Café Mocha

We've won an award!

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:03:00 +0000

We are really really proud to annouce that we've won an award.
On the 1st May 2012, we were awarded the Social Enterprise mark.
Proof, that we trade for People and for Planet.
Hurrah!
Click the picture to learn more about the Social Enterprise Mark,

Not just Fair, but Free!

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:02:00 +0000

It's Fairtrade Fortnight soon, and to celebrate, if you have a Café Mocha loyalty card, and bring it into the Café between 27th February and 10th March 2012, you can exchange the card, (with or without stamps) for a free cup of fairtrade tea, fairtrade coffee or fairtrade hot-chocolate.

If you don't have a Cafe Mocha loyalty card get one before the 27th February

(Limited to one per customer).

Refugee Week

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:21:00 +0000

Cafe Mocha is marking Refugee Week by displaying some rather excellent posters in our High Street window. If you can't make it into Cafe Mocha this week, take a look at the posters by clicking the photo to the right

This week is refugee week

Amnes'Tea Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Fri, 20 May 2011 06:16:00 +0000

On Saturday 28th May, Cafe Mocha joins Amnesty International for an all day birthday tea party.

Amnesty International will be 50 years old and Cafe Mocha 3 years old.

To celebrate our work as the friendliest, fairest, greenest Cafe in town we'll be giving all of our days takings from our Fairtrade tea, Fruit teas, other Specialist Teas along with all of our takings from our cake sales straight to Amnesty International.

Join us for our Amnes'Tea Birthday Party, any time on Saturday between 9am and 4:30pm

Official Launch of the Cafe Mocha Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:49:00 +0000

The Cafe Mocha Gallery launches on Monday 21st March 2011, Biggleswade's answer to the Tate?

As well as the usual Cafe food, drink and friendly atmosphere, from Monday you'll be able to enjoy and even purchase work from local photographers.

Initially Austen Haines will be exhibiting his work.

If you're a Fan of Cafe Mocha on Facebook (you will have previously clicked 'Like' at the top of this page - Facebook account required), you'll already know about our little celebration in advance of Monday's launch.

Information on Austen's work

View Biggleswade Chronicle Coverage of the Launch

Poppy Appeal at Cafe Mocha

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Until 11th November, you can get your Poppy Appeal poppies, and make donations to the Royal British Legion in Cafe Mocha. Just pop in for your poppies, and maybe stop for a coffee too.
If you'd prefer to donate online just click on the poppy picture.

Pickled Tink-ing for HopeHIV

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:21:00 +0000

We are currently selling home made Jams and Pickles to take away. All funds raised go to HopeHIV.

You can read all about the story in (the wonderful) Biggleswade Chronicle by clicking here

Happy Ideals for Cafe Mocha

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:25:00 +0000

Take a look and a listen.....

http://www.numbersandtitles.com/

Thank you Chris

Love Biggleswade?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:04:00 +0000

At Cafe Mocha, we love Biggleswade. From 1st April 2010 Cafe Mocha is trading under our new legal entity Love Biggleswade Ltd

Love Biggleswade is a Limited by Guarantee company. This makes it easier to
prove our non-profit aims and therefore apply for grant funding and other benefits. It's early days for Love Biggleswade Ltd so more news as things are established in more detail.

Cafe Mocha's name remains unchanged. Customers should not see any difference as a result of this

Not just Fair, but Free!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:30:00 +0000

It's Fairtrade Fortnight, and to celebrate, if you have a Café Mocha loyalty card, and bring it into the Café between 22nd February to 7thMarch 2010, you can exchange the card, (with or without stamps) for a free cup of fairtrade tea, fairtrade coffee or fairtrade hot-chocolate.

Limited to one free drink per customer during Fairtrade Fortnight

Who is the voice of Café Mocha?

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:00 +0000

Café Mocha have a new radio advert that will be broadcast from 27th November, but who is the voice of Café Mocha?

From Friday 27th November, tune into the wonderful community radio station, Biggles FM on their new frequency 104.8 FM.

