Beanscene February 2020

FEBRUARY 2020

A World-Class Coffee Magazine

The age of simplicity Advanced technology meets uncomplicated design

Good morning, Vietnam Cold coffee makes its mark 49 ISSN 1449-2547

9 771449 254002

Airport coffee reaches new heights 02

Andre Eiermann calls Australia home

PRE-GRIND OR GRIND ON DEMAND DESIGNED FOR WORKFLOW AND PURPOSE BUILT FOR SPEED AND CONSISTENCY. MARKIBAR’S IZAGA COMBINES EXCELLENCE IN PRACTICALITY AND FUNCTIONALITY. Built with two operating modes Pre-Grind and Grind On Demand. In Pre-Grind mode the IZAGA delivers an instant dose, allowing baristas to allocate time spent grinding elsewhere in their workflow, saving up to 7 seconds per double dose. The IZAGA’s traditional workflow setting Grind On Demand will cater to off-peak pe periods. The IZAGA also features an isolated grinding chamber with an intelligent ventilation system enabling cooler grinding and consistent dosing.

It’s efficiency without compromise on quality.

Barista Group is the exclusive importer of Markibar Coffee Grinders in Australasia

sales@baristagroup.com.au www.baristagroup.com.au

SCAN THIS BARCODE FOR A DEMO

A NEW STANDARD IN CONSISTENCY WITH THE SIMPLE TOUCH OF A BUTTON, THE INNOVATIVE ÜBERMILK DELIVERS CONSISTENT MICRO FOAM MILK AT THE IDEAL TEMPERATURE, STREAMLINING BARISTA WORK FLOW, REDUCING CAFÉ TRAINING TIME, AND DECREASING MILK WASTE. It further ensures baristas are able to concentrate on perfecting espresso shots and latte art, while allowing them to better engage with customers. Übermilk is distributed exclusively in Australia and New Zealand by Barista Group.

For additional information or to schedule your trial, Please email sales@baristagroup.com.au

SCAN THIS BARCODE FOR A DEMO

sales@baristagroup.com.au www.baristagroup.com.au

FEBRUARY 2020

16

43 55

contents UPFRONT

10 NEWS 14 STUFF ON THE SCENE

52 AN ACCADEMIA FOR THE WORLD

La Marzocco brings research, innovation, and information together to create value for the entire coffee industry

The latest must-have products

INDUSTRY PROFILES

16 KNOWLEDGE LEADER

FEATURE NEWS

Why former Swiss Barista Champion Andre Eiermann will call Australia home

38 MICE2020

20

43 KEEPING IT COOL

CELEBRITY CHEF

Johnny Di Francesco talks world championships, but not as we know them

29

FROM START TO FINISH

Clark St Coffee Roasters takes a holistic approach to sustainability

33 BACK TO BACK

Danes Specialty Coffee on its secret to consecutive AICA Champion Australian Roaster titles

36 CONCRETE JUNGLE

Coffee as a construction material?

University students replace sand with coffee grounds to reduce landfill and build roads

48

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM

Jibbi Little recounts her origin trip to South-East Asia as Milklab Barista Battle Series Champion

50 LESSONS LEARNED

Espressology’s Instaurator on how to grow a new business and set up existing ones for future success 4

beanscenemag.com.au

Melbourne Coffee Week gets set to unite the coffee community

A look at the growing cold coffee market and why Australia is lagging behind

55

SKY’S THE LIMIT

You don’t have to leave the airport for a quality coffee experience

58

68

ESPRESSO YOURSELF

70

TRAINING TACTICS

Jibbi Little sticks her neck out with a humble giraffe latte art design Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on correct tamping technique for consistent extractions

CAFÉ SCENE

62

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE GOING PRO

The Rancilio Silvia Pro makes its mark in the domestic market

46 EAGLE ONE

Introducing the new era of espresso machines where less is more

66 GRINDER EVOLUTION

Service Sphere takes a trip down memory lane with the history of grinder technology

CAFETTO CAFÉ SPOTLIGHT

Cleanliness and consistent coffee rule at CREAM in Brighton, South Australia

63

CAFÉ SCENE

Around Australia

72 R&D LAB

Dr. Monika Fekete on why coffee grinds become coarser when grinders heat up, and how this changes the speed of extraction

GREEN BEAN SPECIAL FEATURE

Project Origin, Southland Merchants, Fairtrade, and Minas Hill share their origin focus for the year ahead

25

SKILL BASE

75

TEA SCENE

76

COFFEE FOR CHANGE

Where Australia ranks in the rapidly growing global tea market ASCA is committed to addressing human rights issues at home and at origin

77 LOOKING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

The NZSCA reflects on a successful year and ponders what’s to come in 2020

78

E SCENE

Fans of the magazine

MO

MONICI

CO

COPERCHINI

PA N

PANETTIERI

vershoot o c e n e c S n Bea

PUBLISHER Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Baker sarah.baker@primecreative.com.au JOURNALISTS Ethan Miller ethan.miller@primecreative.com.au

Coffee-Aroma 740 Waverley Road Malvern East, VIC 3145 www.coffee-a-roma.com.au

Peter Papoulias peter.papoulias@primecreative.com.au

Welcome to the first edition of BeanScene for 2020. This year is already shaping up to be one of the most eventful yet for the Australian coffee industry, with the coffee world coming Down Under in May for the 2020 World Barista and Brewers Cup Championships and Melbourne International Coffee Expo.

The event will be a time showcase new and emerging trends in the commercial and domestic coffee industry, as the accessibility to specialty coffee continues to spread. One such machine that has the domestic coffee machine talking is the successor to the iconic Rancilio Silvia model, the Silvia Pro. Combining the classic look and feel of the Silvia with advancements in coffee technology, BeanScene Editor Sarah Baker says it had been years since a domestic coffee machine graced the cover of BeanScene, and the start of a new decade seemed like the perfect time to honour this iconic machine.

“The Rancilio Silvia has been pride of place in Australian homes for years and the new model is expected to drive the next generation of specialty coffee lovers who want to enjoy quality coffee at home,” Sarah says. “Australians take their coffee seriously and now there really is no excuse.”

The Rancilio Silvia Pro was first released at HostMilano 2019 in Italy. Rancilio Area Manager – Australasia Paul O’Brien says demand for the new model has been unbelievable.

“I was on the Rancilio stand in Italy and was fielding constant calls from Aussies who wanted to get their hands on the machine,” says Paul. “People love the original Silvia for its simplicity and performance. Now the new model has the technology to match.”

The Silvia Pro is not slated for release until later in 2020, however just before Christmas, BeanScene was lucky to use one of two models in the country, flown in especially for the covershoot and customer testing. For such valuable merchandise, it was also important to find the right venue to host the shoot.

Paul suggested long-time Rancilio partner and equipment and accessory retailer Coffee-A-Roma in Malvern East, Victoria, where regular BeanScene photographer Blake Storey snapped the winning action shot.

“We are extremely excited about the Silvia Pro as many customers love the Rancilio brand, but they desired capability beyond what the Silvia can The age of simplicity offer,” says Coffee-A-Roma Owner Lawrence Walshe, who has worked directly with Rancilio for more than a decade.

“The launch of the Silvia Pro will please many customers and us.”

To learn about the Silvia Pro, see page 25 and see it firsthand on display at MICE in May 2020.

FEBRUARY 2020

Advanced technology

A World- Class Coffee Magazi ne

meets uncomplicate d design

Good morning, Vietna m

49 ISSN 1449-2547

9 771449 254002

6

beanscenemag.com.au

Cold coffee makes

02

its mark

Airport coffee reache s new heights

Andre Eiermann calls

Australia home

ART DIRECTOR Blake Storey DESIGN Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Camilo Molina camilo.molina@primecreative.com.au CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Zelda Tupicoff zelda.tupicoff@primecreative.com.au DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS TEAM LEADER Janine Clements janine.clements@primecreative.com.au PHOTOGRAPHY Blake Storey, ASCA, South Australian Tourism Commission CONTRIBUTORS Jibbi Little, Babin Gurung, Maurizio Marcocci, Emma McDougall, Kieran Westlake, Bradley Cahill, Mafalda Moutinho HEAD OFFICE Prime Creative Pty Ltd 11-15 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 p: 03 9690 8766 f: 03 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au www.beanscenemagazine.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 03 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au BeanScene magazine is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher.

ARTICLES All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

COPYRIGHT

BeanScene magazine is owned by Prime Creative Media and published by Christine Clancy. All material in BeanScene magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in BeanScene magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by, the publisher unless otherwise stated.

our family just got bigger... literally new milklab almond 2 litres

Ideal for high volume cafes

Less packaging, less waste

Compatible with automatic coffee machines

ORDER TODAY / 1800 646 231 / info@milklabco.com

milklabco

CONTRIBUTORS In each issue of BeanScene we profile a few of our talented contributors.

Kieran Westlake is the current President, past Treasurer, and past Vice-President of the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA), Australia’s peak industry body dedicated to promoting and growing the specialty coffee industry. In his role, Kieran is excited to create opportunities and pathways for ASCA members. He is also a member of the Specialty Coffee Association, and a certified food service professional.

Babin Gurung is the Suntory Coffee New South Wales Barista Trainer. With a Masters degree in accounting from the University of Southern Queensland, the only numbers Babin crunches these days are extraction and dose times. He came to Australia from Nepal 11 years ago to study, fell in love with coffee, and hasn’t looked back. Babin has worked at many different cafés in Sydney, and now enjoys sharing his coffee knowledge and skills to help build a new generation of baristas.

Rawirat Techasitthanet, also known as Jibbi Little, is originally from Thailand and lives in Sydney, Australia. She is a barista, latte artist, and roaster at Jibbi Little Roasting Co. She is also the designer and creator of the Jibbijug milk pitcher. Jibbi has worked in the coffee industry for the past 10 years. She is a five-time Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) NSW Latte Art Champion, and is the 2019 ASCA Pauls Professional Australian Latte Art Champion.

Jibbi is also a Q-Grader, competition judge, and founder of the Jibbi Academy.

Maurizio Marcocci lived in Milan and attended the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, where he completed a Masters of Economics and International Relations. He has distinct qualifications from Italy as a Certified Coffee Taster with an Espresso Specialist Certificate. Now, as the Managing Director of Service Sphere, Maurizio has grown the business to become an industry leader in the sales and service of coffee equipment in just 10 years.

Emma McDougall is the Communication and Administration Coordinator for the NZSCA. After gaining a degree in hospitality management, Emma has worked in Sydney, Dublin, Auckland, London, and most recently, Wellington. She has owned and managed cafés and tech-judged the New Zealand Barista Championship in 2015 and 2016. Now, she gets to help run them. One of the greatest joys she gets from the coffee industry is watching young people progress through their coffee journey.

A word from the Editor

UNITED IN TRAGEDY

A

s the clock stroke midnight on 31 December 2019, many Australians were not celebrating. They weren’t out with friends drinking espresso martinis to toast the new year. They were defending their properties, livestock, and lives as fires ravaged our sunburnt country and the dry conditions created the perfect red carpet entrance to thousands of people’s new year nightmare.

I looked outside as Melbourne’s blue skies turned to grey smoke haze, and monitored the country towns that had been a holiday sanctuary since I was a child, now ablaze and under threat.

At the time of print, 5.9 million hectares of towns, cities, national parks, and bushland are destroyed, 19 people died, and around one billion animals were killed. Words can’t comprehend the devastation to the lives, homes, and wildlife we have lost, nor the courage of our firefighters who have braved unthinkable conditions. In true Aussie spirit however, a chain reaction of coffee roasters, green bean buyers, cafés, and restaurants wasted no time in donating a percentage of sales of green beans, coffees, and retail items to associated relief funds. The Aussie spirit in times of adversity is inspiring.

The world has always looked to Australia as an inspirational destination.

We are the bucket list country, the must-visit place for our beaches, large rock, sport, dangerous animals, happy-go-lucky nature, and our coffee scene.

Baristas come from all corners of the globe to experience our vibrant culture first hand, and learn the skills that pits our baristas among the best in the world – on and off the competition stage.

Andre Eiermann is one such barista from Switzerland set to call Australia home as he heads up a new Victoria Arduino Experience Lab (see page 16).

Even before Andre sets foot on Australian soil, he will be able to experience a little slice of coffee heaven at Melbourne Airport. The transformation of highend specialty shops has become a laneway taste of Aussie-made coffee before our foreign friends have even made a beeline for the taxi rank (see page 55).

This welcome refurbishment is perfectly timed as we get set to welcome the world to our doorstep in May for the Melbourne International Coffee Expo, and World Barista and Brewers Cup Championships.

While the next few months and years ahead will be challenging for many Australians as they rebuild their lives and join the slow boat back to normality, we hope the world will continue to show its support behind our country and celebrate what makes us unique. We may have lost lives, homes, and precious wildlife these past few months, but our community spirit is going nowhere.

SARAH BAKER

Follow us on Twitter @BeanSceneEd ‘Like’ us on Facebook @BeanSceneCoffeeMag Follow us on Instagram @beanscenemag

8

beanscenemag.com.au

20

20

SPONS

O

R

Specialty Coffee.

Special Milk.

Official Milk Supplier to the WBC 2020 Melbourne

RECEIVE A FREE MILK TRIAL IN YOUR CAFÉ *

1800 993 081 riverinafresh.com.au @ RiverinaFresh

The Riverina region is renowned for its agricultural diversity and history.

With 98 years of manufacturing

AWARD WINNING TASTE * Maximum of 2 mixed crates per venue

and milk supply from the Riverina region, we believe origin matters.

McLean Farm, Finley, NSW

NEWS

CAFESMART RAISES MORE THAN $200K IN 2019 The annual CafeSmart campaign has raised more than $200,000 in 2019.

StreetSmart Australia created CafeSmart to unite the coffee community to combat homelessness.

Around 800 cafés participated in this year’s campaign by donating $1 per coffee sold on 9 August.

With $203,070 of funding going to 173 organisations in 2019, CafeSmart’s total tally has been taken to $1.2 million since the campaign began.

Single O won the National Roaster Champion award after recruiting 83 of its wholesale customers to join the initiative. Five Senses Coffee Roasters was runner-up and Allpress, Padre, and Campos Coffee rounded out the top five.

Single O in Surry Hills, New South Wales, was also crowned the National Fundraising Champion after raising more than $2300 during the campaign. It was the café’s ninth year of involvement in CafeSmart. Kwik Koffee Busselton of Western Australia was runner-up, raising more than $2000.

One of the organisations to receive support is West Welcome Wagon in Melbourne.

CafeSmart raised more than $200,000 in 2019.

“West Welcome Wagon is extremely grateful to StreetSmart and your entire network of volunteers, supporters, and donors. Our commitment to fully support asylum seekers, refugees, and other needy newcomers to our region sees us maintain support for more than 500 needy households,” says Chris Scerri, Chairman of West Welcome Wagon.

“Funds provided to us by

StreetSmart enables us to help vulnerable families and individuals by supplying them with needy linen and bedding… We treasure being a part of StreetSmart’s family of beneficiaries and love seeing how many other worthy grant recipients are performing extraordinarily to address the entire scope of homelessness.”

