Chat with Head of Coffee Jeremy Regan

To celebrate Muffin Break coffee month, we sit down with our Head of Coffee Jeremy Regan to talk beans, brews and baristas.

As head of coffee, Jeremy is at the forefront of making sure the unique Muffin Break coffee blend is expertly brewed to give you, our customers a great tasting coffee.

So in a coffee shell, describe your job.
Every day is different but it involves tasting a lot of coffee and talking a lot about coffee! I’m responsible for making sure that every kilo of coffee delivered to our bakery cafés is up to our award winning standard.

How did your passion for coffee begin?
It all started when I was involved in opening a café back in the 90’s and I realised that making a great coffee wasn’t as easy as everyone thought! This started me on a journey of learning as much as I could about beans, espresso machines and grinders and how to train our baristas to make an excellent cup of coffee. That knowledge quest has taken me all around the world from cafés to coffee farms to espresso machine factories and roast facilities!

I would say coffee is my life now and I would say I’m 90% coffee, not water!

Tell us about the unique Muffin Break coffee blend?
Our coffee is a selection of beans from five different growing regions from across the globe. The beans are roasted and blended together to make one harmonious blend, that is a little sweeter and something that all customers can enjoy.

Our blend has been chosen specifically to be less acidic than other coffees so that it complements the milk counterpart and we can maintain a silky milk texture. The most popular coffee at Muffin Break is a Cappuccino, so milk texture and taste is extremely important.

What makes our blend awarding winning is the careful balance between bitterness and acidity with a hint of sweetness that some of the beans provide.

What is the most difficult thing about growing coffee?
Crops are fragile and can be easily damaged by frosts, drought and heavy rain amongst other things. These environmental changes can have a huge impact on the farms and eventually this can contribute to the every day cost of your coffee, due to the success or failure of each crop.

What country serves the best coffee?
I would definitely say Australia and New Zealand, as I believe these countries have consistently the best espresso coffee standards across the majority of cafés.

How does Muffin Break coffee compare on an international stage?
Muffin Break coffee is one of the best franchise coffee offers in the world. This comes from our strong focus on high standards, making sure we have the best beans to maintain our award winning blend and our focus on our barista training program to ensure our baristas maintain a strong skill set to produce the best possible coffee.