Costa

View all press releases

World's most valuable tongue insured for £10 million

Gennaro Pelliccia, the man responsible for the taste of the 108 million cups of Costa Coffee enjoyed in Britain and around the world each year, has had his tongue insured by the company for £10 million at Lloyd's of London. Costa has taken the exceptional step of insuring arguably the world's most valuable tongue because of new research, published today, that undisputedly proves that Costa serves the nation's preferred cappuccino in head-to-head comparison tests with rivals Starbucks and Nero.

The research proved Costa had a record margin of victory, with 7 out of 10 coffee lovers preferring its cappuccino.

The average tongue has approximately 10,000 taste buds which means Costa has in effect insured each of Pelliccia's taste buds for £1,000.

Pelliccia, Costa's Italian Master of Coffee, personally tastes every single batch of raw coffee beans at the company's roastery in Lambeth, London, before they are roasted and shipped to its stores.

Download PDF of full press release

Download the high resolution image

Contact the Press Office