CafeSmart began in 2011 and takes place annually on 9 August.

ZIGGY VARAMULIA DEFENDS ASCA WESTERN REGION BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE Richrath of Five Senses Coffee placed third in the competition, which took place at Optus Stadium in Perth from 16 to 17 of November. “[Barista competitions are] difficult, time consuming, and draining, but I want to share the stories of people who

Image: ASCA

Ziggy Varamulia of Arlo by Mo has won the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) 2020 Vitasoy Western Region Barista Championship for the second year running.

Matt Goncalves of Merchant & Maker placed second and Lena

Ziggy Varamulia is the ASCA 2020 Western Region Barista Champion.

10

beanscenemag.com.au

have dedicated their lives to coffee.

There’s surely no better feeling than standing in front of the judges and the crowd and telling that story for everyone to hear,” Ziggy says.

“I’m a bit calmer this year and just want to keep the focus – with nationals looming and then the World Barista Championship in May, representing Australia would be an absolute dream of mine.”

In the ASCA 2020 Western Region Brewers Cup, 2018 winner Heath Dalziel of Third Time Lucky was crowned champion, with Renae Murray of 5 Senses Coffee placing second and Mike Wells of Veneziano Coffee Roasters placing third.

Andy Tseng of DarkStar Coffee won the ASCA 2020 Pauls Professional Western Region Latte Art Championship with AFL-themed designs inspired by the venue. Huang Yuan-Ching of Mel & Co Kitchen placed second and Alex Whigham of Cream placed third.

Ru Teow of Laika Coffee won the ASCA 2020 TCX Western Region Cup Tasters Champion while self-proclaimed home enthusiast Cheng Paul placed second ahead of independent entrant Wen DC, who placed third.

RAISING THE ESPRESSO BAR

Find out more camposcoffee.com

NEWS

AUSTRALIAN COFFEE CHAMPIONSHIPS HEAD TO ADELAIDE and celebrate the best of the best Australian talent.”

Kieran says the ASCA board’s goal was to find a suitable venue, eight to 12 weeks prior to MICE, that celebrated food, wine, coffee, and culture, while providing a destination/holiday feel “like Hobart’s Dark Mofo or Noosa’s Food and Wine festival”.

“From this search and with the support of Condesa Co Lab, the opportunity came for ASCA to host the 2020 National Championships at Tasting Australia, which is

Tasting Australia will host the ASCA Condesa Co Lab 2020 Australian Coffee Championships.

internationally recognised as an event where foodies come to discover what’s new on the menu,” Kieran says.

“Whether it’s due to a collaboration between world-class chefs, an inimitable tasting of beer, wine, or spirits, or now, attending a custombuilt arena in the heart of Adelaide showcasing the very best talent of the Australian coffee industry, Tasting Australia is an event any foodie would be sad to miss.”

Tasting Australia will take place form 27 March to 5 April.

Image: South Australian Tourism Commission

The Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Condesa Co Lab 2020 Australian Coffee Championships will take place at Tasting Australia in Adelaide from 27 to 30 March.

The event will include the Vitasoy Barista Championship, Pauls Professional Latte Art Championship, Brewers Cup, TCX Cup Tasters Championship, Monin Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, and Monin Coffee Chain Challenge.

“With the excitement of the World Barista Championship coming back to Australian shores, hosted again at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE), the ASCA board has had to ask, ‘where will the Australian National Championships be held in 2020?’”

ASCA President Kieran Westlake says.

“Ultimately, we saw this as an excellent opportunity to take the nationals outside of Melbourne for the first time in recent memory, to engage with other markets, and provide a renewed and reinvigorated level of enthusiasm in the baristas, supporters, and industry partners who travel every year to watch, participate in, support,

RUSSIA RECLAIMS WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY Arseny Kuznetov of Traveler’s Coffee in Russia has won the 2019 World Coffee Roasting Championship, held at the Taiwan International Coffee Show from 15 to 18 November.

Bogdan Georgescu of Coffeeville Roastery in Romania placed second, and Mateusz Karczweski of Audun Coffee – Norwegian Roast in Poland placed third.

Australian representative Takumi

Sakamoto of Brut Coffee placed 15th in the roasting competition.

Twenty-three competitors took part in the competition, which included green bean evaluation, sample roasting, production roasting, and blend roasting stages.

“I think it’s unbelievable that I’ve gone down in history,” Arseny says, translated from Russian.

Arseny is the second Russian competitor in a row to win the World Coffee Roasting Championship, succeeding Vladimir Nenashev of Mosaic Coffee.

The next World Coffee Championships, the 2020 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup, will take place at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo from 4 to 7 May 2020.

Arseny Kuznetov of Russia has won the 2019 World Coffee Roasting Championship.

12

beanscenemag.com.au

Grown from plants for barista made coffee.

Everything you do with dairy, you can now do with plants.

Made exclusively for trade, our CafĂŠ range has been specifically formulated to froth just like dairy milk, complementing your barista skills to deliver the perfect plant-based coffee every time.

STUFF ON THE SCENE

Stuff on the scene IZAGA GRINDER The Markibar Izaga is designed for workflow and is purpose-built for speed and consistency.

It combines excellence in practicality and functionality.

The grinder features two operating modes: Pre-Grind and Grind On Demand. In Pre-Grind mode, the Izaga delivers an instant dose, allowing baristas to allocate time spent grinding elsewhere in their workflow, saving up to seven seconds per double dose. The Izaga’s traditional workflow setting Grind On Demand will cater to off-peak periods.

The Izaga also features an isolated grinding chamber with an intelligent ventilation system, enabling cooler grinding and consistent dosing. It’s efficiency without compromise on quality.

Barista Group is the exclusive importer of Markibar Coffee Grinders in Australasia.

For more information, visit www.baristagroup.com.au

OCD V3 The Ona Coffee Distributor (OCD) V3 is the third model of the patented distribution tool designed by former World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic.

Used by baristas around the world, the OCD distributes coffee grinds evenly around the portafilter basket prior to tamping, creating a more even and consistent espresso extraction.

This latest model includes a static-reducing coating on the distributing base, which reduces static build-up and grind retention during use.

For more information, visit www.onacoffee.com.au/product/ocd-v3

Traditional antivibrator: It is vulcanised rubber pasted with steel. It is a difficult part to separate and consequently the recycle is difficult and expensive.

Antivibrator reviewed with Ecodesign: The used rubber is easily separable from the steel, and consequently the separation and recycle becomes easy and economical.

Rubber sheet

BRAMBATI ECODESIGN Ecodesign represents an organisation in respect of the environment, which requires the valuation and minimisation of the negative impact that each product or service causes during its entire life, from the beginning of its existence through to its dissolution.

For its coffee-roasting plants, Brambati evaluates the energy that will be used, air emissions that will be produced, spares and consumables required for well-functioning maintenance and activity operations, dissolution at the end of their life stage, recycle or reuse wherever possible, and recovery and decontamination of areas where machines are operated.

This objective evaluation and comparison to possible alternatives allows Brambati and its customers be aware of its environmental impact and the best choice for the most ecological solutions.

For more information, visit www.brambati.it/en

MAZZER KOLD S ELECTRONIC The Kold S Electronic is designed for high performance in high-volume coffee shops.

The grinder-doser features belt driven transmission, conical grinding blades, and slow speed rotation, all contributing to its suitability for performance over volume.

Baristas are put in control thanks to micrometrical or on-demand grinding, and single or double dose ability, all with independent adjustment. Meanwhile, a digital display shows the shot counter, dose cap, and dosage settings.

Besides enhanced performances in terms of consistency and retention, Kold S is characterised by the particular attention it pays to the temperature of the coffee beans.

Coffee is protected against exposure to heat should grinding times be extended. This is thanks to a specifically designed mechanical construction, low RPM, and a double cooling system monitoring the motor and grinding chamber.

For more information, visit www.cwe.com.au

14

beanscenemag.com.au

LOCALE COFFEE ROASTERS ORGANIC BLEND The latest seasonal release of Locale’s Organic coffee blend is arguably its best one yet, a perfect balance of milk chocolate, sweet spice, and raisin flavours.

The blend’s newest origin also supports a very worth cause – the Orangutan Coffee Project (OCP) in Indonesia which focuses on two main initiatives.

First, coffee farmers must comply with strict environmental measures that help protect Sumatra’s fragile ecosystem. Second, it supports an orangutan conservation program that cares for, protects, and rehabilitates injured, orphaned, and rescued orangutans. Locale has committed to an ongoing partnership with OCP and recently visited Sumatra to see first hand how the programs are benefiting the communities, rainforest conservation, and the endangered local wildlife.

The inclusion of this origin brings a syrupy richness to the coffee with the added benefit of making a difference while drinking it.

For more information, visit www.localeespresso.com.au

BONSOY ALMOND Bonsoy believes traditional milk is making people feel anxious, especially those who are lactose intolerant. But Bonsoy is here to say, “don’t sweat it”.

Since 1983, Bonsoy has crafted premium-quality drinks packed with real food for real people. Plantbased, non-genetically modified food isn’t a fad. To Bonsoy, it’s the past, present, and future. Whether it’s saying goodbye to lactose, or simply a health preference, Bonsoy calls its dairy alternatives “wholly made goodness”.

Now it’s introducing Bonsoy’s all-natural almond milk, using roasted almond paste. With a light flavour profile that holds when heated, and a natural nutty almond fragrance, it’s a perfect pairing for coffee that also froths well. Bonsoy’s almond milk can be enjoyed in a smoothie, with muesli, or on its own.

There is nothing artificial. It’s soy-free, dairy-free, and vegan.

For more information, visit www.bonsoy.com

KOLD S NEW! • • • • •

High performance with uniform grind Control panel with statistics, alerts and max dosage settings Conical grinding blades with micrometrical grinding adjustment Double electronical ventilation system – keeping beans protected from heat exposure Available in single and three phase options CONTACT US TODAY

INFO@CMS.COM.AU

WWW.CMS.COM.AU

(03) 9462 5055

KNOWLEDGE LEADER

SWISS MADE As a Brand Ambassador for the Simonelli Group, Andre Eiermann has experienced the different coffee cultures of Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific. Now he is settling permanently in Australia to head up a new Victoria Arduino Experience Lab.

Andre’s next adventure

Andre Eiermann’s love of coffee has taken him all around the world.

Now the former Swiss Barista Champion is set to call Australia home.

16

beanscenemag.com.au

F

or the past few years, 2017 Swiss Barista Champion Andre Eiermann has barely kept his feet on the ground. In his role as a brand ambassador for the Simonelli Group, the Swiss national has travelled from Europe to the United States, Asia, and, for the first time in February 2019, Australia.

Andre tells BeanScene that the trip confirmed rumours he had heard of Australia’s reputation for quality.

“The way a normal coffee shop in Australia operates is very close to how I would work on stage for the World Barista Championship (WBC). It’s on such a high level compared to other countries, which you can really see in how they texture milk. A regular café in Melbourne textures milk much better than maybe 99 per cent of the coffee shops in Switzerland,” Andre says.

“I went to Patricia Coffee Brewers in Melbourne and there were so many people on the bar. There was one person just texturing milk and another just extracting shots. The barista measured every dose with a scale and if it was out of the specs, he’d redo the shot. I watched him for about 15 minutes, working at a WBC standard to serve a long queue during rush hour and manage it extremely well.”

Andre even took up the opportunity to experience Australian’s high standards himself, working half a day shift at Commuter Coffee on South Wharf in Melbourne.

“I wanted to see how Australians order their coffee – what they like but also how they behave. Is it what I was used to, the same people every morning who come in sleepy and not in a good mood because they haven’t had their caffeine shot?

We like to call them ‘caffeine zombies’,” Andre says.

“It was an out of body experience serving Australians. They were all in a perfect mood, easy going, and super relaxed, but at the same time, so demanding on all their beverages. They knew exactly what they want.”

Andre admits that despite placing 10th in the 2017 WBC, he couldn’t keep up with the workload.

“I was freaking out behind the machine when I saw all these orders come in. There were drinks I’ve never heard of before, like a magic or three-quarter flat white. Then there were two different almond milks – one sweetened, one unsweetened – among other dairy alternatives. There were just so many beverages,” Andre says.

“It was a very good experience of how a coffee shop in Melbourne really works, and I was totally thrilled. Compared to working a shift in a busy Melbourne coffee shop, the WBC is easy.”

Andre says the biggest surprise from this experience was the proliferation of milk coffees that customers ordered.

“I expected more espresso or long black orders. There is definitely a big desire for milk beverages in Australia. I also realised there’s a strong demand for dairy alternatives,” he says. “In Switzerland, it’s very difficult to find alternative milks and it’s just expected in Australia.”

Andre will be returning to Australia in 2020, this time permanently, where he will head up the Victoria Arduino Experience Lab, aiming to open in Melbourne in March. The Experience Lab will highlight the equipment of the Victoria Arduino brand.

“It will be like a showroom where clients or interested prospects can come

in and do more than just see the models,” Andre says. “It will offer the chance to work with the machines. They can extract shots, become familiar with the machines, and get a feel for what they can really do.”

Andre has had a long relationship with the Simonelli Group, having worked as the Marketing Director of its Swiss distributor since 2012. In 2015, the two companies collaborated to launch the Coffee Academy in Switzerland, which has hosted masterclasses from World Barista Champions Gwilym Davies, Fritz Storm, Hidenori Izaki, and Sasa Sestic, among others.

“Simonelli really opened up their network to me at that time to make the academy and showroom in Switzerland a great success,” Andre says. “Every time I’d visit them in Italy, it didn’t feel like a supplier/distributor relationship. For me, it’s more like being part of a family.”

After competing in the WBC, Andre’s partnership with Simonelli strengthened, taking part in the testing of the Victoria Arduino Mythos 2 grinder and Nuova Simonelli Aurelia Wave espresso machine. Promoting these machines at the 2019 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) was one reason for Andre’s trip to Australia last year. The other was to give a speech on sustainability at an Australian Coffee Traders Association dinner.

“Sustainability was a core component of the Aurelia Wave’s development, but at the time, it was not a topic where my knowledge really lay. I had to dig deep and get familiar with the subject. I also studied Australia and its different approach to sustainability,” Andre says.

“For example, when you look at Switzerland, it’s not an island. There is no

Andre Eiermann made it to the semi-finals of the 2017 World Barista Championship.

beanscenemag.com.au

17

KNOWLEDGE LEADER

sea or ocean around us, so single-use plastic is not as big a subject. But being surround by water and sea life, you can really see the damage that it causes in Australia.”

Andre says it was exciting to see the audience engage with his presentation and wanting to learn more afterwards.

“People kept coming up to me, asking so many questions. I was really thrilled to see so many people interested in how a coffee machine producer can help and work towards sustainability. Others bombarded me with questions about specialty coffee in Switzerland,” he says.

“It was like a full immersion in the coffee scene and connecting with the community felt like the most natural thing to do. Sometimes, you’ll arrive somewhere, put your foot down coming off the airplane, and you don’t need more than 10 seconds to know it just feels right.

Other times, you want to go back up the staircase and fly back home.”

Though the frequent travelling can prove tiring, Andre says he’s “totally energised” once he steps in a café.

