Inside the Factory: discover the history and making of coffee in new BBC documentary tonight

Inside the Factory explores the origins and makings of coffee here in the UK (Photo: BBC)

If you are something of a coffee fiend, the BBC's new documentary series Inside the Factory makes for essential viewing on TV tonight (23 July).

Tea maybe the nation's preferred drink of choice, but the UK does have an interesting history with the coffee bean too.

Instant coffee fix

In this first episode of the series, presenters Greg Wallace, Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman explore both the origins and makings of coffee right here in the UK.

Tonight's programme sees Wallace head to an enormous coffee factory in Derbyshire, where 175,000 jars of instant coffee granules are produced each day.

Wallace follows the production of freeze dried instant coffee, from the arrival of 27 tonnes of Brazilian green coffee beans right through to their dispatch.

Elsewhere, Healey and Goodman head off in search of interesting coffee facts.

Healey learns the effect coffee has on our brains, while Goodman investigate its fascinating origins, visiting the site of the UK's first ever coffee house which sprang up in a London churchyard in 1652.

On her journey of discovery, Goodman learns the role that the British passion for coffee had in the founding of institutions, such as the London Stock Exchange, auction houses and newspapers.

When is it on TV?

Inside the Factory will air on BBC Two tonight (23 Jul) at 8pm.