For coffee fans, the news that the best espresso in the UK is to be found in Highland Perthshire may come as something of a surprise.
Visitors to the Habitat Caf in Aberfeldy will, however, already be aware that the fledgling business is offering something special. The business scooped two awards in the annual Beverage Standards Association (BSA) awards.
It won not only the Best Drinks Award for Best Small Espresso, but also received Five Cup Accreditation from guest of honour Dame Kelly Holmes.
The latter award recognises that the caf has reached the highest level in the quality of and presentation of drinks, customer service, ambience, cleanliness, menu range, training and sustainability procedures.
Habitat Caf was opened eight months ago by husband and wife team Mike and Jan Haggerton who were determined to introduce the local community to a range of Australian speciality coffees.
Mike, 43, quit his job as a business consultant over two years ago and spent around a year researching the coffee shop market.
He himself did not drink coffee until he was 40, but says the switch was not that unusual.
“I used to work in restaurants and wanted to do something I enjoyed for the rest of my life, so came up with the coffee shop idea,” he said.
Ranald Paterson, chairman of the judges of the Beverage Standards Awards, said: “Habitat Caf was assessed twice, two months apart, by different assessors.
“I recognised we had discovered somewhere special on reading their completed reports.”
He said the caf had gained some of the highest marks ever in the awards.