It’s a cute name and cute concept: this site is more or less a boutique online shop for coffee and chocolate aficionados.
I’m a big fan of both coffee and chocolate and I agree with the site: they go wonderfully well together.
Whether you’re indulging yourself or you have a foodie friend, I think a gift pack from this site would be ideal.
The emphasis is on high-quality, luxury coffees mostly, with exotic flavours like Ethiopian Yergacheffe and Guatemala Maragogype. Peaberrys itself is a member of the Specialist Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).
All chocolate sold on the site is from Cocobean, an Irish company that makes handmade artisan products from natural ingredients.
There is also some additional content for those interested in learning more about coffee. Sections like one entitled ‘Know your machiattos from your couverture and your cabosse from your peaberries’ explain types of bean, types of coffee drinks and how to “taste” your cup of java.
I didn’t realise that coffee was as complex as wine. The site almost tempted me to go searching for a coffee appreciation society, because personally, as a journalist, I run on coffee and never have time to sit down and breathe in the aroma.
There’s also a step-by-step guide on how to prepare the perfect espresso, which probably should be read carefully by many cafes around the country.
As I’ve said I love the concept and love what is on offer but my main gripe is the website design.
It seems as if every page has been made using the same template, so when a page runs longer than the original design, text continues down, hidden under the bottom banner.
Bizarrely, the bottom banner links directly to the SCAE website, although it has text including Peaberry’s contact email, payment system and telephone number.
This doesn’t make sense so hopefully they will change it before frustrated customers give up after clicking on various parts of the banner only to be directed each time to the SCAE.
Another gripe is display of the e-payment system in place. It is done through World Pay (a href=”http://www.worldpay.com/emea/”>www.worldpay.com/emea/) and this should be prominently displayed with a clickable link on the top of the page to reassure customers of security and reliability.
Overall, this is a nice site and not bad for one that’s just launched this month. Once teething problems have been sorted with design I’m sure it will be much more user friendly.
By Marie Boran
