Where is Costa Coffee from?

On a grey day in London in 1971, an incredible thing happened: a cup of Costa coffee was poured for the very first time. Its creators, the brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, first sold their coffee to a handful of local caterers. Then to some delicatessens. A few years later, they opened their first coffee shop.

Today Costa is the largest and fastest growing coffee shop chain in the UK. In 1999 Costa opened the first International store at The Aviation Club in Dubai, UAE. 12 years later the Costa brand continues to grow with 79 stores operating in the Emirates.

So while a lot may have changed since that first cup was savoured, our coffee certainly hasn't. We still slow-roast our beans in exactly the same way, and even in the same roasters, as Sergio did on that momentous morning 40 years ago. And as long as coffee lovers like it that way, we'll continue to do so.

To find out about the history of Costa simply use the coffee bean to navigate through some of our key dates.

1978

The Costa brothers open their first coffee shop, on Vauxhall Bridge Road, London.

1988

Coffee production moves to a new Roastery on Old Paradise Street, Lambeth.

1999

First ever international store opens in Dubai.

2006

Costa sets up the Costa Foundation - a registered charity that improves the social and economic welfare of coffee-growing communities.

2008

Costa opens in Moscow.

2009

A UK poll shows that 7 out of 10 coffee lovers prefer Costa. The 1000th UK store opens.

2011

Costa celebrates its 40th birthday.

Made exclusively from slow-roasted beans, Mocha Italia is beautifully balanced, with the sweetness, bitterness and body needed to produce the perfect cup of coffee. That's why we still use it to this very day. As for the blend itself? Sorry that's still a closely guarded secret.

Today, just metres from this very spot, the Costa Roastery continues to produce the same unique blend of coffee they worked so hard to create. It's hard to believe, but virtually every cup of Costa coffee that's ever been drunk has been made using beans that have been roasted here.

A new Roastery, but the same devotion to finding coffee perfection. It's here that our team spend hours every day examining, cupping and charting the exact acidity, body, sweetness, bitterness and aroma profiles of our Mocha Italia blend. If any coffee doesn't make the grade, it doesn't make it to a Costa store, simple as that.

We love to know what people think of our coffee. So we tried a little experiment. In the UK, we blind taste tested our cappuccino against our competitors (Starbucks and Caffe Nero), just to see. The results - a whopping 70% of people who love coffee preferred our cappuccino. Want to know why? Grab a delicious, frothy Costa coffee and you'll see.

Hand-making a cup of coffee is an art that takes time and skill to perfect. And with 40 years of experience, we admit, it's become somewhat of an obsession. But when you're passionate about something there's only one way to do it, and that's the right way. So for us, there's no candles or fanfare on our birthday. We're far too wrapped up in making sure our next batch of beans turns out just as good as the ones that preceded it.