Brazilian café brand The Coffee has made its UK debut with the opening of a site in Liverpool. Founded by brothers Alexandre, Carlos and Luis Fertonani in 2017, the concept opened its first location in 2018 and has since grown to more than 250 locations worldwide.
The brand has partnered with Hussein Umar, franchisee of Canadian pancake brand Fluffy Fluffy, to launch in the UK. The first venue has opened in the ground-floor unit at the grade I-listed Oriel Chambers on Water Street, marking the start of The Coffee’s UK franchising plans.
The Coffee combines Japanese aesthetics with Brazilian coffee culture, an idea inspired by the founders’ travels in Japan. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Umar said: “For us, Liverpool is a massively historic city, from its architecture to its very diverse culture. There’s a big coffee scene here too. Since covid, I think people became very interested in coffee, and a lot of people became home baristas and invested in some kind of at home setup. Everyone knows a bit more about coffee, so they can appreciate the difference between the mainstream and specialist coffees.
We’ve got the standard drinks like espresso and americano, but we don’t serve lattes, cappuccinos or flat whites. We have our version called ‘the true white’, which acts as a blend between the three. We also have a range of speciality matchas that come from Japan and different seasonal drinks. It just looks really cool, and it’s got an almost coconut taste. When we open, we’re also going to be offering baked goods that will come from a local bakery.”
The Liverpool opening positions the city as the starting point for The Coffee’s expansion across the UK, adding a new international brand to the local coffee scene while drawing on both global influences and local partnerships.