Jamie's restaurant creates first British-grown cup of coffee

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver`s restaurant Fifteen Cornwall is preparing what is believed to be the first cup of coffee made purely from beans grown in the UK.

The restaurant`s bar manager was inspired after seeing the coffee growing at the Eden Project environmental complex.

Eden agreed to let the beans be harvested and it is now hoped they will be ground ready for the New Year.

Around 2kg of coffee "cherries" were picked, which should create about 300g of dried beans - enough to make around 50 cups.

The Cornish coffee experiment has been led by Fifteen Cornwall`s bar manager Tristan Stephenson, who saw it growing in Eden`s Rainforest Biome.

Among the fifteen hundred species of plants in the biome, the horticultural team have created Robusta and Arabica coffee plantations.

Tristan said: "Coffee traditionally comes from very hot humid countries, so it`s amazing to think that we can harvest, process and roast coffee grown right here in Cornwall.

"Picking the cherries containing the coffee beans was an absolute joy, for a short while it really felt like we were up in the hills in Ethiopia.

"I hope that our Cornish coffee harvest will help people to appreciate the amount of work that goes into growing, picking and processing the beans."

After the harvest the cherries were taken to the kitchen at Fifteen Cornwall where they were pulped to remove the beans, which will be dried until the moisture content is reduced to between 10 and 12 per cent.

Then the beans will be stored in a container to prevent further drying ahead of being roasted and ground in the New Year.

A tasting session will be held at Fifteen Cornwall when Tristan and some of the apprentice chefs will sample the fruits of their labour. It is anticipated that the coffee will also be available in the restaurant for a limited period.

Fifteen Cornwall apprentice chef Andrew Basso, 18, who helped harvest the beans, said: "I`ve been to Eden before, but never to pick coffee, so I was really excited.

"I`d not really thought about where coffee came from previously, and have only really got into drinking the quality stuff since joining Fifteen where I had my first espresso.

"I`m looking forward to using coffee more in the kitchen and can`t wait to try it out in some desserts."