WELCOME
AUSTRALIA
Editor & Publisher Steve Moore steve@caffeinemagazine.com.au Sub Editor Rosalie Brennan rosalie@caffeinemagazine.com.au Marketing & Distribution Annie Moore annie@caffeinemagazine.com.au Partnerships Director Amanda Atkinson amanda@caffeinemagazine.com.au UK OFFICE
Founder & Creative Director Scott Bentley Editor Phil Wain Printed by IVE Group, Sydney Cover image Bentley Creative Contributors Stuart Ritson, David Jameson, Don Mei, John Bradley, Safia Shakarchi, The Bitter Barista Thanks to Ed Cutcliffe, Paul Hallit, Jem Challender, Ben Bicknell, Penny Wolff and Kellie Buckley Like us facebook.com/caffeinemagaus Follow us instagram/caffeinemagaus ©2022 Caffeine magazine, and all its associated trademarks, is the legal property of Bentley Creative Ltd. 13 Sherwood Way, West Wickham, BR4 9PB (bentleycreative.com). ©2022 Caffeine magazine Australia is published four times a year in Australia, under agreed licence, by EroomCreative Pty Ltd, 14 Macquarie Street, Belmont NSW 2280 (eroomcreative.com). Caffeine magazine Australia is printed on 80gsm uncoated paper by IVE Group Pty Ltd. Any material submitted to Caffeine magazine Australia is sent at the owner’s risk. Neither the publisher, nor its agents, accept any liability for loss or damage. Reproduction in whole or any part of any contents of Caffeine magazine without prior permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Caffeine is printed on FSC® certified paper. All details correct at time of going to press.
Celebrating innovation Without innovation where would we be? True innovation is all around us and can manifest itself in many ways. Our cover story explores the not-so futuristic world of scientifically replicating coffee. While there’s little doubt it would be better for the environment, we ask; Does it taste any good? Is it economically viable? And, perhaps most importantly, what does it mean for the livelihood of the farmers and growers that depend on the supply chain to origin? You can read more from page 18. Innovation of a different sort is the adaptation of traditions and habits to reverse a negative situation. We are repeatedly hearing how our consumption of coffee is harmful to the planet. Yet the truth is, over sixty per cent of this harm is caused once the raw materials are in the importing country. So, we as Australians are in control of how we manage our impact. Businesses can look to become carbon neutral, or go beyond neutral with innovative solutions like C2Zero. As consumers, we can effect simple changes to our routine that will collectively influence change. Reusable cups, that we review from page 30, are a great start. As long as you only buy one and you use it regularly to replace your use of disposable cups, you’re making a difference. Extend that reusable regime into other areas of your life – canvas shopping bags, buying loose fruit and veg, getting refills instead of new packaging – and now you’re really cooking! As Jeb Berrier from the 2010 documentary Bag It is often quoted, “Why would you make something that you’re going to use for a few minutes out of a material that’s basically going to last forever, and you’re just going to throw it away?” Turn to page 35 to discover how campaigners and action groups are helping us to help ourselves to turn the tide on plastic. While you read our latest edition, I hope that you’re also enjoying a delicious caffeinated brew and embracing this glorious coffee culture that fuels our day. Until next time, stay safe, be kind and keep it specialty.
Steve Moore Editor
Our featured contributors
Stuart Ritson
Stuart is a freelance coffee consultant and the director of EU and UK sales at Osito Coffee. When he’s not writing for Caffeine Magazine, he sources coffees for roasters around the world. His cover story takes an in-depth look at the world of molecular coffee and questions if this is the future, or just fantasy. What coffee are you currently enjoying? “Shoondhisa, Guji Natural from Manhattan Coffee in Rotterdam, NL.”
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David Jameson
With over 16 years of coffee experience, from multinationals to micro-roasters, David is a Q Grader and a two-time UK Coffee in Good Spirits champion. Coffees that he’s selected have reached world finals in four of the past six years and have won over 40 Great Taste Award stars since 2018. David recently launched his new UK project Danelaw Coffee. What coffee are you currently enjoying? “Gardelli Sumatra Tolu Batak.”
