Plamil unveils bar made from coffee beans

April 3, 2024

UK confectionery company Plamil Foods is set to unveil the world’s first bar coffee beans is set to be unveiled at the London Coffee Festival, which is running from 11-14 April and at the Food and Drink Expo, which is running from 29 April to 1 May.

The Coffee bar is made using whole coffee beans instead of cocoa beans. Thanks to a unique production process, including using carefully selected beans roasted in small batches together with a refining process that is being kept a manufacturing secret, the unique tones of each bean is fully translated into each bar, packing it with flavour.

“Nobody has done this before – the great taste and smooth mouth feel is due to unique production technique. It’s taken a year of intense development, but we finally cracked the recipe to create a coffee bar,” said Adrian Ling, CEO of Plamil Foods.

Plamil are a specialist chocolate manufacturer supplying chocolate as an ingredient to many leading brands. They have been at the forefront of chocolate developments, such as being the first UK company to be certified for organic chocolate.

“Coffee made into a bar is a simple concept that sounds strange, but a coffee bar makes a lot of sense if you compare coffee to chocolate. 175 years ago, chocolate used to be a drink until Frys of Bristol made a chocolate bar,” added Ling.

There is untapped potential for an ‘on-the-go’ coffee that is both barista standard and in the convenience of a bar, which Plamil have sought to tap into – according to Mordor Intelligence, the global coffee market is forecasted to reach over US$166 billion by 2029.

The Coffee bar launch in April 2024 comes at a time of escalating chocolate prices due to worldwide shortages of cocoa beans, making alternative snacking experiences more attractive. Pre-launch, Ling said he was talking to customers looking to take containers of bars for export, and expected the bar to be soon be available in the UK for customers at service stations, outdoor sports and more traditional retailers.

“We know The Coffee Bar® isn’t going to replace everyone’s cup of joe anytime soon. But this a barista-standard snack is for busy people who want to enjoy a coffee anytime, anywhere. We’re confident it has the potential to meet consumer needs and capture some of the world’s billion-pound coffee market,” Ling concluded.

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