“It’s energy consuming, but once you arrive in a new country, talking and exchanging with the local specialty coffee community really gives you back so much energy,” Andre says.

“I EXPECTED MORE ESPRESSO OR LONG BLACK ORDERS. THERE IS DEFINITELY A BIG DESIRE FOR MILK BEVERAGES IN AUSTRALIA. I ALSO REALISED THERE’S A STRONG DEMAND FOR DAIRY ALTERNATIVES.” “I have become a true world traveller thanks to coffee, but also because I’m just curious and eager to learn. Australia is a big country and it’s very versatile.

Looking at the size of the specialty coffee market, I think it will take a good amount of time to fully emerge and learn and exchange information.”

After several years of travelling and experiencing coffee cultures all around the world, Andre hopes to bring some new ideas to the Australian coffee industry.

“One of the interesting things I’ve learned is that, especially in Asia, they have a super scientific approach to espresso extraction. In Europe, sometimes we’ll get a bag of coffee and play around with it. Once we have a great cup of coffee, we are happy and

enjoy it. But in Asia, they really look into every little factor to understand how they just achieved this great shot,” Andre says.

“I really think you can get a lot of inspiration out of the Australian market, but at the same I think it’s also interesting to see what’s happening overseas and would like to bring in some of these international viewpoints.”

Andre says in a market as diverse as coffee, there is always more to learn.

“I really want to highlight what the coffee industry can do, how versatile it can be, and how important it is for the community to work together,” Andre says.

“Coffee is a great industry where you can learn on a daily basis. Even if you think that you already know a lot, you can open another door and suddenly realise there’s a new world to explore.”

FOR ALL YOUR SALES & SERVICE NEEDS

PH: 1800 000 162 A: UNIT C1, 53 HUNTLEY STREET, ALEXANDRIA NSW 2015 E: SALES@ESPRESSOMECHANICS.COM.AU W: WWW.ESPRESSOMECHANICS.COM.AU

AT SOURCED, WE’RE ON A MISSION TO PROTECT THE FUTURE OF COFFEE.

EVERY DOLLAR IN OUR IMPACT FUND GOES DIRECT TO ORIGIN

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-LED INITIATIVES TRACK OUR IMPACT

WE WILL DONATE $1 FROM EVERY BAG OF COFFEE AND $0.50 FROM EACH PACKET OF COFFEE PODS TO SUPPORT FARMING COMMUNITIES. We’re working closely with growing communities at the source, supporting community-led initiatives and making a real difference to lives at origin.

In 2020, we’re working with the Mataõ Women in Coffee Project in Brazil to build important coffee drying infrastructure to help improve the quality of their coffee. With your help, we can build a brighter future for the people who give us the coffee we love.

@sourced.coffee.au | www.sourcedcoffee.com.au

CELEBRITY CHEF

Here’s Johnny Chef Johnny Di Francesco has taken the craft of pizza-making to the masses on land and sea, and hopefully one day, the sky. The pizza master speaks with BeanScene about becoming a world champion and the strength of Neapolitan coffee.

20

beanscenemag.com.au

W

hen Australia’s best barista takes to the world stage to compete in the annual World Barista Championship (WBC) against national champions, they usually travel with an entourage of coaches, colleagues, and supporters. When Melbourne chef and restaurateur Johnny Di Francesco travelled to Parma, Italy in 2014 for the Pizza World Championship, he flew solo.

Armed with confidence and a love for pizza-making, Johnny fronted the judges with his signature Margherita pizza, and came out on top against 600 competitors from 35 countries.

The news spread quickly. World media picked up Johnny’s unlikely win, with headlines reading, “World’s best pizza not in Italy”, and “Australian chef wins prize for best Pizza Margherita”.

Overnight, Johnny Di Francesco became a household name.

“I could never have imagined the reaction I would receive across the country or the world. It’s a competition that’s been around for 28 years and to be the first Australian to go to Italy and win was so memorable,” Johnny says.

Unlike former WBC winners who use their title to drive their consulting career and new ventures, Johnny used his new-found fame to focus on developing his existing restaurant, 400 Gradi, which he opened in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick in 2008.

“I got my name on a bag of flour [Stagioni Pizza Napoletana], but that’s about it,” Johnny says. “I still get a lot of recognition overseas because they appreciate the fact that I celebrate tradition in my pizza-making. It’s one thing to win a competition, but it’s another to take what you did to win and bring it into the real world to run a business.

What I did, however, was bring the two together. I didn’t separate them. I think the reward from winning the competition has been the opportunity to take the 400 Gradi brand to heights I probably never thought were possible.”

Growing up in an Italian family – his father from Caserta near Naples and his mum from Isole Eolie off the southeast coast of Sicily – meant that Johnny was constantly surrounded by traditional Italian food and, naturally, espresso.

“My older brother used to make a zabaglione mix with sugar until it became creamy and then we’d add coffee to it and have it in the morning. That was our breakfast and my first experience of coffee at age nine or 10,” Johnny recalls. “After that, I really started drinking coffee at age 16 because I was surrounded by older

chefs who drank it in the morning or after a staff meal. For them, coffee in a cafeteria was a God send.”

Johnny says it took him a good year before he started to understand why he was drinking coffee at all – part enjoyment, part addiction, he says, but now it’s for the true appreciation of flavour.

In Australia, Johnny enjoys a straight espresso each day without sugar, “the only way to really identify a good coffee”, he says. However, while in Italy, which he frequents for work and to visit his son playing professional soccer in Genoa, Johnny always drinks a cappuccino with a brioche first, followed by an espresso at a traditional coffee bar.

“Australians enjoy lattes with their eggs and smashed avo, but in Italy it’s always about the espresso or cappuccino and sweet brioche. It’s just part of the culture,” he says.

One of Johnny’s most memorable coffee experiences lies down south in Naples, at a small traditional coffee shop called Chalet Ciro.

“The first time I ever went there, a friend of mine took me. I was looking around at the old lever coffee machine and decor thinking how awesome it was.

I ordered an espresso. It came out straight away, and as you do, I dived straight in.

I put the espresso straight to my mouth

and burnt it. My friend laughed at me and said: ‘I need to teach you how to drink a real Neapolitan coffee.’”

With another espresso ordered, this time Johnny’s friend took a spoon, broke the crema and wiped it on the edge of the hot coffee cup and said “that’s where you drink from now”.

Above the coffee machine was a sign in Italian saying “warning, the coffee cups are extremely hot”. What they do, Johnny explains, is keep the cups in a hot bain-marie of water. Neapolitans don’t want to drink their coffee cold. The coffee is extracted at normal temperature and keeps its structure in the hot cup. “This time, I dipped my spoon into the crema and drunk from that one spot that cooled a little, and it was one of the best coffees I’ve ever had. It was just so smooth,” Johnny says.

In Naples, the majority of shops serve coffee zuccherato, meaning espresso comes with one sugar included. The other interesting coffee locals enjoy, Johnny says, is primo di caffé, where the first part of the coffee extraction is saved, mixed with sugar, and whisked until it becomes a sugary cream served on top of espresso.

“It really is unbelievable,” Johnny says. “People say Napoli has the best coffee, but it’s not so much the coffee that makes it so good, it’s the water.

Water makes a big difference. It has a

Pizza Margherita has become 400 Gradi’s signature pizza after Johnny won the 2014 Pizza World Championship in Italy.

beanscenemag.com.au

21

CELEBRITY CHEF

Johnny Di Francesco has expanded his 400 Gradi brand to 14 venues over the past 12 years.

pH level of 7 and soft water hardness of around 30, so you’ve got an extremely well-balanced water supply.”

Johnny says the water balance is so good he’s even taken to replicating the same pH and hardness levels as Napoli at his new restaurant in Dallas, Texas thanks to a special filtration system. He hopes to do the same in Australia.

“Coffee is extremely important in our restaurants and water plays such an important role, which is why we need to perfect it,” he says. “Coffee can be the last contact you have with guests after a meal. A bad coffee is disappointing, and Melburnians know their coffee. We’re the coffee capital of Australia, probably the world.”

Johnny serves Vittoria Coffee at his 400 Gradi venues. He is a firm believer the perfect coffee is a combination of having a good blend and the ability of the barista to produce a consistently good cup.

“It’s like when I talk about my cooking and making pizzas, you can have the best ingredients in the world but if your dough is not made correctly then it means nothing. I think the same when it comes to coffee,” Johnny says.

As for his own coffee making skills, Johnny relies on his stovetop coffee marker at home. He still recalls visiting Mocopan’s original coffee shop with his mum, buying fresh whole beans from the in-store silos, and watching his mother grind the coffee at home, “just the way she liked it”.

22

beanscenemag.com.au

In keeping with “old school Italian hospitality”, over the years Johnny says he would drink up to 20 coffees a day thanks to continuous meetings and most people saying, “I’ll have a coffee if you have one”. For health reasons, he’s cut back, and it’s the same with pizza.

“I used to eat pizza nearly every day, but now if I eat one pizza a week it’s a lot. I can tell a good pizza from a bad one just by observing the cooking technique and looking at the dough for any defects,” he says.

Johnny has been making pizza since he was 15 years old. Over time, he’s developed his trade and educated Melburnians about the ethos of true Neapolitan pizza, but the one value he’s retained is a commitment to quality.

“The only thing I never discount on is the quality of ingredients we use. I only use raw materials and we make everything in-house: our bread, our pasta, pizza dough. It’s a bit annoying when you hear that people have the perception that big means lower quality and that we would [import]our ingredients in,” Johnny says.

“We invest into research and development. My staff can’t believe how much effort I go to. I’ll travel to Italy just to ensure we have the right oil or tomato.

Price is irrelevant until we understand how good the quality is.”

Over the past 12 years, the Gradi Group has expanded to include 14 restaurants, including 400 Gradi venues in Kuwait, Bahrain, New Zealand, Texas, and

P&O’s Pacific Explorer cruise ship and soon to join Pacific Adventure.

“People assume I must be making a fortune, but I’m not and I say that openly.

The more you grow, the less money you make – people don’t understand that. I don’t do it because I want to retire next year. I do it because I actually love what I do. I love teaching and educating people on eating good food. If I’ve done that I know I’ve contributed to society,” Johnny says.

“Restaurant life doesn’t stop. When you open a restaurant, you give up part of your life. I have three kids and I didn’t see them grow up. My eldest daughter is 18 years old and we have a great relationship, but I missed out on so many things because I was committed to growing my business. While people are having a great time on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, we’re assisting in helping them have a good time.”

Johnny may have an established business with another on the way in the seaside town Mornington, two cookbooks, a world title, and his face on a packet of flour, but there’s much more to come.

And like Johnny’s approach to most things in life, he aims high.

“I want to open the first restaurant on Mars. People laugh when I say that. It’s not something I’ll probably ever do, but it’s how high I want to aim. There’s no limit,” Johnny says. “If you do something you love with a passion and drive, then anything’s achievable. You need that dream first then turn that dream into a reality.”

WBar Smart Coffee

www.wega.it

Soft Touch collection

We know how to design Chinese porcelain.

For over twenty-five years we have been producing hard-feldspar porcelain cups in China for the coffee industry. Designed in Italy for leading international companies, our cups come with guaranteed high quality.

Style, creativity, reliability and durability are the features that make our products stand out; precision, accuracy, customisation and versatility are the characteristics that make our services unique for small and large businesses. This is why we have been the partner of leading brands and speciality coffee roasters since 1992: because we understand the value unleashed when the aroma encounters perfect porcelain. Concealed in a hidden gesture, precious in its everyday normality. Club House: designed in Italy, made in China.

We will be present at

Stand nr 34

Club House S.r.l. - via Padana Superiore, 63 - Castegnato (BS) Italy

coffe aroma not included

www.clubhouse.ch

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE

Going pro The Rancilio Silvia has earned a reputation for reliability in the domestic coffee market. Its successor, the Silvia Pro, offers what consumers love about the original with the technology to match.

T

he first Rancilio Silvia left the factory in 1997. In the two-plus decades since, little has changed about the humble domestic espresso machine, which can still be recognised for its sleek and simple silver exterior.

According to Paul O’Brien, Area Manager – Australasia for Rancilio, that’s because nothing had to.

“We’ve sold hundreds of thousands of Silvias, and they’ve gained a reputation

for reliability. I was speaking to a guy yesterday who has had his Silvia for 16 years,” Paul says.

“The Silvia is all about unfussed simplicity and has grown a cult following globally. If you took the first version from 1997 and compared it to the latest one today, you’d recognise it straight away.”

However, as the coffee industry grew, Rancilio saw the opportunity to update the classic model with new technology.

The result was the Rancilio Silvia Pro, first unveiled at HostMilano in October 2019.

“The response was overwhelming. I was at the stand in Milan and we were getting flooded with texts, emails, and direct messages from Australia about the machine,” Paul says.

“The team pulled me aside and were asking about it, because they hadn’t experienced the passion of the Australian market before.”

The Rancilio Silvia Pro was revealed at HostMilano 2019.

beanscenemag.com.au

25

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE

“WE’VE SOLD HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SILVIAS, AND THEY’VE GAINED A REPUTATION FOR RELIABILITY. I WAS SPEAKING TO A GUY YESTERDAY WHO HAS HAD HIS SILVIA FOR 16 YEARS.” The Silvia Pro measures in at a sleek 25 centimetres wide by 42 centimetres deep and 39 centimetres high. Despite the compact size, the dual boiler espresso machine allows different temperatures to easily be set for extraction and steam.

Proportional-integral-derivative control is used in both boilers to maintain consistent and stable heat.

“The Silvia Pro is up there in terms of brewing technology with anything else on the market,” Paul says. “It’s the best of both worlds. The Silvia has legendary reliability, now we’ve got the performance to go with it.”

With the Silvia such an iconic model – Paul says it is one of the highest selling domestic machines of all time – the Rancilio team was at first reluctant to

The Rancilio V50 grinder was developed in unison with the Silvia Pro.

26

beanscenemag.com.au

change it.

“The Silvia has been a massive success and we didn’t want to mess with our original formula. So, our biggest consideration was to keep it true to the Silvia DNA. Even if you hadn’t seen the Silvia Pro before, you’d know from 100 yards away it’s a Silvia,” Paul says.

“People spend a lot of money on their kitchens. It would be really easy for us to release a very overtly Italian, flary, chrome, shiny, glitzy, glamourous machine, but that’s not us. That’s not why people connect to the Silvia.”

With domestic coffee machines, Paul adds that usability and efficiency are key.

The Silvia Pro features a similar interface and switch controls to the classic model,

with the addition of a digital display showing the temperature of the boilers.

Small buttons bearing a plus and minus on either side of the display allow for easy temperature adjustment.

This, combined with a digital shot timer and multi-directional, stainless-steel steam wand, allows the user to produce coffee as they would in a café setting and at the same quality.

“It’s made for anyone who wants amazing coffee at home,” Paul says. “The Silvia Pro will perform and look amazing whether it’s on a building site, in a garage, or part of a million-dollar kitchen in Toorak [in Victoria].”

Paul says smaller domestic machines have their advantages, including the ability to heat up within minutes.