Safia Shakarchi
Safi a is the founder of Another Pantry, an online platform celebrating contemporary British food culture. With four seasonal recipe releases a year, and an emphasis on the people and stories behind what we eat, it aims to encourage a seasonal, slow and conscious attitude to food, whether we’re dining in or out. @anotherpantry What drink are you currently enjoying? “Rhubarb and oolong kombucha.”
Don Mei
Don is owner of Mei Leaf and he has been travelling to East Asia to source tea direct for more than 18 years. In this time he has gained extensive knowledge of tea production, brewing and culture. On page 12 he explains the delicate and difficult task of tea roasting and how the process can take up to two days! What tea are you enjoying at the moment? Golden Turtle Oolong – a rock oolong from the Wuyi mountains.
THE GRIND TEA
The heat is on
Tea roasting is a difficult task performed by skilled experts, and it can completely change the flavour of your beverage, as Don Mei explains
Be-oom – London’s first Korean tea bar
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tea. However, the roasting of tea differs significantly from that of coffee in style, temperature, frequency and duration. Tea will “roast” anywhere between body temperature and 150°C, and the durations are counted in hours rather than minutes. Most teas are roasted for about eight to ten hours, but I have seen this stage last up to two days! The traditional style of roasting is arduous and skilled work. Maintaining glowing embers of longan wood charcoal at the desired temperature for days is an art matched only by champion barbecue pitmasters. The roasting rooms are dark and sweltering. Dome-shaped bamboo baskets containing the precious leaves stand over the embers. The tea must be shaken every hour or so to even out
The ability to maintain heat in longan wood charcoal (above) for days is a specialised skill that can produce exquisitely roasted tea (right)
F LOAT I NG LE AVE S TE A
H
eat is integral to the transformation of a fresh leaf into a delicious tea. While most of us understand the impact of roasting on coffee, the use of heat in the creation of tea is much more nuanced and rarely discussed. There are three main heating phases in tea production. The first is sha qing, which has the main purpose of denaturing enzymes in the leaf. This fixes the tea at a specific level of oxidation. The method of heating has a significant effect on the character of a tea, and sha qing is done in wood-fired hot woks, electric ovens, over rising steam and all manner of other variations. The process is often completed over multiple stages with staggered temperatures and durations in order to prevent scorching and assist in shaping the leaves to improve flavour. The second heating phase, gan zao, has the primary purpose of reducing moisture. While this may seem simple, the style of drying shifts the quality of a tea dramatically. Oven-dried teas taste totally different to tea that is hand-rolled over woks or laid out under the sun to develop that shai qing (sun-dried) taste. After these two heating phases we have raw tea which could be sent to market. However, for teas such as oolongs, the tea has to be finished by a roaster. The roasting phase, known as hong bei, can transform a tea completely. Roasters will taste the raw tea, or maocha, and select a roasting profile to suit the tea and their clients. As with coffee, roasting sets off chemical reactions that change the balance of compounds in the
the roast but, crucially, cannot touch the charcoal as this would create smoke and lessen the quality of the tea. Oolong tea is rarely roasted once. Medium to dark oolongs are usually roasted at least three times over a couple of months. While coffee aims to get the beans to the consumer as soon as possible after roasting, freshly roasted tea is frowned upon. Most high-quality teas are not released to market until the tea has had three to six months of resting after the final roast to calm the roasted notes. This highlights a key difference in the intention of tea versus coffee roasting. Of course, roasting will change the flavour of a tea and, just like coffee, it will thicken and smooth out the texture. But one of the purposes of roasting tea at low temperatures is to stabilise the natural aromatics of the leaf, reduce volatility and allow it to be enjoyed for years. So the next time you enjoy a fragrant oolong, consider dedicating a sip or two to the roaster – the unsung artist in the journey from leaf to cup. meileaf.com
Café with class from Lavazza Claiming to serve the best Italian espresso outside of Italy, this image of opulence is actually Lavazza coffee’s flagship café opposite the iconic Liberty department store in London’s West End. Lavazza describes the unique space as an “immersive coffee experience within the coffee culture”. The counter, designed by architect Carlo Ratti, takes inspiration from the shape of the coffee bean and is made from brass and recycled coffee powder, while the chandelier is made of 700 resin coffee beans. There is even an interactive installation that projects the aromatic notes of each blend onto the ceiling, as well as an augmented reality game; the aim of which is to find Lavazza coffee cups hidden around the city, which can be collected on your smartphone and then exchanged in the shop for a series of prizes. If you're lucky enough to be in London, it’s definitely worth a visit.
