© Richard Eaton/Costa
Coffee shop chain Costa has unveiled plans to launch rainbow coffees in select UK stores, as the country’s major cities prepare to hold pride celebrations.
The flat whites with special rainbow latte art will be available in five flagship London stores in the build-up to London Pride this weekend, before rolling out to stores in Bristol, Brighton and Manchester ahead of their respective pride events in July, August and September.
The retailer has flown barista and Instagram star Mason Salisbury, who has amassed 25,000 followers with his pictures of rainbow latte art, to the UK from Las Vegas to teach five of Costa’s baristas how to make the drink, pouring milk into a flat white to produce the stunningly colourful visual effect.
Costa said that the new beverage was a mark of its “support for pride and the LGBT+ community”. The chain is a founding partner of brand owner Whitbread’s LGBT+ group, Gay Lesbian Out at Whitbread (Glow), which provides informal networking opportunities for the company’s LGBT+ community and friends.
The coffees will celebrate diversity within Costa and show support for pride. © Richard Eaton
John Kerslake, Costa’s UK & Ireland operations director and co-founder of Glow, commented: “We’re delighted to have Mason fly over from Las Vegas to train our baristas to make rainbow flat whites. We believe that it’s not just our coffee but the people that make Costa so great and Mason definitely shares that mentality. He pours his bright and colourful personality into every cup and we’re so pleased he could share this skill with our baristas.
“Being an open and fair employer is extremely important to Costa: we’re proud to champion equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We hope to demonstrate our forward-thinking ethos with our rainbow flat whites and will continue to show our support for pride and the LGBT+ community.”
And Mason Salisbury said: “Coffee is my biggest passion, so I was really excited when Costa invited me to come to the UK to show their baristas how to make rainbow coffees. The baristas were all fast learners, highly skilled and fun to work with, so we had a great time. Pride is such an incredible event and I’m thrilled that my rainbow coffees get to be a part of it.”
The rainbow flat whites will be available from participating stores from 25 June with a recommended retail price of £2.50.
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