Ben Jones is young and extremely determined. Determined to serve the highest quality coffee in town, to do it on his own terms, and to do it efficiently and with as little environmental mess as possible.
The 22-year old proprietor of the green and white Caffe Mobile vespacar has become, after two years, a welcome fixture in the city's markets. Before going out on his own he manned the counters of most of Cambridge's coffee bars until, "overworked and underpaid", he realised he had had his fill of what he calls "the corporate lifestyle".
After spotting one of the small, three-wheeled Caffe Mobile vans in London it took him seven months to get a business loan, buy his own van, and get pitches from the council.
The tiny van is environmentally friendly and easy to manoeuvre, providing access to tight, crowded locations. In addition, the van's traditional Italian lever coffee machine produces a remarkably good brew. Ben is rarely short of customers; there is always a crowd around his pitch. "Sometimes," he notes, "people just come up to ask me about the van."
Born in Cherry Hinton (his father owns the Pine Merchant shop on Lensfield Road), Ben is looking for a place of his own. "Brought up here, I work here and I can't even find a place to live," he says. The irony, he acknowledges, is that the upscale clientele who help support his business are the same people who are pushing up housing prices. Nonetheless, it's clear that he has no plans to move or change the way he lives. "I would never work for anyone else again," he says. "And I like Cambridge. It's very cosmopolitan, particularly in the summer with so many visitors speaking so many different languages."
"Coffee is universal," he explains. "It's almost its own language"

Who: Ben Jones
What: Superior Italian coffee and hot chocolate dispensed from his zippy Caffe Mobile veapacar
Where: Sundays, Market Square; Mondays - Saturdays in season, All Saint's Crafts Fair; plus special events including the May balls
How long: Two years
Best seller: Latte and capuccino
Best vending moment: Serving coffee at sunrise at a May ball. "There were punts full of Champagne and 500 people in a queue waiting for my coffee. I had to pinch myself."
Worst vending moment: Rain, snow, cold.
"my business is totally weather dependent."
Word on the street: "Best coffee in Cambridge".... "He should have been on Big Brother instead of Spencer."
Don't say: "This is as good as Starbucks."

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