“People don’t want to wait, and the coffee machine needs to heat up quickly,” Paul says.

“The challenge in Australia is that it’s a demanding market. Customers want their quality, they want their consistency, and they want their outstanding performance, but they want it ASAP. Every box needs to be ticked, which we’ve achieved with the Silvia Pro.” A domestic machine as advanced as the Silvia Pro requires a sophisticated grinder to go with it. Rancilio has provided this with the V50, a grinder featuring a horizontal motor and 50-millimetre vertical flat burrs.

The on-demand grinder’s dosage can be pre-set or manually adjusted using the knob on the right. The front ring control regulates and can mark preferred grind size, allowing for different coffee recipes to be set on the fly. Paul says the grinder was designed to minimise retention, a practical necessity when catering to the at home market.

“We’ve never released a zeroretention grinder before, so the V50 is significant for Rancilio. Its development was considered in terms of size, application, and performance,” Paul says.

“The home market is interesting for grinders because people do such low volumes. The challenge is achieving the quality and the performance of a commercial grinder with less waste.”

This is particularly prominent in Australia, where coffee drinkers will pay good prices for great beans.

“If you’re buying 250 grams of coffee for $20 or $30 and you’re holding 100 grams in retention, that’s a problem,” Paul says.

While designed for home use, the V50 can fill a niche in a busy café setting as a secondary grinder for single origins.

“CUSTOMERS WANT THEIR QUALITY, THEY WANT THEIR CONSISTENCY, AND THEY WANT THEIR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE, BUT THEY WANT IT ASAP.”

The Silvia Pro features a digital shot timer and multi-directional steam wand.

Paul says this reflects the seriousness with which Rancilio approaches domestic coffee making.

“It’s such a big part of the market.

Coffee is for every occasion, not just at cafés or work, but at home too. It’s a very different market that requires a different type of machine,” Paul says.

“The Silvia has succeeded for so long because of its humbleness. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

It’s a workhorse: reliable, simple,

and effective.”

He adds that the Silvia Pro maintains all of these qualities, while upping the performance to meet the high standards of the local market.

“Australia is a leader in coffee because we innovate. We create our own trends rather than follow others, because we are on different time zones and so far away,” Paul says.

“It’s not specific to the domestic coffee market. As a whole, Australians

do their own thing down here and we’re not afraid to experiment.”

With the Silvia Pro arriving in Australia during the first half of 2020, Paul is excited to provide the Silvia’s fans with “what they’ve been asking for”.

“It has been years in the making and following the response from Host, to be able to see it embraced firsthand, on our home ground in Australia, is going to be pretty exciting,” Paul says.

“The Silvia Pro is a step up in technology, but it comes from humble beginnings.”

For more information, visit www.ranciliogroup.com or contact Paul O’Brien at pobrien@ranciliogroup.com

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A BETTER FUTURE HIGHLANDS ORGANIC AND AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, COPYRIGHT JOSH GRIGGS

WE’RE WORKING WITH FARMERS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY FROM CHERRY TO CUP SPECIALTY. AWARD WINNING. ETHICAL. FAIRTRADE.COM.AU

INDUSTRY PROFILE

From start to finish Clark St Coffee Roasters takes a holistic approach to sustainability and is sharing this outlook with the wider coffee community through its Kit Collective program.

Kit Collective guides cafés through the procurement and development of their own blends.

C

offee generates a lot of waste. Tonnes of organic and water waste is produced processing coffee at origin and thousands of takeaway cups end up in landfill in consuming countries. Between the two, a large amount of plastic disposable packaging is used to transport coffee.

Because waste exists throughout the supply chain, Clark St Coffee Roasters in Melbourne believes a holistic approach to sustainability is necessary. Founder Melissa Floreani tells BeanScene that Clark St aims to make its coffee supply chain plasticfree. One way it has done this is swapping to coffee packaging that is 100 per cent compostable, including the one-way degassing valve.

“When I talk about it with baristas and customers, they touch and feel the bag, and feel proud to be using something that is compostable and looks appealing,” Melissa says.

Cafés can dispose of these bags alongside other compostable packaging, coffee grounds, and organic waste, which

Clark St will collect for composting.

“When you treat waste as a resource, it changes how people think about the materials they’re using, what they’re buying, and how they can contribute to that circular economy,” Melissa says.

“Government is generally slower at adopting this type of technology until it’s absolutely necessary. It’s clear individuals and businesses will have to make these changes first to close the loop. People in the industry are trying to find solutions, and when they do it really excites them.”

Another form of waste in the coffee supply chain Clark St is tackling is the plastic lining importers use in hessian bags to preserve coffee. The roaster is encouraging its importing partners to instead adopt Harvest Restore linings, which are a biohybrid plastic containing plant-based renewable materials that can be reused or recycled.

“That material and structure is performing really well,” Melissa says.

“We’ve done trials with the Harvest Restore bags and are finding that they hold up really well compared to the

alternatives. The coffee is cupping well and the scores are maintained over a longer period of time.”

Clark St works closely with its importing partners and frequently invites them to host cupping sessions at its Richmond roastery. They include Minas Hill, Southland Merchants, Cofinet, 3Brothers, Condesa Coffee Lab, and Kerio Valley Project.

“We are building a community, opening Clark St up as a space where importers, café owners, and even other roasters can discover different coffees,” Melissa says.

“These cupping nights are great because at the end of the day, it’s about education.

Growers, farmers, and importers can connect with roasters, baristas, and coffee enthusiasts to offer more specific information about their coffee.”

One of these cupping sessions in early February 2020 highlighted the nano lots of the Kerio Valley Project from Kenya.

“Abdy from the project asked us to help them share their coffees with roasters through a cupping event. We tasted the coffees and they were of a really high

beanscenemag.com.au

29

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Clark St’s coffee bags can be composted with coffee grounds and organic waste.

quality,” Melissa says. “The Kerio Valley Project has gained a lot of interest through this event.

“The laws have changed in Kenya and farmers can now deal directly to export their coffees. For the first time, we heard the producers’ names instead of just the cooperatives. We want to facilitate others to work with importers and growers like this who are striving to do something special.

It’s an opportunity for roasters and us as a community to buy coffees knowing that a fair proportion of the proceeds are going to the farmers that grew it.”

Other coffees presented across these cupping nights have included winning lots from the 2019 Cup of Excellence thanks to Minas Hill and Southland Merchants and others processed using new or unique methods.

“The people presenting these coffees come from families who have farms and work very closely with the coffees.

They’re the ones at the forefront of experimentation and fermentation, which is a key industry development at the moment,” Melissa says.

“To have those concepts explained and then to taste the coffees is a great way to learn how, for example, fermentation affects coffee quality, flavour, and cup profiles.”

These cupping sessions also serve as an introduction to Clark St’s collaborative roasting program, Kit Collective. Kit Collective facilitates cafés in the curation, development, roasting, and branding of their coffee.

“A lot of café owners want to have control or creative input into their coffee.

30

beanscenemag.com.au

They know what they want, perhaps they’ve used a couple of coffee brands, and they would like to be more involved.

There’s also an opportunity for them to create their own brand or label,” Melissa says.

“Through the cupping sessions, they can figure out if they prefer pulped natural coffees from Brazil or washed coffees from Ethiopia, for example. If they are looking to create their own label, this helps them find a higher quality solution and empowers them to benefit from our knowledge and experience.”

Melissa says this process provides cafés with a diverse selection of coffees without compromising on quality.

“There is a transparency to the coffees we’re curating,” she says. “The farms and importers we’re introducing people to have good practices and embrace sustainability. The focus on quality and processing means the coffee will be good year after year.”

Once the coffee is curated, Kit Collective customers can take part in quality control, blend development, and roast profiling.

“We cup the coffees in our QC lab, take notes collaboratively, then can tweak roasts as needed. Once we’re satisfied with the quality and cup profile, our roasting software captures the data and we can repeat those roast curves,” Melissa says.

“Especially at the start, it’s really important to get those blend components spot on. From there, it’s easier to maintain the consistency of the flavour profile you’ve created. With coffees of

that quality, there are smaller lots so there is a frequent process of changing and updating blends seasonally.”

Kit Collective then provides its customers with access to packaging alternatives including the compostable bags Clark St uses, and its organic waste collection service.

“We’ve found these solutions and turned them into an offering. Now we’re providing people the opportunity to come in and learn about how they can reduce waste across the coffee supply chain, from green bean to roasted coffee,” Melissa says.

“There’s also a professional development element. Café owners can send baristas who want to take on a larger role to be part of blend creation and quality control.”

Though Melissa says there will always be a large place for coffee brands in the industry – particularly for those with strong values – Kit Collective caters to people who want to make a name of their own.

“When you’ve got one or two really successful cafés and people love that brand, it’s something you want to try and establish even further. We have learned so much about sustainability in the coffee supply chain and it’s something we want to share,” Melissa says. “We want to change the way the industry operates, and we feel as if we have something to offer: a level of education to provide and passion to share as part of the coffee industry.”

For more information, visit www.clarkst.coffee www.kitcollective.coffee or www.harvestrestore.com

BeanScene Magazine SAVE o

25% ver

BeanScene magazine is always chock-full of caffeinated content, coffee innovation and coffee people. Subscribe today to receive every new issue, delivered straight to your door every two months - and all from just $45!

d A W o rl 2019 CEMBER

DE

A OBER

OCT

ld Wo r

2019

C la s

ngth ers e r t S umb in n

s

ee Coff

Mag

a

-C la ss

C o ff e e

M ag az

and NE V miss an ER i Subscri ssue. be toda y!

in e FEBRUARY

2020

A W or ld -C la

The age o simplicity f

z in e

Game er chang

Advanced technology meets un

on the lid erience p Lifting omer ex the cust ers d a don’s e l Hen try obal pher mis as gl hristo ffee che tion C a t r. er o u D c ep dang gar y in oldin Dair ht in ig Uph a tr oes s 9 cco g y 201 arzo ector La M s Dir r e t s Roa

NO

ss Co ffe e Ma ga zi ne

WA LSO DIG ITA IN L

complicated design

FEBR

UARY

2020

The sim age o plic ity f

AW o

Adv ance d

tech nolo gy m

r ld -C

la s s

C o ff

ee

Mag

a z in

e

eets unco mpli cate d de

sign

p 019 wra ilano 2 ge HostM Good morni for chan lls ng, Vietnam ca up ing Cold coffee KeepC of roast makes its m es ti li 02 Airport coffe ark rea l in a w ci y n el e reaches ne lik Fina w heights ska’s un Andre Eier man ka Rojew 9 771 49 ISSN 1449

-2547

sz254002 Agnie449

n calls Austr

alia home 49 ISS

N 14

49-25

47

02 9 77 1449

7

54 49-2

SN 14

30 IS

06

2540

02

Goo d Cold mornin Airp g, coffe ort c e ma Vietnam offee kes re E reac its m ierm hes ark ann new calls heig Aust hts ra

And

lia h

ome

4002 49 25

14 9 77

SUBSCRIBE TO www.beanscenemag.com.au

NOW

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Back to back With the 2020 Australian International Coffee Awards on the horizon, Danes Specialty Coffee reflects on its 2018 and 2019 Champion Australian Roaster titles and how it stays ahead of the curve.

Danes’ Champion Australian Roaster award next to its medal-winning coffees.

A

s the old adage goes, “getting to the top is hard, but staying there is even harder”. Devising ways to continually improve and build on achievements can be an immense challenge for any individual or business, especially those in highly competitive industries such as coffee.

One business that appears to have found a formula for sustained success is Danes Specialty Coffee.

The NSW-based roaster celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 in style, winning its second consecutive Champion Australian Roaster title at the Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA).

“It’s a fantastic achievement for our team and our customers. The rule of thumb remains the same since we started back in the 90s – there is no shortcut to quality,” says Graeme Powell, General Manager at

Danes Specialty Coffee.

“Our desire to continue to push the boundaries on quality and roast profiling for the specialty coffee market is a neverending journey. We’re seeing higher quality coffees come directly from the source as processing methods evolve to become more meticulous.”

The 2018 edition of AICA saw more than 750 coffees entered from more than 150 local and international exhibitors.

These numbers rose in 2019, with more than 800 coffees from 180 exhibitors.

“It’s the only international coffee roasting competition in Australia, judged by a panel of respected industry peers.

The level of competition is extremely high, and the standard is always increasing,” Graeme says.

“The competition provides us the best platform to calibrate our coffee and our performance as a roaster. Our team has always viewed AICA as a challenge to

improve and develop both personally and collectively.”

In the most recent AICA, Danes received 10 medals. It won the Gold Medal in the Espresso Blend and Pour Over categories for its Ascension and Kenya Gakundu respectively. It also received a Silver Medal for its Kenya Ndiani cold brew coffee.

Judges praised Ascension for its blueberry milk chocolate front and clean, creamy aftertaste. They commented it had sweetness and a balance between bitterness and acidity.

Judges also commended the Kenya Gakundu. It was described as having aromas of sweet blackcurrant and apricot, with blueberry, maple syrup, and plum notes. It also contains high-quality citric and tartaric acid with great complexity, and a pleasant, sticky mouthfeel that possesses a long, sweet aftertaste.

According to Graeme, receiving acclaim

beanscenemag.com.au

33

INDUSTRY PROFILE

from AICA’s judges was a result of diligent preparation and training.

“In the leadup to 2019, we simulated the AICA competition’s guidelines and timeframes to better understand how they would impact our entries. This provided valuable feedback on several variables.

Ultimately, it allowed us to better prepare our coffees,” he says.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for our team and our customers. To win it back-toback is confirmation of the high standard of quality and consistency our coffees deliver for our cafés and customers, week in, week out.”

After being crowned the Champion Australian Roaster for the second year in a row, Danes was invited to the Royal Melbourne Show to run a pop-up coffee bar in the Winning Tastes Pavilion.

“That was an unrivalled opportunity to showcase our coffee to Melbourne. We served over 15,000 coffees in a marathon 11-day stint. It’s a great event that our team really enjoyed,” Graeme says.

Outside of the scope of competitive coffee, Danes is channelling its resources into reducing its environmental footprint.

The business’s head office and roastery have been solar-powered for the past year and it is involved in a range of sustainability themed initiatives.

“Our recently introduced Flavour Cup takeaway cup range is a sustainably sourced plant-based product which provides us one of the most environmentally sound cups available. The cups are defined in metric measurements, so baristas and customers know the exact size and coffee ratios,” Graeme says.

“We are also participating in a pilot program initiated by the Environmental Protection Authority. We have partnered with Cup to Crop and our cafés to divert even more waste from landfill.”

A growing demand for sustainability and traceability is changing the future of the coffee industry, but Graeme says consumers are also becoming more educated about coffee in general. He adds that embracing this consumer evolution has played a key factor in Danes’ continued success.

“Consumers are now clearer on the difference between commercial coffee and true specialty coffee. Part of this is that baristas are better trained and best practice brewing principles have become the new basic standard,” he says.

Danes is embracing the rise of educated customers and prides itself on building its relationship on dialogue and transparency.

“The knowledge gap between customers and roasters is getting smaller.

So, we’ve changed the way we talk with

34

beanscenemag.com.au

our customers by educating them on the qualities and flavours of our coffees,” Graeme says.

