The UK’s first specially-blended aphrodisiac COFFEE, which combines a rare Indian coffee bean with essence of oyster, went on sale today – and shoppers are limited to just one cup due to the blend’s amorous intonations.

The new super seduction blend – De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé – has been created for De’Longhi by Huddersfield coffee connoisseur David Cooper and is being offered to shoppers at luxury lingerie store Rigby & Peller in central London. Makers De’Longhi are taking no chances that it will have an immediate affect by enforcing a one-cup-only rule.

Coffee, especially in espresso form, is a powerful aphrodisiac and more commonly used in the UK for a morning pick me up than a date night treat. Cooper, who is the founder and managing director of Cooper’s Coffee, joined forces with De’Longhi, the Italian coffee experts in 2008 to create Caffe Raro – the world’s most expensive coffee. He has now teamed up with De’Longhi again to launch De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé – the first specially blended aphrodisiac coffee.

De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé infuses a rare and unique coffee bean, Indian Monsooned Malabar, with luxurious oyster essence from the seas of South East Asia. Monsooned beans are very rare – left out during the monsoon season the beans benefit from the moist rain soaked air which circulates through the beans giving them a smooth unique flavour with a rich body and long toffee finish.

To create the amorous blend the beans are carefully roasted to a rich dark mahogany then – while still warm – the oyster essence is infused into the beans creating a seductive blend unlike any that have been created before.

Kate Rolton De’Longhi UK said, “With our Italian heritage we pride ourselves on being experts in coffee and felt with this unique blend we are able to bring some tips on Italian romance and passion to UK shores. De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé is a rich and dark coffee with the slightest hint of exquisiteness with each sip – it would be impossible not to fall in love with it.”

David Cooper said: “This is one of the most difficult blends I have ever worked on but also one of the most interesting. The difficulty arose from trying to infuse the coffee beans without the taste of oysters dominating the overall taste. Our quest to find a suitable oyster extract took us around the globe and we tried three different products including dried oyster powder from Asia.

“In the end we settled on a very expensive liquid oyster essence from Indonesia which proved the perfect way of infusing the beans without spoiling the taste. The resulting coffee is exquisite with a well-balanced, deep flavour and body. It really is truly irresistible.”

Nicky Clayton, Creative Director at Rigby & Peller, added: “The one cup limit is a very good idea as we expect De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé to live up to its name – we hope the coffee will prove irresistible in its own right and raise money for a great cause.”

Available for a limited period De’Longhi’s Amore del Caffé is now available in London at Rigby & Peller stores in Mayfair, Knightsbridge & Chelsea for £39 per 100g package and all proceeds will go towards Macmillan Cancer Supports World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

Somerset-based delicatessen meat specialist, Bringing Home the Bacon, has won another four awards this week for its top quality bacon and sausages. These latest additions to the trophy cabinet see free range pig farmer Anna Mogford add two more Gold and two Silver Taste of the West awards to her ever increasing list of honours.

Anna is thrilled about her most recent awards and says it is an important endorsement for her products. “It’s fantastic news! Winning in the Taste of the West Awards is a great measure of quality and it’s a wonderful feeling to know that my pigs and my products are appreciated so much. I have enormous pride in what I do and I always strive for perfection, so it’s very rewarding to get such positive feedback from this prestigious organisation.”

The Bringing Home the Bacon Dry Cured Unsmoked Back Bacon and Dry Cured Traditional Oak Smoked Back Bacon both won Gold awards, whilst the Traditional Old English Breakfast Sausages and Sage & Caramelized Red Onion Sausages both won Silver medals.

This latest news comes hot on the trotters of Bringing Home the Bacon’s recent One Gold Star award for its Unsmoked Back Bacon at this year’s Great Taste Awards, organised by The Guild of Fine Food. Bringing Home the Bacon has also won a number of other awards in recent years, including 2009 Taste of the West Silver Award for its Natural Oak Smoked Back Bacon and Streaky Bacon, and 2009 Taste of the West Bronze Award for its Unsmoked Dry Cured Back Bacon and Streaky Bacon.

Based in Donyatt, near Ilminster, Bringing Home the Bacon produces high quality bacon and sausages from free range, ‘home reared’ pigs, resulting in cured and smoked meats with the finest flavours and tastes. The focus is on quality and provenance, and the range has SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation.

The prestigious Taste of the West Awards is one of the most highly respected in the food and drink industry, established seventeen years ago. The awards highlight successful and high quality businesses across food and drink production, hospitality and food retail.

Bringing Home the Bacon’s range of bacon and sausages, as well as special combination packs, are available online at www.bringing-home-the-bacon.co.uk and from specialist delis nationwide.

This year’s exquisite Panama Esmeralda Special, widely regarded as the best coffee in the world, is a unique combination of rare Giesha Arabica, immaculate cultivation and processing practices, delivering a coffee of unsurpassed aroma and flavour. It is exclusive to Fortnum & Mason.

Available in a 250g tin of round coffee (£60) as well as a 250g pack of roasted beans (£50) this is the perfect gift for all coffee lover’s out there, or as a decadent self-indulgent treat.

Delight your senses with aromas of mandarin orange, jasmine and redcurrants which excitedly mingle with deliciously sweet, transparently clean and vibrantly citrusy flavours. Indulge yourself with a cup of Esmeralda Special coffee that is elegant, silky, magnificently balanced and finishes dreamily.