THE GRIND
WO RDS, STY LI NG A ND PH OTO GRA PH Y BY SA F I A SH A KA RC H I
Brown sugar and coffee cream meringues Espresso-infused cream gives a wonderful nutty flavour to these moreish cakes
I
f the past couple of years have taught us anything, it’s to really appreciate the simple things – a cup of coffee, a sweet treat or a flick through your favourite magazine (ahem!). To celebrate our continuing return to normality, I’ve put together a recipe for these brown sugar and coffee meringues. They’re a quick, simple and impressive dessert to enjoy with a coffee after a dinner party or a lazy Sunday lunch with family and friends. I used Pablo & Rusty’s Porter St Specialty Coffee Concentrate to get the flavour into the cream, and I can definitely recommend a bottle for your baking, morning shake or iced coffee needs.
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DELISH!
Method
Ingredients
4 egg whites (approx 120g) 240g soft light brown sugar 400ml double cream 30ml coffee concentrate 1tbsp icing sugar 40g chocolate, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 140°C/120°C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone baking mat. In the bowl of a stand mixer or using an electric whisk, beat the egg whites until soft white peaks form, being careful not to overbeat – you don’t want the egg whites looking like cotton wool. Once you have soft peaks, begin adding the sugar 1tbsp at a time, beating for a few seconds between each addition. Continue until you’ve used all the sugar and the meringue becomes stiff and glossy. Spoon the mixture on to your prepared baking tray, splitting it into six equal portions. To make sure they aren’t spread too thin, dollop quite a small, high pile and then slowly flatten and spread out
with the back of your spoon. Bake for one hour, or until the base of the meringues come away from the paper or mat easily. Once baked, turn the oven off and allow the meringues to cool in the oven for a further hour, before removing to cool completely. When you’re ready to serve, in the bowl of a stand mixer or using an electric whisk, whip the double cream along with the icing sugar and coffee concentrate in the bowl until stiff, fluffy peaks form. Again, be careful not to overwhip. If you do and your whipped cream splits, don’t worry – just gradually add more cream until it is smooth again. Plate up each meringue with a generous dollop of coffee cream, and sprinkle with chocolate to finish. Enjoy with a cup of coffee.
THE GRIND
Kool cafés
on the block
Smoult’s Larder A round-up of interesting coffee spaces worth a visit
Little Bird Café
Hobba
Barton Milk Bar
100 Lake Street, Northbridge WA 6003 Three good mates took over this cute café business in 2020, shortly before WA slammed their doors shut to the rest of the country. Unperturbed, they set to creating a welcoming vibe that has become very popular with the locals. Dine-in breakfast and lunch, plus a mouthwatering selection of cakes and pastries, are accompanied by coffees from the Margaret River Roasting Company. Old Faithful blend for milk-based coffee and Genesis for those preferring to take theirs black. @littlebirdcafe
428 Malvern Road Prahran, VIC 3181 Opened in 2011, Hobba’s owners have converted this former tyre factory into a temple of fine food and good coffee, serving gourmet breakfasts that include their own take on Eggs Benedict with pastrami and house-made sauerkraut. Yum! Fully-licensed and serving delicious coffee by Five Senses, there's nothing left for you to do but immerse yourself in the spacious and comfortable warehouse aesthetic while sharing in what has now become a Prahran institution. hobba.com.au
39 Barton Street, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Three years ago, brother and sister James and Cat Laskie bought this charming 1920’s general store and milk bar. After an extensive euro-style fitout they now offer a variety of food with a ‘euro lean’ and serve their own seasonally-rotated coffee blend – beans mostly from Brazil, Tanzania, PNG and Guatemala. bartonmilkbar.com.au
186 Whatley Crescent, Maylands WA 6051 This boutique corner storeturned-deli, is nestled in one of Perth’s coolest suburbs. In addition to the mouth-watering array of delicatessen delicacies on offer, you can grab yourself a hearty brekkie and a very tasty coffee courtesy of beans sourced all the way from Western Sydney’s Brightside Coffee Co. smoultslarder.com.au
Hardware Société
Supply Speciality Coffee & Bar
10 Katherine Place, Melbourne VIC 3000 European cuisine in a modern and cosy space – it doesn't get much better. With 'sister' cafés in Barcelona and Paris you know that the French- and Spanish-inspired breakfasts and brunches are going to be on point. The baked eggs with chorizo is sublime and with coffee from Market Lane you're in very safe hands. hardwaresociete.com