“We do this with a uniquely descriptive language that empowers the customer to identify the flavours they find in each of our coffees. Our customers know exactly what flavours they can expect within each bag.”

Danes illustrates its coffees to customers using three “flavour tribes” to characterise its beans: chocolates and caramels, nuts and spices, and fruits and berries.

and share with our customers.”

Although it has been an eventful and successful period for Danes, the roaster refuses to sit on its laurels. In addition to going green, Danes has opened a new flagship store named Infusion on Clarence in the Sydney CBD and is continuing to explore technology that will improve its end product.

“We are continuing to evolve a more agile, high-quality operational environment and team culture. It’s

Danes received 10 medals at the 2019 Australian International Coffee Awards.

Further, each coffee has a pentagonal spidergraph on its packaging to represent its balance of flavour, body, sweetness, aroma, and finish.

“Together these tools provide a clear, simple language to quickly and easily define the subtleties of our coffees for our customer. Our flavour language is accessible for all levels of coffee knowledge,” Graeme says.

“We make it easy for coffee drinkers to articulate their taste preferences and match them to their palate and brew method. It’s helpful when exploring new flavours, which we continue to uncover

important to focus on embracing systems that not only support the business, but translate to quality service and relationships at all levels,” Graeme says.

“We have extensive longstanding relationships across the industry, from brokers to individual growers, and we are continuing to develop new sources. With 25 years of innovation guiding us, we are always exploring premium coffees to find those exceptional flavours for our cafés and customers.”

For more information, visit www.danes.com.au

We think you’d make a great cupper/wholesaler/ surfer/origin-traveller/ green-bean-buyer/vlogger/ golfer/game-changer.

Grow your dream coffee business with Free the coffee entrepreneur.

FEATURE NEWS

Concrete jungle Civil engineering students from RMIT University are replacing sand in cement mixture with coffee grounds to reduce landfill and ease the strain on the world’s sand supplies.

J

ust as the world’s viable coffee producing regions are under threat due to climate change, the world’s sand supplies are also diminishing.

According to Sand and Sustainability, a study by the United Nations Environment Programme, after water, sand is the most extracted mineral in the world. It is used to produce concrete, glass, and many other essential construction materials, as well as countless other commodities.

The report adds that sand extraction is severely underregulated and many operations have a severe impact on marine, coastal, and freshwater ecosystems. Desert sand is too fine to be used in construction, which means a growing strain on coastal stocks.

Determined to find an alternative material, two civil engineering students from Melbourne’s RMIT University, Senura Kohombange and Anthony Abiad, as well as their lecturer Dr. Srikanth Venkatesan, have identified coffee grounds as an unlikely substitute.

“This project aims to replace a natural resource in concrete, sand, with coffee grounds. It can potentially help to solve two environmental issues simultaneously,” says Srikanth, Senior Lecturer of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering at RMIT. “As well as coffee grounds going to landfill, sand is a finite natural resource.

It comes from dredging our beaches and seashores which results in depletion of natural deposits. This causes significant environmental damage.”

The idea emerged when Srikanth, an avid coffee drinker, was brainstorming unorthodox methods to reduce waste.

This led him to explore what uses coffee grounds had other than being sent directly to landfill.

According to a 2017 study by coffee collection and recycling initiative Reground, an estimated 2600 cafés in the City of Melbourne produce almost two million kilograms of coffee-ground waste each year. The majority of this ends up in landfill.

“We were unsure at first whether this

36

beanscenemag.com.au

From left: Dr. Srikanth Venkatesan, Anthony Abiad, and Senura Kohombange of RMIT University.

idea could lead to anything. Very little research had been done about it. But with the guidance of Dr. Srikanth, we were able to come up with some potential designs,” Senura says.

Anthony and Senura spent several weeks in RMIT’s laboratories casting samples and conducting tests to determine the coffee-infused concrete’s strength and durability.

“As engineers, we put into application everything we learned during our studies. We used skills and knowledge acquired from specialised subjects, including non-destructive testing, durability assessments, and structural strength testing,” Senura says.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was determining the right quantity of coffee grounds to replace sand with.

Replacing too much would compromise its strength and thus, we had to develop multiple mix designs.”

Another key challenge facing the group was time. They aimed to present

the project at RMIT’s annual engineering exhibition, Engenius. The industrysponsored event provides undergraduates the opportunity to showcase projects aimed to offer an innovative solutions to real-world problems.

“We wanted to develop the project to a satisfactory level prior to presenting at Engenius on 23 October, 2019. However, we only started the semester in March and concrete needs to cure for 28 days before the final strength of the material can be assessed,” Anthony says.

“We carefully planned the stages of the project and utilised the semester break in order to meet our deadline.”

The group conducted rigorous testing in accordance to the Australian concrete standards and successfully delivered on their goal.

“We constructed test specimens of five per cent, 10 per cent, and 20 per cent replacement of coffee grounds with sand and compared it to a normal concrete cube. These comparisons showed the

allowable limits of usage, a common technique adopted in analysing the mechanical properties of concrete,” Anthony says.

“The most interesting observation was that while the use of coffee can reduce the strength of the concrete, there are ways to circumvent it.”

The team found they could replace up to 10 per cent of the sand with coffee grounds while safely preserving the concrete’s integrity.

A sample “coffee brick” was created as a showpiece to present at Engenius 2019.

“As with all new ideas, some people are apprehensive about using coffee grounds in concrete. However, many were interested in our project, including people from the industry. Feedback has been really good overall. Everyone is happy that we are researching ways to improve sustainability, especially at a university level,” Anthony says.

Sustainability is a trending topic in the global coffee industry and many innovative thinkers are already recycling used coffee grounds to reduce its presence in landfill.

For example, Ford announced it is incorporating McDonald’s used coffee chaffs into car headlights, Taiwanese textile company Singtex is using recycled coffee grounds in clothing, and HuskeeCup is turning spent coffee into reusable cups.

These movements are also happening on a local scale through groups such as Melbourne-based Reground, who is converting chaffs and used coffee grounds into compost.

Senura says that civil construction needs to follow the coffee industry’s lead on transitioning towards a greener future, particularly as dependence on finite resources such as sand grows.

“The field of civil construction has not had major improvements in sustainability over the last 20 years. Construction materials have largely remained the same but the demand for infrastructure is growing,” he says.

“Materials such as concrete are vital for construction and require a large amount of manual resources such as sand and aggregate.

Any research into reducing our dependency on finite natural resources would go a long way in helping reduce our impact on the environment.”

He adds that the group will continue to work on the project in hope that over time it can be adopted into mainstream construction.

“I think we have made a good start on this project. We believe this could lead to a promising product in the future. Anthony and I would like to thank RMIT University for all of its support and resources provided to us to help our project come this far, as well as Dr. Srikanth for all of his help and guidance,” Senura says.

“We would like to conduct more research into the concrete’s longterm durability aspects, perform further strength enhancements, and further develop this project. Following this, we would love to see it being used in real-world applications.”

Testing found up to 10 per cent of sand could safely be replaced with coffee grounds.

Flavour of the week Leading into MICE2020, Melbourne Coffee Week is a platform for the coffee community to gather, share ideas, discuss issues, and celebrate coffee.

La Marzocco’s laneway party was one of many events to bring the coffee community together in MCW 2019.

T

he internet is arguably the most influential invention of the modern era. People are more connected than ever, as information, ideas, and knowledge spread at the click of a button.

Society’s reliance on virtual communication has led to a decrease in face-to-face interaction, but the internet can also act as a powerful tool to organise events and bring communities together.

Melbourne International Coffee Expo’s (MICE) Melbourne Coffee Week (MCW) aims to do just that by leveraging modern connectivity to unite the domestic coffee scene for an entire week.

“Melbourne Coffee Week began as a celebration of coffee. We know that so much happens around MICE, as everyone is in town for the expo. We wanted to create a way for people to easily find all of these amazing events

38

beanscenemag.com.au

so that they don’t miss out on any experiences,” says Lauren Winterbottom, Show Director of MICE. “So many great outcomes have come from people in the industry collaborating.

There are plenty of opportunities to learn, improve your skills, network, and share your love for coffee.”

While MICE brings the coffee community together under one roof for four days, MCW will fill people’s calendars with events, gatherings, and celebrations spread across the week.

“The coffee community is very tightknit, but everyone is so busy all the time. MCW gives the community a tangible feeling. It’s great that everyone is able to get together, support each other, and share ideas,” says Anita ‘Jets’ Langlands, Marketing Manager at La Marzocco Australia.

“MCW has developed into a major networking platform. Events are

extremely curated and tailored to fit the audience. Attending provides people an opportunity to communicate with the wider industry and reach a really diverse audience.”

MCW will lead into MICE2020 and proceed it. MICE2020 will take place from 4 to 7 May and. for the second consecutive year, be hosted at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“It’s fabulous that the event is being held in the city for the second year in a row. Sometimes we probably forget how proud Melburnians are of their coffee culture,” Jets says.

Running from 1 to 9 May, MCW aims to reinvest into the coffee industry, boost trade, and celebrate Melbourne’s rich coffee culture.

Registration to promote your event during MCW is $100, all of which will be donated to StreetSmart, an organisation that works extensively to help Australia’s homeless.

Companies or cafés can register activities ranging from café tours to cupping, latte art smackdowns to product launches, political coffee discussions or even table tennis tournaments – nothing is off limits.

Over the years, La Marzocco has hosted social evening events to further strengthen the bond between the coffee community personally and professionally.

“It comes from traditional Italian hospitality – breaking bread and drinking wine. It’s very much our thing to make sure people are well-fed, well-watered, and have a good time,” Jets says.

La Marzocco chose to remain tightlipped about its plans for the upcoming MCW in order to preserve the surprise, but Jets provided BeanScene a sneak peek of what guests can expect.

“We’re hosting a big-top event. There’ll be games, musical performances, food, drinks and, of course, coffee. Think chic circa 1950s mixed with vintage circus. It’s going to be incredible. That’s all I can say for now,” she says.

St Ali, who has been a major

“SO MANY GREAT OUTCOMES HAVE COME FROM THE INDUSTRY COLLABORATING WITH EACH OTHER. THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN, IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS, NETWORK, AND SHARE YOUR LOVE FOR COFFEE.” supporter of the week in the past, is launching festivities on 3 May, and inviting all coffee enthusiasts to its Welcome to Melbourne evening party. The event will celebrate Melbourne’s iconic laneways and will feature live DJs, food, coffee, and entertainment.

On 5 May, the roaster will provide a unique opportunity for guests to attend its Coffee Tasting Menu Dinner. The dinner is limited to 80 people and will provide a tasting menu matched to World Barista Championship coffees.

Two days later, once MICE has concluded on 7 May, all attendees are encouraged to attend St Ali’s Official MICE Afterparty, held in conjunction with World Coffee Events. MICE ticket purchases will gain automatic general admission to the party.

VIP tickets are also available.

For those seeking to dust off the cobwebs following the afterparty, or keen to enjoy a more relaxing atmosphere, Laneway Recovery is the perfect way to end the week. Promising food trucks, music, and coffee, the event will take place at St Ali’s flagship South Melbourne laneway on 8 May. “St Ali has thrown incredible parties in the past and they’ve put together another exciting list of events. I can’t think of a better way to cap off the week than the MICE Afterparty followed by a Laneway Recovery session,” Lauren says.

With MCW in its fifth edition, she adds that she is expecting the event to continue to grow.

“Having some of the greatest minds in the coffee industry attending events all week makes it such a special opportunity. We’re really looking forward to seeing what exhibitors have in store,” Lauren says.

“It’s a full week dedicated to learning, connecting with people, and, most importantly, celebrating coffee. It’s going to be a blast.”

For more information, visit www.melbournecoffeeweek.com.au St Ali’s official afterparty at Mercedes Me drew a huge crowd in 2019.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE

MAY 4 - 7 / 2020 MELBOURNE CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE WWW.INTERNATIONALCOFFEEEXPO.COM

PROUDLY HOSTING

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO

MAY 4 - 7 / 2020 MELBOURNE CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE WWW.INTERNATIONALCOFFEEEXPO.COM

THE COFFEE WORLD IS COMING PLATINUM SPONSORS

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

PROUD PARTNERS

FEATURE NEWS

Plug Nickel in Collingwood serves sparkling cold brew and cascara from taps built into the café wall.

Keeping it cool Revenge isn’t the only thing best served cold. BeanScene looks at the growing market and options for cold coffee, and why Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world.

F

rom the humble cappuccino to the hallowed flat white, Australians love the hot, milky, espresso-based coffees that their country is known for.

However, with such an emphasis placed on espresso-based coffee, Campos Coffee Founder Will Young says many cafés are underestimating the value of adding cold coffees to the menu.

“We just enjoy our milk coffees so much that it’s hard to not think about coffee in that way,” Will says.

Until recently, most Australians’ awareness of cold coffee beverages started and finished with iced coffee – either an

espresso served over cold milk and ice with ice cream and whipped cream, or a sugary, ready-to-drink bottle from a shopping centre fridge.

But like the specialty coffee movement did for hot coffee, it has shone a light on the possibilities of brewing coffee cold.

“We’ve learned more about cold coffee and how to make it more appealing. Now it tastes really good,” Will says. “We’re finding methods of production which produce a cleaner taste and are putting out coffees that are sweeter and more appealing to the general public.”

Two methods that caught on early were cold brew and cold drip. Cold brew

involves steeping coarsely ground coffee in chilled water for an extended period, usually done overnight before serving.

Cold brew can be charged with nitrogen before serving to give it a thick head and consistency similar to beer.

Originating from Japan, cold drip uses a brew tower to drip chilled water at a rate of around one drop per second onto a bed of coffee. It slowly travels in contact with the coffee before passing through a final filter into a service jug. Will says the two methods produce very different coffees.

“With cold drip, it’ll taste quite liquorlike or alcoholic. It’s a great wake-up call.

Cold brew is usually cleaner or crisper on

beanscenemag.com.au

43

FEATURE NEWS

Campos Coffee released Summer Haze, a blend made specifically for cold brew.

the finish,” he says. “It’s like comparing an espresso to a filter. Cold drip and espresso make for a short, powerful coffee with big flavour, but some people prefer a lighter drink.

“Like with filter, with cold brew you can taste more intricate and delicate flavours.

If you’re using a single origin, you’ll taste the citrus notes of your Kenyans, florals of your Geisha, or caramel notes of your Colombians.”

Campos’ Summer Haze cold brew blend, for instance, features tasting notes of peach nectar, citrus, and butterscotch.

The roaster has also crafted a signature beverage, the Hazy Cold Brew, adding peach wedges, lemon juice, sugar syrup, tonic water, and mint leaves to Summer Haze to accentuate these notes.

While the Australian coffee industry has started to see the potential cold brew has to offer, Will says more can be done to communicate this to the consumer.

“Many customers don’t realise all of these options exist because not all cafés are serving them, and some of those that are selling cold brew don’t really promote it,” he says.

“It’s not on their menus and there are no signs up. For cold coffee to take off, the public needs to know that it’s an option and that it’s good.”