They're back for 28 days. Check them out on http://www.bigglesfm.com/

Mr Cadbury, We salute you

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Today I bought a small bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and enjoyed it more than I've ever enjoyed a bar of Dairy Milk. Why?
Because Cadbury's have adopted fairtrade values.

More details about their decision, and the products that are no longer un-fair can be found here

Hurrah for Mr Cadbury. Well done for seeing sense, and for trading fairly.

Lights Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:23:00 +0000

At the Biggleswade Chamber of Trade AGM on 13th July 2009.
The executives of the committee announced they would not be organising the Christmas Lights this year.

Attending committee members objected to this decision.
The background was explained that costs last year were not met, and that costs for 2009 were expected to be increased.

Aside from the usual "Crying wolf" stories about the lights being cancelled, it does indeed look like this year there will be no Christmas Lights for Biggleswade.... unless... (and sorry to make this dramatic), but it was agreed with some reluctance, that if £5,000 could be raised by 1st September 2009 by a mixture of members of the public and commercial organisations, that the matched funding from Biggleswade Town Council should be enough to make the lights viable for this year.

For future years, a drastic change in the whole process and responsibility is needed, but in the short term, we need to ensure that general apathy, the usual "They should pay (not me)" and excuses of recessions and credit crunch, do not spoil a very beautiful town centre at Christmas Time....

Please get in touch via lights@cafemocha.org.uk or see the Facebook page listed below.

Biggleswade Christmas Lights on Facebook

Happy Birthday Mocha!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:51:00 +0000

Today, Cafe Mocha (as a Community Interest Social Enterprise project) is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday Cafe Mocha!

What did Café Mocha get for it's birthday? Custom built trendy tables, a new kitchen floor, and a new team of volunteers working on Saturdays. Hurrah!

Pop in and see us this Saturday 30th May, for a nice birthday surprise, and wish us "Happy Birthday!"

What ever next?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:46:00 +0000

At the end of Tuesday May 26th 2009, Café Mocha will have been running for 1 year under the 'new' ownership and business model of a not-for-proft social enterprise.

The aim of the current Mocha team was to prove a Café project could be self sustaining, whilst helping others in the community. In February 2009 (month 9), we had our first break-even month ever.

What next? Well on May 27th, as it stands today, there are no ongoing commitments from anyone for the work to continue. We're hoping that in year two, churches in town, along with other local groups, will look at the Café Mocha project and make a real defined commitment to being a part of it.

The mystery, fear and risk of what a community café project is now clear, there are real people to meet, and find out how they are beneffiting from a high street project that isn't driven by profit, and who's measurements of success are about friendship, and practical care in the community.

Please get in touch, if you think you, or an organisation you represent, can help (Year2@cafemocha.org.uk).

Failing that, drink coffee with us. It really is use-it or lose-it time folks.

Finally, if you think the right thing to do is just 'nothing' and you're thinking "what ever!" rather than "what next?" please let us know why: feedback@cafemocha.org.uk

As seen on TV

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Prime time ITV to be precise...

Café Mocha was on ITV on Wednesday! Hurrah. Although you'd have to be very observant to work out it was really Café Mocha if you didn't keep seeing our regular customers, and of course our wonderful Sharlene making the coffee.

It was a piece about how the over consumption of caffeine can apparently cause haluciniations, or exsaserbate stress.

You can watch the clip online here: http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/news/?void=277916

G-r-r-rate Relief

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Good news! The revenue team at Mid-Beds District Council, have granted us 100% relief on our business rates for our High Street business. That'll save us £100+ per month. That's a great relief.

Thank you.

Have I found the best Coffee in Biggleswade?

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:18:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we found the best Fair Trade bean available and started selling it at Cafe Mocha. (Thanks to Steve Luff for his excellent product range, knowledge and advice)

The new coffee is stronger, less bland, a little more bitter, and creates an excellent creme on the top of a black Americano.

To top it off, for my best ever Coffee in Biggleswade, the marvellous Barrista that is 'Hitch' offered me the new coffee with a shot of a new Ginger Bread Syrup, and then ZoWwEe CaVeY, I'm hooked on Ginger Bread Latté's at Cafe Mocha.
Sounds a bit la-dee-dah, but they are superb! (Even though I say so myself).

