THIS IS NOT JUST ANY COFFEE… THIS IS A UK EXCLUSIVE, PERFECTLY BALANCED MARKS AND SPENCER MAGIC COFFEE™
THE NINETIES BROUGHT YOU THE LATTE, THE NOUGHTIES BROUGHT YOU THE FLAT WHITE, NOW IN 2023 M&S CAFÉ BRINGS YOU… THE MAGIC!
* The drink taking the world-famous Melbourne coffee scene by storm is now available for the first time on the UK High Street, exclusively at M&S Cafés.
* Only 50 M&S Master Baristas across Northern Ireland expertly trained and sworn to secrecy over Melbourne’s best-kept coffee secret.
* Launched as UK moves to being a nation of coffee lovers – 80% of UK adults drink coffee! *
There may have only been 11 days of it so far but 2023 is already shaping up to be a historical year for coffee lovers as M&S Café brings Magic Coffee™, the hottest new style of coffee to reach the UK since the Flat White, to its 330 Cafés across the UK.
Known as “the barista’s choice” in Melbourne, Australia, where the drink first originated, Magic Coffee™ is a uniquely bold coffee, without the bitterness. Served with velvety steamed milk, it is hailed as having the “magic” perfectly balanced ratio of coffee to milk.
Served in a 6oz glass or cup, Magic Coffee™ is smaller than a Flat White (typically served as 8oz) and half the size of a Latte (typically 12oz).
Today is the first time Magic Coffee has become widely available on the UK high street; available exclusively at M&S Cafés.
M&S Café’s Head of Coffee, Tom Rawlinson, lives and breathes coffee. So much so, he’s even built his own coffee roastery in his garage. He explains why Magic Coffee™ is so unique:
“An M&S Magic Coffee™ is made with a double ristretto, topped with the perfect amount of velvety steamed milk. It’s a short coffee with a bold, intense flavour, but because it’s made with a double ristretto rather than a double espresso, it doesn’t have as much bitterness as other shorter coffees like a Flat White or Cortado. It’s called a Magic as it is quite literally the magic ratio of coffee to milk!
“I visited Melbourne in November to better understand the hype behind this coffee style. It’s a really popular coffee choice in Melbourne, and you often hear coffee lovers asking for ‘A Magic’. Though 10,000 miles is a long way to go for the latest coffee style, so we’re absolutely delighted to be bringing it exclusively to our 13 M&S Cafés in Northern Ireland from today.
“At M&S Food we’re full of firsts – from pioneering the pre-packed sandwich in the 1980s to the vegan chicken Kyiv more recently. Now our Cafés get their very own ‘first’ – and our 50 Master Baristas in Northern Ireland, who we’ve been training secretly over the past few months, literally can’t wait to start making Magic for customers.”
THE SCIENCE
So, what is a ristretto and why is it so different?
* Ristretto means ‘restricted’ in Italian
* A ristretto uses the same amount of ground coffee as an espresso but is extracted using half the water, and a shorter extraction time (the time the water passes through the grounds in the “cradle” and into the cup)
* Using less water creates a more concentrated flavour, and the shorter extraction time brings a different flavour balance to the coffee
* When you extract a shot of coffee, you get acidity at the start, sweetness next, then bitterness at the end. The ristretto extraction stops before the bitterness stage
* The addition of 5oz of velvety textured milk at the end exaggerates the sweetness that bit more; resulting in a coffee that is full of flavour, but without the bitterness
CELEB FANS
One celeb has been very excited to learn about Magic Coffee™ arriving in the UK.
Musician, actor and family man, Matt Willis, joined the M&S family as its Café Ambassador at the end of last year and was so excited to learn of plans to bring the Magic Coffee to the UK.
He said, “I first tried Magic when we were on tour in Australia supporting One Direction. We went to a coffee shop in Melbourne, and we were talking to the barista, and Harry and I from the band are mad about coffee, so he said, have you tried a Magic? It was like nothing we’d ever tasted before – it was perfect. I’ve not had it for nearly eight years so I’m so excited it’s now available in M&S Cafés across the UK.”
M&S Marketing & Hospitality Director, Sharry Cramond, has previously lived and worked in Melbourne. She said, “Melbourne is known as the coffee capital of the world and is always first for coffee trends, from experimenting with coffee styles, to exploring more sustainable sourcing and packaging. Coffee culture is so engrained into peoples’ lives, many don’t go a day without visiting a coffee shop!
“I’m lucky enough to be leading M&S Café’s at a time when the UK is going that way too. We’re fast becoming a nation of coffee lovers with 80% of UK adults drinking coffee! So, it’s exactly the right time to bring a brand-new style of coffee and launch it FIRST into M&S Café – I can’t wait to hear what our customers think of it!”
M&S Magic Coffee™, £3.15, is available to drink in or take-away now in 13 M&S Cafés across Northern Ireland, as well as some of M&S’ newest Foodhall coffee machines.