15 Orlando Street, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 Family-owned and run by Todd McCarthy and his sister Emily, this old surf shop now exudes a welcoming industrial chic. Roasting their own coffee on-site, they offer two blends and alternating single origins to a growing fan base of local specialty coffee aficionados. Their home-baked pastries are pretty tasty too! supplycoffee.co
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THE GRIND
...is seasonality in coffee? We’re used to consuming coffee all year round but, as Edward Anderson Brown explains, drinking the right coffee in season can be a more rewarding experience
W
Fresh start
In the early years of the 21st century, as the specialty coffee movement was looking to disassociate itself from the commodity-oriented roasters, freshness was given a greater value than readiness and availability. Coffee’s peak period is based on the perennial crop cycle, so once a coffee reaches 12 months from harvest it’s considered as old or “past crop”. As months go by, the green coffee can taste papery, astringent and woody, so importers and roasters
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High and dry
alike want to sell their product before the coffee loses its initial character. This desire, however, comes with its own difficulties both in growing and roasting. Fundamentally, it is about being organised. As we’ve said, from a roaster’s perspective it’s about maintaining peak quality of coffee and balancing a diverse set of coffee all year round. From a producer’s perspective, the organisation is quite different. It is about managing each biological step through the year in order to create projections for best ways to process and prepare the coffee. And that’s not always easy. Take Colombia, one of the few countries that breaks away from the classic perennial growth cycle and has two harvest periods per year, one large and one smaller (the second, smaller harvest is known as the mitaca). The great benefit of the multiple harvests
One of the final stages between farm and export is drying, which can also be the most crucial step. This step is where coffee is rested to the required moisture content for export; if done too slow or too fast it can degrade the coffee and raise of the risk of ruining the flavours. To preserve the peak at this stage, it’s vital to make sure coffee is not stored loose in the open air and has a controlled drying period. If the coffee is stored well this peak flavour period can last longer – another six or even 12 months. This final point to remember is that while seasonality can be an important consideration when purchasing coffee, it needn’t be the crux of the decision. For roasters it’s an important factor in determining how much to buy, but as long as the coffee still tastes good it can still be rewarding for the discerning drinker. But where does coffee go once it has reached that end of life stage? Well, there’s a home for every coffee and someone out there will enjoy it – whether it’s in instant coffee, syrups or just cheap coffee.
MI C H AE L B U R R OW S - PE XE LS
hile munching my way through a beautifully presented muesli breakfast bowl, I felt an odd sensation staring at a scattering of fresh berries whose natural lifespan should really have really been over by March. It may have changed in the modern era, but the idea that food has seasons is as old as cultivation itself. Food growth, and therefore consumption, has always been cyclical; coffee is no exception. Coffee is grown in more than 70 countries, and the climate of each country will affect when the coffee trees start to flower and then, six to eight months later, bear fruit. Like the berries on my brekkie, coffee has a period of time in which it is fresh and tastes its best. The ideal scenario for a coffee business is to have a rotating offering of coffees available in order to showcase each in its peak period.
is that fresh Colombian coffee can be readily available all year round – but from a producing point of view it can be very difficult to manage. Managing different flowerings and protecting the tree, as well as the additional manual labour that might be required when there is a large flourish ready to be picked, are then crucial. In most cases this harvest management is also an important factor in coffee processing. Take two further examples, Burundi and Brazil. Burundi has a rainy season that can often overlap with the harvest season that usually begins in March; as a result, natural or dry processed coffees will be produced towards the end of the harvest in order to avoid the rain so there’s a risk of spoiling the coffee through mould. In Brazil, a country with very different production style and scale, farms are organised so their coffee processing doesn’t overreach the maximum capacity of the farm. Ana Luiza Pellicer, whose family farm, Mió, exports coffee to the UK, tells me that “the farm is split up in different land parcels… the main areas of the farm have varieties that ripen first, and the further out the farm goes there are different varieties that ripen later in order to make the harvest logistics work.”
