City Commuters given their first taste of camel milk at Taylor Street Baristas

05 February 2014

City commuters feeling frazzled this morning after a disrupted journey into work following the tube strike were given the chance to unwind with a UK first: camel milk coffee.

Launching on the day of the week known as ‘hump day’[1], customers at Taylor St Baristas’ store on Old Broad Street in the City were able to order a ‘camelccino’, a ‘camelatte’, a ‘camericano’, or any other hot coffee from the menu. Instead of making it with cow or soya milk, on request, Taylor’s Street’s specialist baristas blended the coffee with camel milk.

And any commuters disappointed to have missed out this morning will be pleased to hear that they will be able to sample camel milk coffee in Taylor Street Baristas stores right across London tomorrow. Baristas will be serving up ‘camelattes’, camelccinos and ‘camericanos’ in the chain’s Bank, Canary Wharf, Mayfair, Monument, Liverpool Street, South Quay and Shoreditch branches tomorrow.

How each purchase of camel milk coffee benefits leading UK charity, Farm Africa

Camel milk coffee is the brainchild of 32 year old journalist, Richard Ford. Richard has been a food and farming journalist for almost six years. After seeing a tweet from Farm Africa advertising for runners in the 2014 Brighton Half Marathon, he decided to apply. Not content to simply pound the pavements for the charity, however, he decided to boost his fundraising efforts with a very unusual idea.

Richard has been working with the Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products (EICMP) and UK coffee shop chain Taylor St Baristas to realise his “dream” of “ordering a ‘camelatte’ in my favourite coffee shop”.  The Taylor St Baristas branch at 125 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1AR has helped turn Richard’s dream into reality and is now offering camel milk coffees to customers for an extra £1. Each additional £1 made from the sale of a camel milk coffee will be donated to Farm Africa. 

Farm Africa sees the growing demand for livestock products from urban consumers as an opportunity for animal owners to trade themselves out of poverty. We are currently supporting a number of communities through livestock projects including Poultry farming and marketing and Sidai, a social enterprise that is setting up a network of centres to provide high-quality livestock services in rural Kenya.

Farm Africa’s Head of Corporate and Community Fundraising, Cathy Wentworth, said:

“We are thrilled that Richard has chosen Farm Africa to benefit from this innovative new venture which is bringing camel milk to UK customers for the first time. I’d like to wish Richard the very best of success, both with his camel milk venture and with his Brighton Half Marathon run.”

Ends

Images are available on request

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Richard Ford, please contact the Farm Africa Press Office:

Matt Whitticase,   020 7067 1237 / mattheww@farmafrica.org

Ngaio Bowthorpe 020 7841 5156 / ngaiob@farmafrica.org

About Farm Africa

Farm Africa supports farmers living at subsistence level, constantly at risk of crop failure, to build food and income security so that they can grow a better and reliable future for their families.

By focusing on ‘climate smart’ agricultural and forestry techniques, building market links and adding value to production, Farm Africa unleashes the entrepreneurial abilities of the farmers and rural communities they work with.

This is the time to turn challenge into opportunity for African farmers. Farm Africa believes passionately that smallholders can and will play a key role in achieving rural prosperity in Africa.

Farm Africa is the chosen charity for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2014, sponsored by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.

About Rich Ford

32 years old, Rich’s been a journalist on The Grocer magazine for almost 6 years, writing about food and farming. After seeing a tweet from Farm Africa, advertising for runners in the Brighton Half Marathon, he decided to apply. Given his lifelong interest in food and farming, both inside and outside of work, he felt Farm Africa was the ideal charity partner for his fundraising activities. The link to Richard’s fundraising page is here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardFord8 

About camel milk

Camel milk is used in coffees sold throughout the United Arab Emirates and in 2010, EU authorities granted initial approval for it to be imported into the EU. The first products were shipped into the EU last year following the completion of further regulatory checks.    

It has around half the fat content of cow milk, of 1.8%-2% and has up to five times the amount of naturally occurring vitamin C than cows’ milk. It’s also rich in unsaturated fatty acids.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has tipped a bright future for camel dairy products, claiming they could provide more food to people in arid and semi-arid areas and provide a rich source of income for nomadic herders.

Although demand for camel milk is strong, very little is produced commercially. Around 5.4 million tonnes of milk is produced annually by the world population of around 20 million camels but much of it is consumed by the camels’ young. 

There’s more information on camel milk here: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/EN/news/2006/1000275/index.html and here: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6528e/x6528e00.HTM

About Taylor Street Baristas

Taylor Street was started by Aussie siblings, Nick, Andrew & Laura during a bleak London winter in 2006, inspired by the sort of good coffee they took for granted back home.

The name, Taylor Street, is a place in Sydney where Nick, Andrew & Laura lived and shared some wonderful times together.

There are now nine Taylor Street coffee shops across London and the South East all of which employ highly qualified baristas to ensure consistently, unambiguously high standards.

For more, see http://www.taylor-st.com/       

About Camelicious

Camelicious is the brand name for camels milk products produced by the Emirates Industry for Camel Milk & Products (EICMP), owned by UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Work started on creating EICMP in 2003 and the milk production facility was completed in 2006, creating the world’s first sophisticated camel milking plant. The company produces fresh camel milk as well as a range of flavoured camel milk milkshakes comprising chocolate, date, strawberry and saffron. 

For more, see http://www.camelicious.ae/