The coffee estate is Rainforest Alliance Certified, and under the management and guidance of third generation farmers, the Peterson family, who continue to strive for excellence in coffee, careful maintenance of the land and support of both the workers and their respective families.

Darren Williams, Coffee Buyer for Fortnum & Mason says, “We are extremely passionate about quality coffee and the new Panama Esmeralda Special is a fine example of the best of the best. Importantly, the superior flavour is matched with a commitment to environmental and social sustainability that we are proud to have associated with Fortnum & Mason.”

The new Panama Esmeralda Special will be available online at www.fortnumandmason.com as well as in store from 1st September.

This handsome chunk of meat hails from award winning Pipers Farm. Specifically it is a 4 week hung Red Ruby Entrecote Steak, cut, sealed and frozen in the perfect size for one.

“Our Entrecote Steak is just the eye muscle of the sirloin, so has no layer of visible fat. Tender, juicy and full of flavour. Serve with a simple red wine sauce (with caramelised onions) for a real treat! Our red ruby beef has a wonderful depth of flavour. Why? Because it has been bread on its native Exmoor and then grown slowly to natural maturity on the Somerset Levels. This gives a well-marbled, fine-grained texture which reaches perfection when we hang it on the bone for a month. Boneless Rib is just one of our well-loved roasts, and our perfectly trimmed Mince or our superb Grilling Steaks are just two mouth-watering ideas for everyday eating.”

Five individually packed single portions. (Free flow pack of 5. Take only what you want and freeze the rest for later.) retails for £36.99. Just one item from an impressive range that takes in lamb, chicken, bacon, sausages and even ready made meals.

“We started Pipers Farm 20 years ago, when our sons, Ed and Will, were very young. Our goal was to produce healthy meat that we as a family could enjoy eating with complete confidence. Today Pipers Farm helps to sustain 30 farming families who have natured the countryside for generations. We passionatly believe in offering our customers the best and healthiest meat they can buy, always a pleasure to cook, sensational to eat and excellent value. Peter and Henrieta Greig”

Pipers Farm offer their range via their internet site in addition to operating a shop in Magdalen Road, Exeter.

A Yorkshire ice cream maker is hoping to help mark Yorkshire Day with the creation of four unusual ice cream flavours.

Award-winning ice cream maker Yummy Yorkshire has used traditional dishes and foods from the county including Yorkshire pudding to create four different sweet and savoury ice cream flavours.

The ice cream makers which is based on the outskirts of Huddersfield say its four course ice cream meal is ‘a taste of Yorkshire in a lick’.

Unusually, the ‘starter’ ice cream on the menu is Yorkshire Pudding, Gravy and Womersley Raspberry Vinegar ice cream. Yummy Yorkshire created the flavour in support of a campaign by fruit and herb vinegar producer Womersley to see the dish returned to its traditional place at the head of Sunday lunch. The campaign is being supported by several high profile Yorkshire chefs including Michelin- Starred Andrew Pern, Tim Bilton and Stephanie Moon.

Further flavours on Yummy Yorkshire’s menu include Green Pea ice cream, Beef & Horseradish and Old Yorkshire Trifle, based on the recipe of Brenda Batty, a customer who recently entered a competition to create a new flavour for Yummy Yorkshire. The recipe, which is over 70 years old, belonged to her mother-in-law Elsie Maxfield and consists of sponge, custard, raspberry jam, cream and sherry.

Speaking about her four course ice cream menu, Louise Holmes of Yummy Yorkshire says: “To celebrate Yorkshire Day we wanted to show our appreciation of the county in the way we know best – through ice cream. Some of the flavours may sound odd but they are surprisingly tasty – especially the Green pea ice cream which really brings out the sweet taste you get from fresh peas.

“The Yorkshire Pudding flavour has had a very mixed reaction – some love it and some absolutely hate it. It’s a mess with your mind ice cream!

“The Roast beef and horseradish ice cream is a killer combination as you have all the taste of the horseradish without the heat. The beef has been shredded and rippled through the ice cream making it look like a crumbled up flake, which again can confuse your mind a little bit.

“Our dessert flavour, the Old Yorkshire Trifle, is gorgeous and we are confident that this will prove extremely popular. The ice cream leaves you with a lingering taste of sherry and custard just like the real thing!

“We hope that people come and give the flavours a try – who knows, they may become a new staple in the Yorkshire diet!”

It is the first time that Yummy Yorkshire has produced savoury ice cream flavours; the ice cream producer is known for its distinctive flavours such as Lou’s Liquorice but Louise believes the new flavours are some of their most adventurous yet.

The flavours will be launched on Yorkshire Day, Sunday 1 August, at Yummy Yorkshire’s farm and ice cream parlour located on the edge of the Pennines between Huddersfield and Penistone.

In celebration of the event, the ice cream producer is also putting on a free bouncy castle on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for its customers. For directions visit www.yummyyorkshire.co.uk

[Image caption: Louise and Jeremy Holmes of Yummy Yorkshire with their Yorkshire Day Ice cream menu. Jeremy holds Yorkshire Pudding, Gravy & Womersley Raspberry Vinegar Ice cream and Green Pea Ice Cream, Louise holds Beef & Horseradish Ice Cream and Old Yorkshire Trifle Ice cream.]