T R U LYAU S .CO M
THE PLACE TO FIND REAL AUSTRALIAN STORIES
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What’s the
ideal solution?
The minerals in your water – whether tap, bottled or filtered – will have a huge effect on the coffee you brew. But, as David Jameson explains, there are numerous processes that will help you get the flavour you want
W
hen brewing coffee, water isn’t just important for taste. Anyone in a hard water area can testify to the damage limescale does to their electric showers and kettles, as the minerals precipitate out of solution and coat their heating elements. This process happens even faster under pressure, such as in an espresso machine boiler; and the water does have a huge impact on the flavour of your brew too. Simply put, hard water flattens the flavour of coffee. Even if you’re brewing where the water is soft and sweet, some sort of water treatment could help you get the best from your brew. When water is very low in minerals, it’s actually harder to extract full flavour from your coffee. The calcium and magnesium ions that naturally occur in a lot of water help to draw the flavour out of the grinds. That’s why dozens of products have come to market to treat water for home consumers, each promising to offer the ideal solution that gives you, well, the ideal solution.
Die hard
The definitive text on water for coffee, fittingly titled Water For Coffee, was co-authored by three-time UK Barista Champion Maxwell ColonnaDashwood and University of Oregon
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chemist Christopher Hendon. It’s not exactly a poolside page-turner, but if you want the juicy details, it’s a great place to start. To summarise: some calcium and magnesium is good, too much is bad; some bicarbonate is good, and too much is bad. “For home customers, once they have the basics of brewing and quality beans covered, the biggest element left stopping them achieving a café-quality brew is the water,” Maxwell says. “The solution will depend on where you live and what your water is like. Hardness is a common problem and simple water filters will help with this. If you want to take it further, you can look at adjustable filters and more comprehensive filtration solutions like reverse osmosis or under-sink cartridges.” Speaking to Angelique Richardson of Filter Systems Australia, it would appear that our biggest flavour challenge is the chlorine or chloramine (chlorine and ammonia) that gets added to our domestic water to disinfect it. Not to mention the naturally occurring geosmin that is produced by water-born algae. Angelique describes it as that ‘muddy smell you get after rain’ and is often noticeable when eating freshwater fish. It’s enough to put you off drinking water all together, but thankfully there are a number of ways around it.
Bottled water usually lists its mineral content on the packaging, so you can study and analyse exactly what the composition is to meet your needs. Plenty of baristas have their own favourites – Mount Franklin, Pump, Fiji, and Just Water with its plant-based carton are all popular options for those who want good, clean water on the go. Of course there are many, many sustainability challenges that come with extracting water, packaging it and then shipping it around the world. It’s a good solution in a pinch, because you know exactly what you’re going to get. Whether it’s a reasonable option as your daily brewing water is a question for your conscience.