In comparison, Campos Coffee has seen strong demand for cold brew from its stores in the United States.

“It’s incredibly popular in the US. During summer, we sell kegs of cold brew. People are very attracted to it and

44

beanscenemag.com.au

are more used to it,” Will says.

“Places like Stumptown and Blue Bottle have been selling cold brew for years. Even Starbucks has embraced cold coffee, but it’s the specialty market that has really been pushing cold coffee to a new level. And it’s this level that Australia is well positioned to embrace and make our own.”

Another American specialty chain to highlight cold coffees is New York’s Bluestone Lane. Senior Director of Retail Standards Jai Lott says cold coffees become Bluestone Lane’s top sellers in the warmer months.

“Having such distinctive hot and cold seasons on the east coast of the US means

Bluestone Lane’s Aussie Iced Latte adds ice cream to the drink to offer its American customers an Australian coffee experience.

you can almost set your clock to the day that cold coffee popularity takes off,” Jai says. “On the first day of warm weather, we see iced coffee drink sales spike. Whether it’s cold brew, iced lattes, or ready to drink, [cold coffee] takes the spotlight over all other beverage options.”

Founded by Melburnian Nicholas Stone, Bluestone Lane takes cues from Australian café culture, including its classic iced latte recipes.

“Ice cream is what differentiates our ‘Aussie Iced Latte’ from a standard iced latte. We wanted to offer an iced latte that is commonly found in Australian cafés,” Jai says.

“Adding ‘Aussie’ to the name often sparks a conversation and makes it easy to differentiate. It is quite a unique drink that’s rarely seen in the US, so it offers a certain ‘wow’ factor.”

Opening up this conversation allows Bluestone Lane to dispel misconceptions its customers may have about cold coffees.

“I think some consumers perhaps have the perception that cold brew is too heavily caffeinated, or they simply don’t want to change their habits,” Jai says.

“For the people that think it’s too high in caffeine, a great way to talk about cold coffee is to look at it like alcohol content, where cold coffee is a beer and espresso is whiskey. Proportionally they have the same content, but one is punchier than the other.

Sampling is also a great way to change consumer behaviour.”

Jai says serving cold coffee brings benefits including high gross profit, low costs, and, in the case of cold brew or preprepared drinks, speed of service.

“It takes significantly more time to make an iced latte including espresso extraction than simply pouring ready-made coffee from a tap over ice,” he says.

“Depending on whether you are in the

planning stages of opening, retro-fitting, or at scale, there are options for all [brewing] concepts. You can outsource and have kegs brewed for you to serve on tap, brew hot batch-brew and chill before serving, or purchase a five-gallon Toddy system and make cold brew yourself within 12 hours.”

While cold brew has caught on quicker in the US, Jai calls it a “huge movement globally” that will soon take off in Australia.

“Coffee culture in the US has always been focused on drip and filtered coffee. This means that once cafés worked out good brewing techniques, the rise of cold brew was the natural next big thing,” Jai says.

“Australians – generally speaking – still prefer an espresso-based, hot coffee, even in the warmer months. The Australian specialty scene has arguably existed for longer, and generations are locked into strong habits, but those are changing quickly with cold brew becoming more widely available.”

An Australian café that has embraced the possibilities of cold coffee is Plug Nickel in Collingwood, Victoria. Since opening in 2016, cold brew has been a fixture on its menu, which Co-owner Lucien Kolff says has more than paid off.

“You kind of have to offer cold coffee in Melbourne because it gets so hot during summer. Some people don’t want hot beverages on a 38°C day,” Lucien says.

“When the temperature gets above 24°C or 25°C, it’s probably about 50 or even 60 per cent of our orders. If you’re not offering cold coffee, you’re not really giving the customers what they want.”

One of two taps jutting from Plug Nickel’s wall pours a light, refreshing sparkling cold brew. “People started doing nitro brews around Melbourne, but in summer you don’t want something that thick and heavy,” he says.

“It’s like comparing a Guinness to an IPA. You don’t want to drink a Guinness in the middle of summer. It’s not refreshing.”

The other tap serves Coffee Cherry Soda, a sparkling cold brew made using cascara, the dried skin of the coffee cherry left over from processing.

“The fruit of the coffee cherry is traditionally a waste product, but the industry has found a way to use it to make something delicious. A lot of people are serving it as tea, but it’s actually really nice as a cold brew,” Lucien says.

Plug Nickel also offers its iced lattes – espresso and milk blended for a consistency similar to hot coffee – in takeaway bottles labelled Cold Remedy.

“We have a metal tub on our counter filled with ice and 20 or 30 of those. People can just walk past, drop their money down, and grab one of those on the go. There’s no wait time, people know it’s there and that it’s going to be good,” Lucien says.

“Cold coffee doesn’t have to just be drunk in a café environment.

People can take it away and enjoy a really nice coffee while camping, at the beach, or wherever they want to go.”

Lucien adds that the small amount of prep time involved in making cold brew means that a large volume can be produced with minimal effort.

“If you’ve got a big enough vessel, you can make 150 coffees in one go overnight. Then all you have to do is pour it,” Lucien says.

“You’re missing out on a huge corner of the market if you don’t offer cold brew. In Collingwood and the northern suburbs of Melbourne, people expect quality, know what quality is, and expect it to carry over from hot to cold coffee. So, you can’t just put anything in there, add heaps of sugar, and expect people to like it. It still has to be delicious coffee.”

Campos’ Will Young says with sales tending to dip over summer in the café market, there are huge benefits to being able to offer a different dimension to coffee in warmer weather.

“We love the cafés we go to every day. Cold coffee gives us an amazing new opportunity to experience coffee when it’s warm outside,” Will says.

“Coffee is a wonderful product with a vibrant community surrounding it. Promoting cold brew is a key part of keeping café culture sustainable year round by giving coffee lovers new and original experiences.”

TECHNOLOGY PROFILE

Eagle One Simonelli leaders talk about the new era of espresso machines where less is more, and simplistic design meets big innovation.

T

he Apple iPhone is identified by the tech giant as “the world’s most powerful personal device”. Each day users utilise their smartphone to coordinate their day. They check the weather, emails, pay bills, and look up road directions thanks to square icons no bigger than a thumbnail. On the outside, the iPhone is simplistic, stylish, and user friendly, evident by the 46.89 million sold in the fourth quarter of 2018.

On the inside, however, is a complex web of technology, just like the new Victoria Arduino Eagle One coffee machine.

With Eagle One unveiled to the world at HostMilano 2019, Simonelli Group CEO Fabio Ceccarani says he was pleased to see such a positive reaction from expo attendees seeking products with “sophisticated yet hidden” technology.

“In today’s digital era, less is definitely more, and the market is looking for it.

The key word we are really focused on is ‘simplicity’, one of Victoria Arduino’s core values that we believe will drive our products, including Eagle One, into the future,” Fabio says.

Black and White Eagle machines. When the opportunity to revisit the Eagle One arose, Victoria Arduino reassessed how it could create a machine that would help people invest their time and money into the specialty coffee industry. The result was a strong push towards a machine that was easy to use, compact, and sustainable.

“This machine is about the democratisation of the special coffee industry,” Marco says. “We don’t want our customers to be scared of our technology.

Rather, they need to be comfortable in their workflow and operation, like they are with the Mythos One grinder.

If they can retain this level of comfort, then there’s a greater possibility for more people to approach specialty coffee and grow its community.”

What’s needed, Marco says, is a starting point for the new generation of baristas to approach coffee making without needing a mechanical engineering degree. What they’re also looking for is the most sustainable models.

“What’s interesting is that 70 per cent of customers look at a machine and they ask about its sustainability and energy

Eagle One has 23 per cent less environmental impact than other devices in the same category.

Marco Feliziani, Simonelli Group Vice-President, says the idea for the Eagle One was pitched five years ago with company consultant and 2007 World Barista Champion James Hoffmann.

The pitch, however, went in a different direction, resulting in the launch of the

46

beanscenemag.com.au

efficiency. We can see that matters to them. No-one asks us about the price,” Marco says.

Price may not be as top of mind as it once was 10 years ago, but Marco says what’s important now is producing a machine that’s both economically and

environmentally sustainable.

“You only have to look at the foodservice industry to know that manufacturers are adapting their products to fit more modern shops with tighter spaces. The compact Eagle One is a response to this trend, with smaller dimensions that meet fully automatic demands but still delivers high output,” he says.

“The real value in the Eagle One is its consistency. It gives the customer the same quality cup again and again.

You don’t need to readjust the grind or recalibrate it because the machine is so precise and reliable. Reducing the variables is what allows the machine to work in an efficient way.”

One of the most important considerations was an update of technology and the need to reduce energy consumption that would give the machine a low lifecycle assessment.

“This is a machine that embraces sustainability in the full sense of the word, meaning energy use, space saving, new materials, and accessibility,” says Lauro Fioretti, Victoria Arduino Product Manager.

“Designing Eagle One was a big challenge for me because it meant rethinking the [entire] engine and the frames to create the best user experience for baristas.”

A new instant water heating system called NEO (New Engine Optimisation) includes a new boiler made entirely of stainless steel, and thermal insulation made with a material that guarantees extreme isolation and reduces heat dispersion.

NEO operates in the extraction phase with its role to reduce energy consumption. Only the required amount of water needed for extraction is heated to the right temperature, thus reducing energy-related costs.

The dispensed water is insulated because the machine’s electronic system also controls the internal temperature of the device to obtain the desired temperature.

A smaller steam boiler also made from stainless steel and with new insulation ensures the correct amount of

steam produced contributes to a lower energy consumption.

The patented technology in the Eagle One is the Temperature Energy Recovery System (TERS), aimed at further reducing the need for thermal energy. This system uses the thermal energy of the discharged water to preheat incoming water. This results in an 8 per cent saving on total machine consumption. Before being expelled through a coil, the wastewater recirculates its heat in favour of the incoming water, which needs less energy to reach the required temperature.

A lifecycle assessment of Eagle One’s new technologies found this model to have 23 per cent less environmental impact and fewer CO2 emissions compared to other devices of the same category machine.

“A one-third energy reduction of total energy consumption is a lot,” Marco says. “Every time we thought how we could recover more energy we looked at Formula One racing cars and how they recover their kinetic energy [a model to recover the car’s kinetic energy under braking]. Recovered energy is stored and used later to power the car, and we’ve adapted the same principle.”

Beyond the machine’s technology, Victoria Arudino engaged in core collaborations including that of designer Giulio Cappellini, who said in a statement that Victoria Arduino “has picked up the needs [of baristas] and transformed them into technologies”, with the result “a symbol of espresso machine modernity”.

Victoria Arduino also enlisted the help of architect Carlo Viglino to design the shape of the Eagle One, and UK Barista James Hoffmann who voiced the needs of baristas and coffee shops who wanted

a high-performing, ergonomic machine but not at the expense of energy efficiency.

As such, Eagle One’s height is lowered, and its dimensions are more compact to free up bench space.

There is also a strong focus on personalisation, with the backside of the machine customisable in aluminium, steel, or wood. The side panels can be simply removed for easy technician access to the machine’s internals.

“Everything has been designed to be more compact, generate high performance and with greater respect for the environment,” Lauro says.

The Eagle One will soon be linked to the My Victoria Arduino app, an e-platform that will connect users via Bluetooth to share information on their machine’s usage and energy consumption and access recipes with other Eagle One users. In addition, Simonelli has also unveiled a new digital platform called iSACK (Simonelli Advanced Coffee Knowledge).

“It’s a place to host all our services and manage our interaction with our clients,” Fabio says. “We still think that the physical interaction with our clients is very important but we would like them to share information about their machine in a digital platform so we can collate it, assess it, and help improve our machines and our ways of doing sustainability. The value of the data is what we do with it.

We hope, in time, we can use it to add value for our clients. Then knowledge really will be power.”

Via the app, users will also have

Eagle One features a patented Temperature Energy Recovery System to reduce thermal energy.

access to technicians who can monitor the progress of their machines across a range of stores. It is hoped that when a problem is detected, technicians can study the machine and parameters of data one month prior to the failure to identify any correlation. Based on findings, Fabio says the goal is to deliver a simple message back to the market.

“We are at the stage where you cannot impact the market with big technology to break the industry, but rather we want to focus on harnessing data and platforms that put the focus on the end user – be it a manager of a coffee chain, a technician, or a barista – and deliver exactly what they want and need,” he says. “We must always be thinking how we can make the experience better for them.”

For Victoria Arduino, the future of coffee begins now, with Eagle One. Eagle One will be on display at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo from 4 to 7 May and will be available via Australian importers Espresso Mechanics www.espressomechanics.com.au

beanscenemag.com.au

47

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Good morning, Vietnam Champion of the 2019 Milklab Barista Battle Series Jibbi Little recounts her discoveries about coffee production and culture in South-East Asia.

Jibbi Little won a trip to Vietnam at the 2019 Milklab Barista Battle Series.

V

ietnam is famous as the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee. However, when Jibbi Little visited the country in December 2019, she experienced a completely different part of the nation’s industry.

“I had never been to Vietnam before and really wanted to see the coffee scene and farming for myself,” Jibbi says.

“Specialty coffee focuses much more on Arabica coffee than Robusta, so I wasn’t sure how that would be reflected in Vietnam. But it has small farms that are growing only Arabica and processing fully washed coffee. It’s quite interesting to see that there’s still a minority of farmers

48

beanscenemag.com.au

focusing on quality.”

Jibbi was flown to Vietnam for five nights as part of her prize for winning the Milklab Barista Battle Series at the 2019 Melbourne International Coffee Expo.

The latte art competition saw four finalists put their skills to the test using Milklab’s barista milk range.

Jibbi arrived in Ho Chi Minh the night of 8 December and rested at Hotel des Arts before her first full day in the country. On 9 December, after exploring Ho Chi Minh’s local food, restaurants, and cafés, Jibbi made the seven-hour trip from Vietnam’s capital to Dalat, the home of Son Pacamara Specialty Coffee Farm.

While Jibbi had previously visited

coffee farms in Thailand and India, she says visiting Son Pacamara was a completely different experience.

“This was a much smaller farm with much less in terms of technology, equipment, and innovation. Everything was so local and done by hand,” Jibbi says.

“I learned a lot about how small farms can produce and improve coffee as well.”

Jibbi went picking with the farmers, where she learned how to tell the difference between varietals. Son Pacamara grows multiple varietals despite its small size, including its namesake Pacamara, Bourbon, Typica, and hybrids of the breeds.

“In larger farms like those in Brazil,

they might have separate land for different varietals, but it’s quite mixed in Vietnam.

You need to be able to tell what you just picked. Then at the end of the day, you need to be able to sort the cherries by hand,” Jibbi says.

“At first it was difficult, but you quickly pick up on the differences. Bourbon is very round. Everything big – including leaves – is Pacamara. Long leaves and beans is Typica. If a tree has lots of cherries, it’s probably a hybrid, which is easier to grow,” Jibbi says.

After touring Son Pacamara, Jibbi’s hosts guided her through the roasting and cupping process they perform as part of their testing and quality control. While Jibbi has experience roasting through her business Jibbi Little Roasting Co, the small sample roaster in Vietnam required a different approach to what she was used to.

