How the hospitality experts at Ozone Coffee Roasters helped two of London’s most iconic hotels create great coffee experiences for their guests

When planning a trip away, there are a few boxes we all tend to tick before we book a hotel: location, price, reviews, amenities and facilities—things you almost always check out before booking a stay. But whether you’re travelling for business, an action-packed family holiday or relaxing weekend away, starting your day with a good cup of coffee at your hotel can make all the difference.

Surprisingly though, it’s rare that good coffee is a prerequisite to the hotel you book, yet it’s something most of us don’t want to start our day without. At Ozone Coffee Roasters, we take great pride in offering a tailored approach to our wholesale clients. The needs of our hotel partners aren’t the same as our coffee shop or office partners, so neither is how we support them in helping to create great coffee experiences for their guests and customers.

When Ozone was approached by two iconic London hotels, The Standard and One Hundred Shoreditch, we knew we had an opportunity to showcase what great hotel coffee could be (spoiler alert, you won’t find instant coffee in the rooms at these two). In the UK especially, café culture has grown tremendously, and people are far more attune to where to find a great brew. But according to a Big Hospitality article, a whopping 75% of hotel guests rated the quality of in-room coffee as ‘poor’ or ‘average.’ Suffice to say, we had our work cut out for us.

After spending time with the teams at The Standard and One Hundred Shoreditch, we understood the vision for their spaces and how coffee fit into the overall experience, and got to work developing a custom proposal.

A coffee for every guest

The Standard and One Hundred Shoreditch have quickly become sought-after destinations in London. Known for its bold designs and a creative food and beverage offering, The Standard was looking to serve a quality, responsibly-sourced specialty coffee that was consistent across the entire hotel, and wanted guests to be able to wake up and enjoy great coffee in their rooms. We stocked each room with custom, co-branded 30g sachets of our pre-ground signature Brothers Blend, complete with V60s for the perfect morning brew.

Across the hotel we installed La Marzocco’s iconic Linea PB machines, perfect for The Standard’s casual dining restaurants and bars, and a Modbar in their fine dining restaurant Decimo, which all brew our signature Empire blend. Our Brothers Blend is on-hand for guests who want filter coffee at breakfast and for The Standard’s events, so you’ll find a great Ozone coffee no matter where in the hotel you are.

When One Hundred Shoreditch opened earlier this year, the indie-contemporary hotel located on bustling Old Street wanted to offer an elevated in-room brewing experience. Each room is equipped with a cafetiere and custom 50g sachet of our Hodson blend. The hotel features an on-site café serving our Hodson blend, brewed on a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle we helped install, and has La Marzocco’s Linea PB for room service. We also installed an Appia Life Compact espresso machine on the hotel’s rooftop bar, alongside a filter coffee brewer that’s also in its café for daily breakfast service and events. Lastly, making sure the One Hundred Shoreditch team was happily caffeinated was also important to them. We installed an Eversys bean to cup machine for staff to enjoy great Ozone coffee while on the job.

Ongoing support and training

One of the challenges hotels face with their coffee offering is ensuring their baristas have the right training and knowledge to brew a consistent, delicious cup every time. Before The Standard and One Hundred Shoreditch opened, Ozone Coffee’s team organised dedicated training sessions, including barista and brewing courses led by our SCA-certified Training Manager Rose Nicholson. We made sure their teams were buzzing with knowledge and enthusiasm about the world of specialty and the coffee they were serving their guests. And we now host regular or ad-hoc sessions to train new hires and work closely with their teams to make sure we’re meeting the evolving coffee needs of their guests.

Since Ozone Coffee arrived in London in 2012, our wholesale network has grown from a handful of local coffee shops to hundreds of clients across the world including hotels, restaurants, offices, gyms, fast-casual dining chains, cafés and more. Our passionate team of coffee experts are on-hand to offer dedicated support and training, and we’ve partnered with world-class suppliers and equipment manufactures to offer everything from machines on loan, brewing accessories, grinders, milks, teas and more. Our wholesale partners are an extension of the Ozone Coffee family, and we love seeing their businesses grow and creating great coffee experiences together.