Love is the jug
A cheap and more sustainable option could be using a filter jug. Different results are available from different manufacturers. Brita and BWT are the best known of the filter jug options, available in many larger supermarkets: jugs cost $20 to $50, with refill cartridges around $8 to $10. Or there’s the 100% Australian owned and based ecobud range of water filtration that includes the Gentoo filter jug. They all work in a similar fashion, almost as a pour-over for your water. There is an activated carbon component
DA N IE L S IN OCA U NS PL AS H
WAT E R F O R C O F F E E
to clean up any chlorine tastes, as well as a resin to reduce calcium content, while BWT’s premium cartridges swap calcium for magnesium. These filters are all relatively cheap, easy to use and widely available, but can be a little imprecise, with the source water having a massive influence on the result. In fact, they generally don’t work that well in hard water areas. A more sophisticated option is Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood’s Peak Water. Here, the water follows a labyrinthine path through a carbon filter and then two resins, each stage designed to have different effects on the water. It can be customised to work for different hardness levels, giving it an edge over its mainstream rivals. Where cheaper filter jugs work as a blunt instrument, the Peak Water jug is more of a precision tool. This level of engineering and insight comes at a price though: the jug starts at $99 and refills are $60 for two. Whichever jug you invest in, you’ll need to replenish your store of cartridges regularly, since their performance noticeably deteriorates once the resin is used up – they should be replaced at least every eight weeks to prevent the build-up of potentially harmful bacteria. That can mean frequent replacements in some areas, with the obvious associated expense. Another jug-based solution is a water recipe kit such as Third Wave Water. With these products the idea is to take distilled water and add exactly the right proportions of minerals to it, usually sold in the form of a small ampule of the mineral concentrate. This may produce more reliable results, but it’s harder and more expensive than you might expect to get food-grade distilled water – the majority of that market goes to things like car radiators, or is scented with passionflower and ylang ylang
in ironing water (which admittedly would make for an interesting cup of coffee). This approach can be taken further still, with the use of baking soda and Epsom salts to customise your water to your precise requirements.
Sink big
For the really serious home consumer, another option is to put a filter on the water supply to your house. I was surprised to find the cost was not prohibitive, with basic under-sink kits starting as low as $140 (excluding installation) with cartridge replacement required every six months. This entrylevel fix isn’t the most sophisticated filtration and treatment option, but it’s a good and cost-effective starting point. Installation is an easy process, with the cartridge located conveniently under the kitchen sink. Output can be to a dedicated filtered water tap (those little ones like you might get in a caravan) or to the main cold supply. There’s a range of more heavy-duty filtration units available, including offerings from Brita and BWT
If you’re in an area where the water is soft, you may need only a carbon filter (starting from around $390), as well as commercial filter manufacturers like Pentair and 3M. Each performs differently depending on area, and it’s probably worth talking to your favourite local roaster to see if they have any recommendations. Geography makes a big difference here – if you live in the eastern seaboard or Tassie, the water
is likely to be softer, and you may only need a carbon filter or a remineralisation cartridge. If you’re anywhere else in Australia then you might need a more substantial treatment option. In most metro areas, we’re fortunate to be able to access detailed information about the composition of our tap water online at our water supplier’s website. This is a helpful guide to what the best plumbed-in filter options are for you.
Reverse forward
For a lot of people, the ultimate solution for perfect coffee water is reverse osmosis. Although it sounds like a wrestling submission hold, this is actually the process of stripping all the minerals out of your source water to leave absolutely pure water behind. In fact this is too pure to use as brewing water, but it can be remineralised by either carbonfiltered source water or another inline cartridge. Many specialty roasters used to insist on these systems in the 2000s, and cafés spent a lot installing them. They work by making pure water and storing it in an expansion tank. When there’s high demand, the tank drains and then expands again as it refills. They’re fairly complex and require professional installation and maintenance, with a multitude of cartridges, membranes and softeners required to keep them running. Kits can be purchased online for about $650, but the cartridges need changing regularly. As with many facets of the specialty coffee industry, there isn’t a single right answer. Budget, volume and the quality of the source water all contribute to what you might need to do to get the best possible solution. If money is no object, a reverse osmosis system might be the right option for you. If you’re making an AeroPress every morning, there’s probably a more cost-effective way to achieve a similar result.
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COFFEE LIQUEURS
Bringing liqueurs in from the cold There’s a whole world of caffeinated cocktail creativity beyond espresso martinis and coffee negronis. We put three home-grown Aussie coffee liqueurs through their paces Photography: Gary Smith
C
offee cocktails have come a long way in recent years, and now the espresso Martini has earned a regular slot on mainstream cocktail lists across the country. Fortunately, the days of being forced to use uninspiring liqueurs such as Tia Maria or Kalhúa are behind us, and now there are some really interesting coffee liqueurs on the market. Some of these are being made by people who appreciate the subtleties of specialty coffee, and they often use cold-brew coffee as the base. Perhaps the best-known brand on the market is Mr Black Cold Press Coffee Liqueur which is roasted and distilled on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Founder and CEO Tom Baker explains that they blend beans from Brazil and Colombia for the classic coffee flavour, adding PNG for some citrus notes, and the fruity acidic burst of an Ethiopian. Together they deliver bittersweet dark chocolate coffee hit with a hint of vanilla. Darren Barber of Wolf Lane Distillery in Cairns, says that their multiple gold medal-winning ‘The Barista’ Coffee Liqueur is a truly Aussie production.
