete in a nail biting, wildly fun final round to showcase their skills, cheered on by the whole of Lexington.
Cemal Ezel, Founder of Change Please, talks about what Change Please look for in their baristas.
As a social enterprise, Change Please are empowering the homeless community by training them to be baristas and coffee roasters, offering jobs paying London Living Wage and support with housing, bank accounts and mental wellbeing.
We catch up with our 2019 BariStar of the Year, Luis Caicedo.
Luis really shined with his signature drink. Rob Kirby, Chef Director at Lexington, said, “The chilli chocolate really worked it’s natural magic and Luis delivered his drink with no shortage of flair and flavour. I was left wanting more!”
We caught up with Luis to find out more about his experience taking part in the competition and his love of coffee.