“It was like going back to the basics.

The machine was quite simple, which actually allows you to understand more about the coffee because you are more involved in the roasting,” she says.

“Like, when the skin [or chaff] comes off the bean, you need to actually help blow it away to carry on with the roast. In bigger machines, the chaff is filtered away and you don’t see it disappear.”

Having learned about coffee from the locals, it was time for Jibbi to share what she knew with the Vietnamese community.

While in the country, Jibbi hosted a series of talks in several cities, covering topics like how to find a job in an Australian café,

Jibbi spent several days at the Son Pacamara Specialty Coffee Farm in Dalat.

“I DIDN’T GET A BAD POUR OVER AT ALL IN VIETNAM. POUR OVER MAKES UP 80 PER CENT OF THE ORDERS AT SOME OF THESE CAFÉS, WHEREAS IN AUSTRALIA YOU’RE UNLIKELY TO GET MORE THAN FOUR OR FIVE PER DAY.” competing on the world stage, and latte art techniques. Jibbi says while these talks drew quite a crowd in smaller towns, they packed out cafés in Ho Chi Minh.

“The younger generation really want to make a name for themselves and know that in Australia they can become more famous and earn a better salary in coffee,” Jibbi says.

While many baristas are interested in gaining experience in Australia, Jibbi says the work requirements are totally different.

“The salary is quite low in Vietnam, so cafés can put on twice as many staff.

But each person only does the job they’re hired to do. They don’t multitask like we’re expected to do in Australia,” she says.

The coffees baristas make are often also different between the two countries.

Jibbi says many in Vietname know how to make a latte with impressive art but struggle with other milk coffees.

“They took ‘flat white’ literally and would try to serve the coffee with no foam

at all. This meant they would heat the milk without texturing it, so the sweetness of the milk wasn’t really brought out,” Jibbi says.

“For a cappuccino, some would pour as much foam into the cup as possible. At many of the places I visited, I was able to share back my knowledge on proper technique and how to prepare these different drinks.”

On the other hand, the local preference for black and filtered coffee meant the quality of pour overs from Vietnamese specialty cafés was particularly high.

“I didn’t get a bad pour over at all in Vietnam. Pour over makes up 80 per cent of the orders at some of these cafés, whereas in Australia you’re unlikely to get more than four or five per day,” she says.

“So generally, the baristas knew how to brew coffee – especially with V60 – maybe even better than in Australia. They know what they’re doing and can describe to you how their actions are bringing out sweetness or reducing bitterness.”

Even in Vietnam’s restaurants, Jibbi saw a different approach to issues like waste than is common in Australia.

“Restaurants and cafés weren’t using plastic straws. Instead, they used natural materials like water spinach stems or bamboo. It’s a lot less plastic and makes the restaurant look and feel really natural,” Jibbi says.

“It was so cool and something I’d never seen anywhere else. Even in Thailand, there are straws and plastic everywhere.”

With everything Jibbi learned in Vietnam, from the farms to cafés, she says the most important thing she discovered is how hard it is to make a good cup of coffee.

“Every process counts and each detail requires attention. Many of the people at origin live hard lives and it makes me feel thankful to be in Australia,” Jibbi says.

“It was meaningful to be able to share my experience of coffee with them too.

I love the path of sharing knowledge. It brings a real happiness when you know it’s a benefit to people.”

beanscenemag.com.au

49

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Lessons learned Espressology’s Instaurator shares some valuable experiences that can help grow a new business and set an existing one up for further growth and success.

Instaurator says equipment changes over the years and it’s good to invest, but sometimes old models are just as reliable.

I

n the first year of my little garage roasting business, I managed to double the turnover. In the second year, I doubled it again. In the third year I doubled it yet again. That was eight-fold growth rate in just three years.

How did I do this? For one, I hired a young hardworking mum to do my deliveries while I focused on sales and tried to “sell the sizzle not the sausage”. I purchased a set of sales training cassette tapes by American Tom Hopkins. I listened to those tapes continuously, and even memorised some of the motivational prompts that were designed to help sales people cope with rejection, some of which I still recall on cue to this day: “I never see failure as failure but only as the opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance.”

I also learned from another salestraining guy called Alan Pease, an Australian body language expert who

50

beanscenemag.com.au

used to be an insurance salesman. In one of his books he analysed every individual word in a sales presentation sentence and the impact each word had on the listener.

This helped me train myself for phone prospecting.

Now in the modern era we have podcasts readily available on such topics, but there’s nothing like life experience to teach us valuable tools and tricks of the trade that we can pass on. Here are some valuable ones I’ve learned along the way:

LESSON ONE: BE MORE THAN A SALESMAN

Being a professional salesman is more a matter of being an honest consultant than acting like the archetypal rude and pushy salesman. It’s almost a matter of diagnosing what someone actually needs, much like a doctor does to a patient by asking about their symptoms. Once you figure out what’s important to your client, provide

professional solutions, and are honest about what you don’t actually know, people will put their trust in you.

The businesses that make the customer feel highly valued by understanding their needs and wants, and structures their behaviour based on this, will do well.

LESSON TWO: BUILD TRUST

Good personal relationships are based on trust, and good business relationships are exactly the same. One of the things I managed to do to cement my first few new customer relationships was to impress them with a prompt level of service.

Tailoring your week to see your customers is so important and extremely valuable.

David Jones, one of the largest chains of upscale stores in Australia, was a very good payer for us and a great example of how business relationships work well. We received payments within about seven

days of delivering our goods. It certainly made us look upon them favourably, and we would go out of our way to make sure we filled their orders as a priority.

When the supplier works hard to fulfil the orders on time and the customer pays on time, there is more time spent on positive, productive, and creative ideas, and less time wasted on unproductive conversations and frustrations.

LESSON THREE: DON’T DISCOUNT THE VALUE OF RETAIL

Most of the recent successful coffee brands in Australia over the last 15 years or so have gone the other way and built their wholesale brand after starting with a retail outlet – brands like Toby’s Estate, Campos, and Single O in Sydney, and St Ali and Seven Seeds and countless others throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the world, for that matter.

Good retailing is actually a matter of good hospitality. Make people feel good for having been in your store. If you do that, they will come back and your business will grow. It’s that simple. In wholesaling by contrast, it takes a huge effort just to arrange to talk to the right person and even then, it may be only one in 10 people who might actually buy something from you.

Your own retail outlet can showcase how good your coffee can be by controlling the quality. This way, people are much more likely to consistently enjoy a good experience and you get a new guaranteed retail customer.

LESSON FOUR: INVEST IN GOOD EQUIPMENT

Operators who genuinely invest continually in improving their business for the right reasons will reap the rewards. From my experience, the more you invest in substantial equipment, the more people feel like you are taking your business seriously.

In my experience, each time I purchased a bigger machine, the sales jumped up without me doing anything else. It was like the bigger the machine, the more customers felt like I was taking our coffee seriously.

If you’re setting up a new café and are worried about competing with the milliondollar fit-outs of the café world, don’t. Just be practical. Set up your work bench with operational workflow in mind and consider visual signals. It sounds simple but if you can’t see the coffee machine from outside your shop window, change that. It’s a drawcard for passersby and new customers, as are tables on the footpath.

LESSON FIVE: LOOK FOR WIN-WIN-WIN OUTCOMES

Hiring good people is key. Sometimes you can hire someone on a positive gut feeling and it becomes the best decision you’ve made, and sometimes it just doesn’t feel right. Back your instincts.

One thing I did learn out of necessity was how to interview and select people quickly. Because I was so rushed off my feet, I would place an advertisement for a new worker with my mobile phone number. This was long before the internet.

I would be too busy to answer my phone during the day, but in the evening I would go through all the voice messages of everyone who had applied for the position.

I would find no more than three people who I felt may be suitable and made appointments with them 30 minutes apart.

If people could not be bothered to leave a polite, well-spoken voice message, I would not bother calling them back, because a) it’s rude to leave an incomprehensible message and b) if they couldn’t communicate with a prospective employer effectively, then they would not be able to communicate satisfactorily with customers either, and would not be suitable for the job.

LESSON SIX: CASHFLOW IS KING

Consider your environment and make it work to your advantage. One of the best retail promotions I ever did was accomplished at my Wahroonga coffee shop on Railway Avenue in Sydney. There were, and still are, two very good schools nearby, Knox and Abbotsleigh. To incentivise the largely school-populated community, I devised a simple advertisement along the lines of: “1 FREE cappuccino, hot or cold. Limit one per person. Expiry date: two weeks’ time.”

When the $20 advertising investment was printed and handed out to every child in the school, things went ballistic.

That first afternoon our café was packed to overflowing with schoolkids jostling for their free cold cappuccino, and I didn’t mind. These are our future customers after all.

The wonderful thing for this business was that the schoolkids started telling their mums to come and pick them up from the “new” coffee house. This introduced their mums to our newly refurbished store, where they ordered hot coffees for themselves. Before long, groups of mums would arrange to meet long before school was out so they could enjoy a bit of relaxation and socialise.

A $20 advertising investment returned hundreds of thousands of dollars of new sales and added value to the business.

LESSON SEVEN: KEEP LEARNING

There is always cause for humility, because no matter how much knowledge even the most intelligent human being can accumulate, it is always pitifully limited in relation to the infinite universe that we live in. * This information is an edited extract from Instaurator’s book The Coffee Entrepreneur, available on Amazon, Kindle, ibooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

For more information, visit www.espressology.com/shop

At age 22, Instaurator stumbled into coffee roasting after working in a dead-end job in a warehouse and failing to gain entry into university. At age 27 he was appointed CEO of a business and fulfilled his dream of travelling to various countries in Asia, the Americas, and Europe as a self-employed coffee entrepreneur. He has built up businesses, adding hundreds of millions of dollars in equity for their owners. In 2004, Instaurator was appointed Executive Director of the World Barista Championship in Trieste, Italy, and a few years later, was practically bankrupt. He began a new start-up business called Espressology in 2008, which has gone on to succeed. He is happily married to his wife of 38 years, and has four adult children.

beanscenemag.com.au

51

INDUSTRY PROFILE

An Accademia for the world

Paris has the Louvre, New York has the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and now Florence has Accademia Del Caffè Espresso, a place dedicated to building a sustainable future for espresso coffee.

A historical timeline aligns important dates in La Marzocco’s history with world events.

S

tanding in the entrance to Accademia Del Caffè Espresso, visitors to the centre for espresso excellence could liken the establishment to the Peggy Guggenheim museum with its crisp white interior and artistic displays.

But Accademia is not a display of 20thcentury European and American art. It’s a symbol of the coffee industry’s past, present, and future.

“Welcome to Accademia Del Caffè Espresso,” exclaims Marta Kokosar, General Manager of Accademia del Caffè Espresso at the exclusive media preview following HostMilano 2019.

“This is a magical place for everyone to enjoy, dedicated to research, innovation, and exchange of information. Accademia will create value for the entire coffee industry. It was a concept on paper a long time ago, and now we have completed a special place here in Florence that puts the

52

beanscenemag.com.au

history of La Marzocco, and the world of coffee, in the spotlight.”

From the outside, the domed building is a visual spectacle, representing the shape of a coffee machine thanks to its arched bow truss. It was La Marzocco’s original industrial factory from 1959 to 2009. Back then, the company’s founding fathers, Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi, managed and designed the so-called “officina” or workshop alongside a small group of craftsmen, later led by Piero Bambi.

Inside the Accademia entrance lies a distinctive green workshop bench, a replica of the original housed in the La Marzocco factory, laden with old tools from the 1950s and the evolution of company logos.

An original Bambi Bar from 1959 is a historical find for the museum. Marta says she fought hard to buy the original piece from an old Italian woman still using the bar in her Tuscan shop.

“This bar tells a very special story. To

see it is like seeing a portrait of an era that is Italy after the war,” Marta says.

Here, staff serve guests specially crafted blends reminiscent of Italian espresso from the 1960s and 1970s. “You might want to add a bit of sugar,” says the barista. “This one is 60 per cent arabica, 40 per cent robusta.”

A replica bronze statue of the Marzocco, the heraldic lion and symbol of Florence, sits in the outside courtyard as a symbol of Italy’s republic era in the late 14th century.

To create the sculpture, Marta commissioned a Florence-based artist whose father was a friend of the Bambis’.

She later discovered this artist is the only person with the licence to replicate the Marzocco from the original Donatello drawing.

Inside, the museum’s Cluster Centre is devoted to three main areas: technology, history, and culture. A video library displays innovative projects from

La Marzocco’s partners and TED Talks, while the components of a La Marzocco mini are turned into wall art.

“It’s important people understand what’s inside a coffee machine and what it means to assemble all of these components by hand,” says Stefano Della Pietra, the only person outside the Bambi family to design a La Marzocco machine – the KB90 – and Accademia Head of the Custom & Innovation Workshop.

Continuing the theme of innovation, a video explains how espresso is brewed and holograms demonstrate how the La Marzocco Leva machine and straightin portafilter have helped enhance barista ergonomics.

One of the most impressive and magical artistic structures in the museum is a kinetic sculpture created entirely from spare La Marzocco espresso machine parts, thanks to cinétique sculptor Charles Morgan.

The mesmerising structure represents the production of La Marzocco coffee machines and the many layers involved in its creation, from factory workers to the classic Bambi delivery bus. Visitors watch in awe as a pin ball darts around the metal masterpiece like a rollercoaster in an amusement park.

In order to stay relevant, Accademia’s Content Curator Eleonora Angela Maria Ignazzi says the Accademia team has worked hard to create a museum that will evolve in time.

“The idea is that every single element can be changed and should change with time. We will aim to have two major exhibitions per year,” she says.

Eleonora points out a historical timeline that maps important dates in La Marzocco’s history of technology and design that are aligned to important world events: the launch of the La Marzocco home range in 2014, the same year Malala Yousafzai won a Nobel Peace Prize, and the launch of the KB90 in 2019, the same year NASA released the first image of a black hole.

A replica of the original Bambi delivery van is also on display to represent the company’s innovation.

It was the first instrument the Bambi brothers used to travel through Florence and serve coffee from.

The museum honours the future with a rotating platform to showcase La Marzocco’s latest development, while a live social media tag board brings the museum into the current age of communication.

Massimo Battaglia, Head of Operations, introduces guests to the Coffee Cluster room, a space to learn about the many elements impacting coffee production, such as climate change.

“At this moment if we don’t do anything about climate change, it is possible in just

over 10 years we will have 25 per cent less production of coffee. And in 20 years’ time, it’s possible we will have 50 per cent less Arabica production,” Massimo says.

With most consumers geographically removed from coffee production areas, Massimo says the idea of this educational space is to “reduce the gap”. It displays the intricacies of how a coffee farm works, the different soils used in cultivation, and displays a huge family tree of all the Arabica coffee varieties in the world.

The pièce de résistance, better known as “Massimo’s baby”, is the dedicated glasshouse filled with a forest of coffee plants including full-grown red and yellow caturra shrubs, banana trees, and shade plants. Massimo controls the greenhouse’s temperature, humidity, and irrigation. “I can make rain happen at the touch of a button,” he says, demonstrating the mist button.