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First they take a ‘hot-press’ Australian coffee extract sourced from their Far North Queensland neighbours at Jaques Coffee combine it with fresh vanilla beans from the Daintree and their own vanilla bean vodka. Darren says that the end result is more about the coffee flavour and “not so much a sugary liqueur”. The LIQQ is a brand-new player on the coffee-vodka landscape from a Sydney micro-roaster. “It’s a 16 per cent proof alcohol that designed to be an aperitif, a digestif or the base and bulk of an espresso martini,” say The LIQQ Lab. “We use a single-estate Colombian coffee brewed using three different methods. This is triple filtered before being blended with our own in-house vodka, distilled from scratch, and an exotic liqueur.” They were pretty cagey about their secret liqueur’s ingredients. To put these liqueurs through their paces, we have created a series of fairly simple cocktails that will add a delicious caffeine kick to any drinks list. One thing to consider is that these liqueurs often lose much of the acidity and lighter notes that are so popular in modern coffees, so it’s worth experimenting with citrus twists or even sharp berries to introduce these notes to the final drink.
Black & Stormy • 20ml Mr Black Cold Press Coffee Liqueur • 40ml Talisker Storm Single Malt Scotch Whisky • Small pinch of sea salt • 3 dashes of Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters • Burnt orange twist Build in a tumbler and garnish with a burnt orange twist. This cocktail pairs the richness of Mr Black with the bold yet beautifully balanced sweet and salty flavours in Talisker Storm Whisky. The sea salt brings out a little more sweetness in the drink, while the addition of walnut bitters will bring back memories of walnut and coffee cake. Finally, the burnt orange twist adds a touch of acidity to the drink, as well as complementing a similar flavour note in the whisky.
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COFFEE LIQUEURS
A Fairly Gentle Kick • 30ml The LIQQ Coffee Vodka • 20ml Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur • 2 dashes of Peychaud’s Aromatic Bitters • 120ml Capi Cola • Orange twist • Poblano chilli Build in an ice-filled glass and garnish with the orange and the poblano chilli. The name of this cocktail makes it sound more potent than it is. In reality, it’s a delicious, long drink that’s inspired by the mantra “what grows together goes together”. The flavour of the single-estate Columbian coffee beans in The LIQQ coffee vodka balance perfectly with the gently spicy and rich raisin flavours in the ancho chilli liqueur. Capi Cola adds complexity, while the Peychaud’s bitters and orange twist bring the aroma to life.
Model Victoria at Hired Hands Rings @victoriapalmz Bracelets Model’s own
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REUSABLE CUPS
Playing for keeps With cafés starting to accept reusable cups again, we take a look at twelve of the current crop on offer
1. Frank Green Ceramic Reusable Cup
A multiple award-winning, triple-walled, stainless steel cup with a ceramic inner lining to prevent flavour tainting. Claims to be ‘unbreakable’ and we didn’t prove them wrong. Spill test Pass Upside-down test Pass Flavour taint None Heat retention Excellent Shock resistant Yes Car cup holder friendly Not all cars Dishwasher safe No Lid function One-button press is slick but cleaning is fiddly. What the barista says: “Compact, stylish and well designed. Feels solid and is a good size to hold. May not fit under all brew heads and the ‘max fill’ line is hard to see so be sure not to overfill it.” RRP $44.95 for 10oz/295ml frankgreen.com.au
2. KeepCup Filter Brew Cork
The Brew range is made from fully-tempered soda lime glass and has a BPA/BPS-free plastic lid. The cork band is made from the by-product of wine production in Portugal. Spill test Pass Upside-down test Fail Flavour taint None Heat retention Average
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Shock resistant No Car cup holder friendly Yes Dishwasher safe No Lid function Simple lift and slide operation. Make sure you click it shut or it will leak. What the barista says: “The cork-glass combination has a really nice natural feel but it’s not ideal for heat retention. Size is good to fit under a domestic or commercial portafilter. Lid off drinking is a pleasure.” RRP $33.00 for 8oz/227ml au.keepcup.com