(Also available in Butter-Scotch, but Ginger Bread is my favourite).

Money Matters

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:56:00 +0000

Not sure how much money really should matter, but unfortunately it does really, or Cafe Mocha couldn't exist. Last night was the monthly pay-roll night (we've been officially in business for 2 full months now) , and it's a good time to check the bank balance and find out what's what.

We're not rolling in debt, and in fact we've scraped through in credit, just.

That said, we've relied on incredible genorisity of quite a few people, including some of our paid Mocha staff, anonymous donations, and people buying pre-paid coffee.

Thank you to some of the very encourgaging messages, and some of the very good suggestions for improvements sent to feedback@cafemocha.org.uk

Somebody asked about our tipping in Cafe Mocha. The tips that are left from customers in the little bowl on our counter top do not go to staff, but instead are used to give away dozens of cups of tea and coffee to special people who visit us, who would not otherwise be able to enjoy a beverage in a cafe in Biggleswade.

Finally, if we sold 17 extra cups of coffee per day during August, (17 above what we've been selling so far), we'd be self sustaining, so there's a target for August!

Want to help? Email prepay@cafemocha.org.uk to find out about paying in advance for your coffee before you've drunk it, or just come in, sit down and enjoy some food and drink with us.

Coffee Taste Test

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:52:00 +0000

This coming week, we're running a taste test for the best Fair Trade bean.
If you'd like to attend this event, then email tasting@cafemocha.org.uk for details.

Special Offers

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:19:00 +0000

From time to time Cafe Mocha has some crazy special offers.
Some are fun, some are completely free, some are just crazy.

If you'd like to know about our special offers, and you're not a FaceBook 'Friend of Cafe Mocha', then send your email address to offers@cafemocha.org.uk and we'll send you details of the crazy offers that we invent from time to time.

If you are on facebook, then join this group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17049899697
Until you join us, you're missing out. Be happy with us

Fair Trade Cola - Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:36:00 +0000

From Saturday we're trialling a fair trade cola. We're starting it at £1.00 (which makes us just 16p profit per can).

It's not a 'value' Cola, or that stuff I remember as a kid called Coola.

It's not like Cola flavour, it's actually premium cola, that tastes great.

You're not reminded on every mouthful, that you've made a noble choice.

Give it a try! And check out the 'Taste of Malawi' video (on the right hand column), which shows the home of Ubuntu Cola

Community Information

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:51:00 +0000

From Friday, the Cafe now has a community information resource.
It sounds very grand. In reality it's a catalogue of community events, services, and local groups that friends of Café Mocha might find useful.

If you run a community service or have a local event or good cause that you'd like to publicise, pop into the Cafe, with a paper advert no bigger than A4, or email it to information@cafemocha.org.uk and we'll add it to our A4 files that are available for people to browse through.

Images of Cafe Mocha

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:08:00 +0000

From time to time, somebody sends us a cracking image of Cafe Mocha. (Thanks to Raf for this one)
I thought I'd start sharing these. If you click the picture to the right, you'll see a much bigger picture.

Whilst we're talking and images and impresstions, if you have ideas, suggestions, comments, hints, tips or other photos of Cafe Mocha, drop us an email: feedback@cafemocha.org.uk

Your thoughts and comments are really helpful. Please keep them coming

Hello to RaSPBerries.

noreply@blogger.com (The Mocha Team) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:41:00 +0000

New in this week:

A lovely Raspberry and Blueberry fruit smoothy which is fairtrade, a little tiny, but very tasty. (£1.75)

We also have two new toasted items: vegetable tikka panini, and a chilli-beef panini. Both are yummy and definitely not tiny! (£2.95)

Lastly, a fair-trade choclate chip flapjack. MMMm mmmm mmmmm (80p)

This Saturday Rachel and Bill are working as volunteers.
Pop in and say 'Hello', or just say "Give me all your your ice-cream", and try all three of our ice-cream sundaes. The choice is yours.