Today, a group of eight Year 8 pupils spent the morning at Lincoln & York. Founded in 1994, Lincoln & York have been expertly roasting and packing coffee for over 29 years. They roast & supply coffee to customers in over 15 different countries across the globe from their 6,000m2 state of the art facility based in Brigg. 

Pupils started with a tour of the factory and learnt how a bag of coffee is produced including the store room, the roastery and the packing area. They even had hands on experience by operating the machinery that lifts sacks of raw beans onto the conveyor belt and helped Tom, one of Lincoln & York's expert Q graders, operate one of the roasters.

Following the tour, pupils settled into the board room and were given a presentation by Category Insight Manager, Richard Milner. Here they learnt about the history of coffee including the legend of where it came from; in 800 AD - an Ethopian goatherd called Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night! 

Pupils learnt where coffee comes from and the different types, the process from seed to roastery, sizing and cupping. They also learnt about market trends and current value share compared with pre-pandemic. It was interesting to hear the coffee component accounts for only 10p of the total £2.52 cup of coffee. 

Richard Milner said, ''Thanks for bringing such a nice and enthusiastic group of children to see us today. It was great to receive such a set of thoughtful questions. The whole team here enjoyed hosting you all. I would also add that I was very impressed with the excellent manners. It’s a pleasure to meet polite budding business people!''

It was a fascinating insight into the world of coffee which the pupils thoroughly enjoyed.