Tongue worth £10m

[JoeyB]

Coffee taster's tongue worth £10m

Gennaro Pelliccia

The insurance policy works out at about £1,000 for each taste bud.

The tongue of the chief coffee taster for a worldwide chain of coffee shops has been insured for £10m ($13.95m).

Gennaro Pelliccia personally tastes a sample of each batch of raw coffee beans at its London plant before they are roasted and shipped to its stores.

"My 18 years of experience enable me to distinguish between thousands of flavours," he says.

Costa Coffee, which sells 108 million cups of coffee worldwide each year, aims to double its number of outlets.

The insurance policy was taken out with Lloyds of London.

"The taste buds of a Master of Coffee are as important as the vocal cords of a singer or the legs of a top model, and this is one of the biggest single insurance policies taken out for one person," said a spokesman for Lloyd's broker Glencairn Limited, which arranged the insurance cover.

"In my profession my taste buds and sensory skills are crucial... and allow me to distinguish any defects," said Mr Pelliccia.

Link

Wow

[JakeShingler]

I want that job.

I don't acctually like cofe tho

[Tabou]

I want that job.

I don't acctually like cofe tho

Yeah, me neither.

[fox123]

Let's hope his Mrs doesn't pick up any STD's eh!

[GLC]

Let's hope his Mrs doesn't pick up any STD's eh!

I could do that job

[JoeyB]

I could do that job

Give him the std's?

[Uncle Monty]

Just watched the video clip of him on the bbc news website. He seems like a nice enough chap.