Our Mission

To provide the highest quality beverages and food, expertly prepared & served in the coolest contemporary environment.

Central Bean classic espresso beans are sourced from selected farms in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia, then medium roasted to our unique profile in the UK. All our coffee, from latte to drip brew, is freshly ground before your eyes.

We only use the highest quality equipment to ensure the coffee you receive always reaches its maximum potential.

La Marzocco, which is considered to be the Ferrari of espresso machines, is designed for top performance using the latest proven computerised engineering whilst being hand assembled by craftsmen in Florence.

Our Cirqua Water Treatment System removes all the impurities and additives from the incoming city water supply, stripping down to base and then adding back trace amounts of minerals for the optimum coffee flavour.

Our Baristas are trained to the highest standards, so high in fact that we are the only coffee house in the North East which boasts latte art on every coffee.  Our reputation as one of the countries very best coffee houses has resulted in baristas coming from far and wide to work at Central Bean. One of our senior Baristas recently judged at the SCAE World Barista Championships in London.

Our Journey

Fluid Group opened the first Central Bean in Gallowgate, Newcastle in 2008…

Fluid Group, up until that time, had specialised in leisure design as well operating their own bar and restaurant company.

Whilst sitting in their office in Gallowgate, Fluid Group Directors, Ollie, Dave and Sarah watched the new office development ‘Time Central’ rising from the ground directly opposite the company’s head office.  They were aware from the agents there was to be a retail unit at ground floor level and were also aware the council had plans for the immediate area surrounding Time Central to become the City’s new ‘business hub’.  The Directors posed themselves a question “what would work in an emerging business district such as this?”  The answer was simple…. a high quality coffee outlet.  Although they were confident the site was right for a coffee house, they did not have the specialist skills to either deliver, or operate such an outlet.  Despite this, they contacted the developers and expressed an interest.

After a short time the agents advised Fluid Group they would need to submit detailed plans, operational information, typical product selection, business plan, plus the company’s USP (unique selling point), which would then be considered by both the developers and their agents.

Fluid Group spent several weeks putting their submission together and arranged a meeting to present.  At that meeting they learned they were in a competitive situation against several companies, all of whom where proposing a coffee business on the same site.  Fluid Group were also informed they were up against at least one major coffee chain.  Undeterred, they delivered the presentation, which focused on quality environment, quality food, quality service, and of course, the best coffee imaginable.

After some time the Directors discovered, to their delight, the submission had been successful.  However, the euphoria soon waned as the task ahead, and specifically the challenge of delivering the best coffee and the best coffee house in the region, became a reality!

Fluid Group are great believers in utilizing their skills of the very best people in the development of their business.  As such, they embarked on a search for the best coffee consultant in the world.  The search took them all the way to Hawaii where they discovered World Champion Coffee Consultant, Andrew Hetzel.  Shortly after, a team of six from Fluid Group embarked on a transatlantic journey, accompanied by Andrew, in which they visited some of the greatest coffee houses and coffee roasters in the Pacific North West.  The journey culminated in choosing the high grade blend of coffee, which is sold in our coffee houses to this day……..

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:59:54 GMT (updated: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:24:57 GMT)