Category: Food

Husband and wife coffee connoisseurs from Warwick are hoping to brew up a storm as the doors open on their latest venture.

Lisa and Rafael Hernandez are building on the success of their Caffeine Project coffee house and deli in Binley Woods, with a new Afternoon Tea room.

The modern 35-seater space, previously occupied by a furniture shop, is a hidden gem behind their existing café, which opened on Rugby Road in 2021. It marks the latest chapter for the couple whose entrepreneurial journey began seven years ago with their coffee brand.

It’s also another ambition realised for Rafael who has a background in hospitality and a degree in Culinary Arts from his native Mexico. His experience includes time spent working as  a chef in Stratford before spending 10 years with Illy Coffee, where he learned about the industry from the ground up – literally – getting hands-on with coffee bean picking in Honduras.

He said: “Because of my line of work, I’d had the opportunity to visit practically every single coffee shop in the country and could see what was missing and what needed to change.

“When we opened Caffeine Project it was a gamble, but we wanted to be true to what we believed in, which is to have a place with great quality coffee and food. Likewise, when we opened the deli, we knew we had to offer quality products that we could sell to the public.”

He added: “I like afternoon teas and I knew that it would be something that could complement the café business really well. Also, as customers ourselves, we realised that there is more need for a high-end afternoon tea experience in Coventry.

“We wanted to offer a really nice contemporary experience, something with a different feel rather than the usual vintage style. It may not have the setting of a stately home or period building but we are confident it is equal in quality and ambience.”

The Caffeine Project signature coffee brand always looms large in Rafael’s business ethos – one of his three blends even brewed especially with locals in mind.

“I developed a coffee especially for Warwickshire, where people seem to really like strong coffee and that is our Ban de Blend, which is from Honduras, Brazil and Vietnam. Because Vietnamese coffee is quite strong,” he explained.

“If you’ve got good coffee, people will come back again and again. I worked hard to find a blend of coffee that cuts through milk really well because latte and cappuccino and flat white now are the main drinks consumed in the UK.

“And our decaf beans use a Mexican water process, so it’s decaffeinated with spring water rather than chemicals.”

The new licensed tea room opened on October 30^th with the support of Rugby Borough Council grant funding. Work is now under way on creating an on-site baking space to help further expand their offering.

The menu, all prepared fresh on the day by chef Jake Rouse, offers a choice of Afternoon Tea or Sparkling Afternoon Tea in relaxed contemporary surroundings with Vegetarian and Vegan alternatives available. Their Festive Menu is also now running until December 28^th.

Meanwhile, longstanding Caffeine Project Brazilian Head Chef Gustavo Eckhardt is keen to bring both his and Rafael’s international cooking influences to some of the café menu dishes.

Lisa added: “We are incredibly proud of the coffee shop and the community we’ve grown here. One of the things we have always done since the very beginning was to invest back into the business and the people.

“The staff in the coffee shop and deli are fantastic. They work so hard and they care about the customers. They all have their own part to play in the success.

“When the deli first opened and people started to come in, they were just delighted that they had somewhere like this. We are now getting people that pull up regularly for goods from the shop, especially our coffee and double yoker eggs!

“We’re trying to create a local one-stop quality shop. We listen to our customers. If they suggest stocking certain things, we give it a try. We have so many wonderful regulars that come in the café and deli all week.”

She added: “We always envisioned what we wanted to do with this new space once it became available two years ago, but we knew we had to focus on one business at a time, so we focused on the deli first.

“We’re excited to be widening our offering even more to create a different kind of experience for people who want something that bit extra special. The area was crying out for something like this. We look forward to welcoming both familiar and new faces through the doors.”
Caffeine Project Afternoon Teas are available between 12-5pm Thursdays to Sundays.

 To book visit HERE.

A fireworks spectacle and spooky surprises were central to a Day of The Dead-themed fun Halloween event at The Fleur de Lys in Lowsonford.

Some 600 people soaked up the seasonal fun at the pub’s Halloween & Fireworks Party on Friday, enjoying a host of live family entertainment, from fire shows to music and food.

It marks the eleventh successful Bonfire Night event organised at The Fleur by owners Emma and Nick Woodhouse.

Attractions this year included performances from Storm In A Teacup circus group, including a spectacular fire show, stilt walker and hula hoopers as well as Vala Stiorra, the tarot reader. Plus, for the kids, there was the chance to get involved in face painting, craft tables and a fancy dress competition. There was also live music sets from local five-piece covers band Real Human Beings.

And it was eyes to the skies for a sensational fireworks display later on in the evening.

Emma said: “People don’t necessarily expect much from a little country pub when it comes to fireworks, but we’ve always been a bit extra. If we’ve learnt anything over the past decade of setting fire to things in our garden, it’s that more is always more. So when we decided to combine our annual fireworks night party with Halloween we knew we wanted to make it a night to remember for everyone. We drafted in circus performers, tarot readers and face painters to make sure there was fun for all the family and had Real Human Beings band on hand to get the party going.

“We’re incredibly lucky to have such a brilliant community here at the Fleur De Lys who love to spend an evening cooing over fireworks and dancing in the dark with us. Over the years we’ve tried to make this event as family-friendly as possible, including craft tables and cookie decorating stations as well this year, to keep little ones engaged even if they’re not that interested in the big show.

She added: “The Fleur De Lys was crowned as the Best Pub of the Year at Coventry and Warwickshire’s Foodie Awards this year, so it felt more fitting than ever to throw everything we’ve got at creating an unforgettable evening to thank all of our customers for their long and loyal support. Hopefully we did them proud!”

The Fleur De Lys is nestled in the picturesque village of Lowsonford on the banks of the Stratford Canal between winding roads which used to be part of The Forest of Arden. The garden boasts an acre of land and is also popular as a stop-off for canal users.

The Day of The Dead theme, for Halloween, could also be seen as a nod to one of the building’s former guises as a mortuary, from where the bodies were taken to Rowington Church in the absence of a village church. It wasn’t until the early 20th century when it first opened as a tavern, later going on to introduce the ‘pioneering’ idea of serving food and giving rise to the now famous Fleur De Lys pies.

The originator of the Gunpowder Plot, Robert Catesby, lived a stone’s throw away from The Fleur de Lys, in Bushwood Hall on Bushwood Lane. We always talk about Guy Fawkes, but it was actually Catesby’s plan to replace Protestant James I with a Catholic monarch.