3. Avanti
GoCup – Driftwood The faux wood finish of our test cup disguises a double-walled stainless steel construction that is insulated and vacuum-sealed. The resulting temperature retention is impressive. Spill test Pass Upside-down test Pass Flavour taint None Heat retention Excellent Shock resistant Yes Car cup holder friendly Yes Dishwasher safe No Lid function The screwtop lid is water-tight and the simple flip-up cover on the drinking hole can be operated one-handed. What the barista says: “Well-sized for most commercial coffee machines and the fill line is clearly marked. Coffee
R
emember the ‘olden days’ when drinking your takeaway coffee from a disposable paper cup was just the way it was? Sup it up and chuck it. There wasn’t a lot of choice unless you were happy to carry around an empty Thermos all day. And then, in 2007, the KeepCup came along and changed our perceptions. The reusable cup is now a part of our daily coffee toolkit – evermore sophisticated and with a price tag to boot – but it’s well worth doing your homework before you commit. The main mission here is to reduce waste. While many of these products may be made from planet-friendly materials, the over-arching message is to buy one cup and use it always – having a cupboard full of reusable cups just defeats the point. With the help of our product review stalwart, Mr Paul Hallit (Head of Development & Education at The Little Marionette) and Kate McLellan (barista and creative marketer), we sourced a dozen reusable cups and tested them for function, gentle spills, full-on leaks, car cupholder compatabilty, heat retention, and ease of clean – because nobody wants the cheesy residue of last week’s latte lingering in their reusable lid.
flow is very good but the spring-loaded lid mechanism is complicated to clean.” RRP $33.95 for 8oz/280ml avantihomewares.com
4. Cheeki
Insulated Coffee Mug Claiming to be the first Australian brand to introduce stainless steel water bottles to the market, this cup offers not just double but triple-walled stainless steel insulation. Spill test Pass Upside-down test Pass Flavour taint None. Heat retention Excellent Shock resistant Yes Car cup holder friendly Yes Dishwasher safe No Lid function Delivers 360º drinking. Push button is effective but click feels cheap
“The reusable cup is now a part of our daily coffee toolkit – evermore sophisticated and with a price tag to boot – but it’s well worth doing your homework before you commit”
and cleaning is a little tricky. What the barista says: “Comfortable to hold, with a handy non-slip pad on the base. Coffee flow is good but hard mouthpiece is uncomfortable and this leopard print option throws me. Will be too tall for most group heads. Would make a handy cocktail shaker too.” RRP $34.95 for 8oz/280ml cheeki.com
5. Fressko Bino Cup
Performing the best in our review, this unassuming chemical free and lightweight vessel is very-much a forever version of the classic takeaway cup. Its scratch-resistant coating will keep it looking its best. Spill test Pass Upside-down test Pass Flavour taint None Heat retention Excellent Shock resistant Yes Car cup holder friendly Yes Dishwasher safe Yes Lid function Visually similar to a disposable cup. Reassuringly simple and superbly functional . What the barista says: “Such a great size, clear internal fill lines for the busy barista and a nice tactile scratchresistant finish. Flow of coffee is excellent, absolutely fantastic!” RRP $34.95 for 8oz/280ml au.madebyfressko.com ➞
C O C K TA I L
the caffeinated tipple
Add a tropical twist to your espresso martini for enhanced refreshment
The espresso martini is one of the world’s most popular cocktails. This tropical twist on the drink, from Sydney-based coffee and cocktail expert Martin Hudak, formerly of the Savoy in London, makes it lighter and more refreshing with the tangy pineapple and the robust flavours of Ethiopian coffee and dark rum.
Espresso Martiki Ingredients 40ml dark rum 20ml Mr Black coffee liqueur 30ml fresh pineapple juice 15ml orgeat syrup 30ml espresso made with natural Ethiopian Method Shake with ice cubes and strain into a coupette glass. Garnish with edible flowers. Recipe taken from Spiritual Coffee by Martin Hudak bukful.com/spiritual-coffee
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