In the true sense of crop to cup, the tour concludes at the fully equipped Accademia Bar showcasing La Marzocco’s best technology and products. Behind the bar is a striking glass wall with La Marzocco Leva machines stacked three machines high.

Around the parameters are sensory and cupping rooms, and dedicated training spaces for international courses and certifications. Each lab shares views of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-protected hills, the subject of many renaissance paintings, but to fully appreciate the landscape, a visit to

the rooftop is a must.

The official opening of Accademia is scheduled for April 2020. Already, Accademia is involved in two lines of research with University of Florence Science Professor Stefano Mancuso. One line is focused on sustainable methods for farming coffee at origin, while the other is in partnership with the Cup of Excellence, which is sending beans and soil samples for analysis.

“There’s already outcomes from our research. We have been invited to present the information to the Accademia dei Georgofili, the most ancient accademia in the world, and share our findings to the Italian citizens,” Marta says.

“Italy has a huge culture around coffee, but Italians think they know best. It’s hard to make them understand there’s a whole world behind it, so if Accademia can help educate the Italians, it will create value for the entire industry.”

The space is already operating as a platform to champion the international coffee community towards a sustainable future. All that’s left is for visitors to enter the Accademia with a little curiosity and an open mind.

“We can’t wait to share this magical masterpiece with the world, which we hope will contribute to the future health and longevity of our industry,” Marta says. “We want Accademia to become a destination because this place is about more than just coffee.”

Accademia Del Caffè features a temperature-controlled greenhouse with full-grown red and yellow caturra shrubs.

beanscenemag.com.au

53

FEBRUARY 2020

A World-Class Coffee Magazine

The age of simplicity Advanced technology meets uncomplicated design

DAIRY & DAIRY ALTERNATIVES

Good morning, Vietnam Cold coffee makes its mark 49 ISSN 1449-2547

Airport coffee reaches new heights 02

Andre Eiermann calls Australia home

9 771449 254002

APRIL/20

PROMO FEATURE

The Australian dairy and dairy alternative industry is a competitive market. To help make the right purchasing decision for your business, BeanScene’s April 2020 edition will look at the industry’s top players dedicated to producing quality dairy and dairy alternative products.

OUR BRAND PROMISES We offer you the best exposure to decision makers We provide the best platform to showcase your product We will be the best external marketing partner you’ll ever have

Australia’s coffee drinking marketplace has a dominant milk-based culture. Aligning with the best milk brand is crucial to selling a quality milk-based coffee.

More than ever, café customers are also demanding choice in dairy alternatives, from soy to almond milk, and oat to coconut milk. Providing such variety could be the key difference between retaining old customers and attracting new ones.

Tell our readership of café owners and roasters about your unique and latest product range.

BOOKING DEADLINE:

27 FEBRUARY 2020 Book now: Camilo Molina | 0481 736 890 camilo.molina@primecreative.com.au

FEATURE NEWS

Sky’s the limit Specialty coffee is reshaping the food and coffee sector at Sydney and Melbourne airports, giving tourists their first taste of the country’s coffee quality, and locals the chance to try before they fly.

Travellers can now enjoy some of Australia’s finest specialty coffee overlooking the tarmac.

A

t any given time, airport cafés are swelling with activity. Passengers in transit congregate in cafés hoping to kill time, enjoy a meal or coffee, or simply to break up the monotony of waiting by the boarding gate.

The fast-paced nature of airports has bred a general perception that the airport hospitality industry favours speed and convenience over quality, but that’s all about to change. Specialty coffee brands are opening in Sydney and Melbourne airports from T4 to international departure lounges, turning one of the most populated daily hang-out spaces into the next café destination.

“Historically, airports have had basic food and beverage offerings, but over time people’s expectations have changed. Specialty coffee is part of a broader strategy to address these expectations and improve the experience for travellers,” says Michael Cameron,

Communications Manager at St Ali. The specialty coffee movement is growing rapidly, but the concept has existed for some time. Toby’s Estate was among the first to open a signature airport café in Sydney in 2012 and has paved the way for more roasters to follow.

“It has become very common for people to be able to get fantastic specialty coffee anywhere in Australia, so we thought, why shouldn’t it be available in the airport?’” says Loris Asprea, National Sales Manager at Toby’s Estate.

“As people travel more, they become more familiar with the airport and the food and beverage on offer. Travellers have come to expect the same quality that they can get at their favourite café, so for us it was important to give consumers that experience.”

Loris adds that the airport market is particularly attractive for specialty coffee businesses as it opens a new window of opportunities compared to a

traditional café.

“The airport is open throughout the entire day, so we aren’t just seeing people pop in for a morning coffee. This means we get to cover a huge customer base with a broad range of coffee preferences,” he says.

“Additionally, it also provides brand exposure to thousands of travellers from all parts of the world every single day. It gives us great reach.”

Since Toby’s Estate opened its airport café, a host of other businesses have followed suit. Axil Coffee Roasters, Grinders, Society of Coffee (Soco), Ona Coffee, and Proud Mary have opened in domestic terminals in Sydney and Melbourne airports, while St Ali and Brunetti have set their focus on the international market.

“We were approached by Melbourne Airport representatives who wanted to reinvigorate their retail space. They said they were looking for companies that represent Melbourne’s culture and

beanscenemag.com.au

55

FEATURE NEWS

Grinder’s specialty coffee arm Society of Coffee has recently launched at Melbourne Airport.

reputation. As an institutional specialty coffee company, St Ali was the perfect fit,” says St Ali’s Michael.

He adds that tapping into this market is a win-win for consumers and businesses.

Customers have access to a fresh range of offerings and businesses have the prospect to promote their brand to a far-reaching audience.

“Airports are busy, stressful, and intimidating places at the best of times.

Good, tasty coffee is a welcome and essential treat in among the chaos. We tried to make the store as warm and comfortable as possible to create an oasis away from the crowds,” Michael says.

“From a business perspective, Melbourne International Airport is the second busiest airport in Australia, providing us the opportunity to reach a compelling audience. Seeing our cups in the hands of people at the gate in international departures has been

incredibly special and humbling.”

According to Sally Byrne, General Manager at Grinders and Soco Coffee Roasters, it is important for an airportbased café to create a space that is welcoming and invigorating, something the recently launched Soco café aims to achieve.

“It’s a custom-made space inspired by the Australian café culture. We believe it’s everything a good design should be: beautiful, functional, and contemporary,” she says.

Soco, the specialty coffee arm of Grinders Coffee, launched at the 2019 Melbourne International Coffee Expo in February. After expanding around the country, the business saw Melbourne Airport as a natural opportunity for growth.

“We’re fortunate to have two Grinders cafés at Melbourne Airport and have recently opened one under our Soco brand.

We’re all about offering a quality café

Axil’s airport branch in Melbourne is open from 5am to 10pm, 365 days a year.

56

beanscenemag.com.au

experience among the hustle and bustle of Melbourne Airport,” Sally says.

“Our expectation is that having a quality coffee when you’re travelling is a must. At our Grinders cafés at Melbourne Airport we brew our Foundation Blend, a versatile four-bean blend, and at Soco we offer our signature blend, which combines delicious Zambian and Colombian beans.”

Sally adds that Grinders and Soco plan to expand their presence into other airports around the country but jokes that expanding operations close to the tarmac poses a unique set of challenges.

“First and foremost, security is a little different than what we are used to. Have you ever tried to get coffee bags into the airport?” she says.

“Delivery schedules, security passes, and working around congested peak times are challenging. Things like deliveries, site access, or organising contractors are all things that we take for granted in regular cafés. The 3am shifts can be a little tough too. Overall, though, the opportunity to give travellers a better coffee experience is incredibly rewarding.”

David Makin, Founder of Axil Coffee Roasters, adds that operating out of the airport raises some unique operational and logistical hurdles. Axil’s Melbourne Airport branch is open from 5am to 10pm, 365 days per year.

“We use an online rostering system because it’s really important that our staff are rostered correctly and getting paid at the right rates. There’s three shifts every day compared to a usual café’s two and there are five different types of penalty rates during these times,” David says.

He adds his city stores generally do about 50 per cent of their business over three hours in the morning. In Axil’s airport store the pace is completely different with a consistent flow of caffeine seekers throughout the morning, afternoon, and night.

“Actually, the pace is the opposite of

what we originally thought. It’s not rapid, but consistent. The flight schedule is spread throughout the entire day and Melbourne Airport doesn’t have a curfew, so it’s an even spread through the day and night,�

David says.

Since opening in late 2019, David says he hasn’t seen any particular ordering patterns among travellers, but language and communication barriers can be a challenge. “There is a lot of holding up cups and sign language. Also, there are cultural differences. A macchiato in Germany, a macchiato in Italy, and a macchiato in Australia are all very different things. So, there can be a bit of an ordering barrier but it’s nothing that we haven’t been able to get around,� he says. “Overall, dealing with such a diverse customer base has been the most enjoyable part of being in the airport and it’s been a pretty easy transition so far.�

According to official statistics based on the 2017-2018 financial year, more than 43 million passengers passed through Sydney Airport and more than 36 million passed through Melbourne Airport. The report announced that these numbers were expected to grow, something which David says adds to the appeal of the market. “If you open a shop in a suburb, you typically get people from the surrounding areas coming there. But at the airport, you literally get people from every corner of the city, and the world. It’s a large cross section of consumers that we wouldn’t usually have access to, so the reach it gives our brand is huge,� David says.

With the massive flow of international and domestic passengers moving through Australia’s airports, St Ali’s Michael says it’s the perfect platform to showcase the

country’s well-regarded coffee culture – and they don’t even have to leave the terminal. “Creativity, coffee, and Melbourne culture are intimately entwined, from the early Italian immigrants who brought their espresso machines here in the

50s, right up to the innovative specialty coffee companies today, who keep Melbourne at the forefront of the global industry,� he says. “As the last point of departure from Melbourne, it makes sense to have our coffee culture proudly represented there.�

More than 36 million people passed through Melbourne Airport in 2017-2018.

info@minashill.com.au

@minas_hill_coffee

www.minashill.com.au

GREEN BEAN FEATURE

Welcome to Southland Southland Merchants is making a difference for Brazilian farmers through its green bean trading policy by supporting an economically sustainable supply chain.

I

n 2009, Andre Selga and Nadia Moreira were running successful grocery and exporting businesses in their native Brazil. The pair had built a strong professional network and were exporting goods to Europe, the United States, and Africa.

Everything quickly changed when an old friend, who had a background in coffee, approached them about a new business opportunity to trade green beans.

“Over time, Nadia and I came to learn about the industry and like just about everyone, once we started dealing with coffee, we got hooked,” says Andre Selga, Owner of Southland Merchants.

In 2017, the couple and their young children emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia in search of a new challenge.

After months of hard work and research on the Australian coffee market, Southland Merchants, a specialty coffee importer and distributor, was born.

“We want to connect coffee growers with coffee lovers. We love finding beautiful coffees and learning the stories behind them,” Andre says.

“When we moved, we were amazed at how sophisticated the Australian market was. People here are open to trying new flavours and varieties. Brazilian coffee was traditionally used for blends, but as farming techniques developed over time and farmers made a diligent and firm decision to step up their game, Brazil’s specialty coffee has improved.”

At first, Andre says, he and Nadia were impressed with the Australian coffee industry’s focus on environmental sustainability, but the pair decided they could add value elsewhere.

“The farmers in Brazil love nature, it’s where they live. They don’t tend to ruin the beauty around them. Brazil also has really strict legislation on preserving forests in farming areas. This realisation led us to channel our resources into creating an

58

beanscenemag.com.au

Andre and Nadia (wearing white) emigrated to South Australia in 2017.

economically sustainable supply chain,” Andre says.

“We want to connect with farmers on an intimate level to get involved in their day-to-day activities and challenges. This way we can work with them to ensure they receive fair prices.”

According to Nadia, the key to creating economic fairness lies in transparency, education, and empowerment.

“We don’t want the farmers to hand over the coffee and move on. We want them to own it and stay involved in all aspects, including price negotiations.

This is why we don’t purchase based on the C-market levels. We aim to organise prices that make sense to the farmers,” she says.

“We provide transparent feedback for every coffee sample we receive. The aim is for the farmer to be accountable. We want to push them to focus on improving quality and learning more skills. If a farmer is asking for a higher fee, we work with them to improve their quality to a point that justifies those fees.”

Nadia adds that it’s important to bridge the educational gap. In Brazil there are approximately 350,000 coffee farmers, 86

per cent of whom are small growers who often lack formal education.

“This goes beyond business. It’s our country and they are our people. We want farmers to thrive as people. We’re part of a massive industry and we can’t change it all, but we decided that every business relationship that we enter should be economically sustainable,” she says.

Despite social and economic issues affecting some farmers, Andre sees a bright future for the Brazilian specialty coffee industry.

“I see a lot of drive from Brazilian farmers trying new varietals. Farmers are bringing skills from wine production and applying it to coffee, things like fermentations and carbonic macerations.

Some farmers are also having really good results with Geisha. I can’t wait to see how this all plays out,” he says.

“There are some really amazing things happening.”

For more information, visit www.southlandmerchants.com.au contact 0452 142 412 or email andre@southlandmerchants.com.au

GREEN BEAN FEATURE

Wishing well Through community projects, investments, and experimentation, Project Origin offers stability to producers and quality to roasters.

V

isiting the town of Masina in Ethiopia, Project Origin General Manager Habib Maarbani was struck by how few options the people had for drinking water.

“Where this particular town is in the mountains, access to clean and fresh running water is limited. You always see kids, women, and people with donkeys and carts, carrying old, yellow watering cans and walking to get them filled up,” Habib says.

“Seeing that and coming from a country like Australia, where you turn on a tap and water comes out, definitely hits home. Servicing the community with convenient, reliable, and clean water is something we wanted to support.”

When Habib returned in October for his second biannual trip of 2019, construction had almost completed for the water well Project Origin financed from its community fund. He says this kind of work is essential to building stable Project Origin funded the construction of a well for the town of Masina in Ethiopia.

relationships with producers.

“It’s easy to go into a farm and buy the best tasting coffees you can for the best price you can get them. While that is supportive in that one particular transaction, it doesn’t do much to maintain the environment – which is ever-shifting – and the producer’s livelihood,” Habib says.

“Working with a community year on year, at a particular washing station, provides stability of what they can offer and the price they will get for it, and the reassurance you’ll come back the next year.”

Project Origin sources large volumes of coffee from the nearby Muje Masina washing station. Alongside the water well, Project Origin donated four large shade drying tents to the station on behalf of four large buyers of its coffee.

Habib says the tents will provide Muje Masina with a great level of control over its drying process, improving coffee quality.

“Often during the peak of harvest season, producers have to cover their drying coffee in the middle of the day when it gets too hot. Otherwise, they run the risk of the parchment cracking or over-fermenting the coffee,” he says.

“But when they cover the coffee, it no longer receives airflow, which affects how it ages in the long run. The shade drops the temperature two to four degrees, meaning a more stable heat, better airflow, and that they shouldn’t have to cover the coffee anymore.”

Muje Masina is also the site of many Project Origin carbonic maceration (CM) processing experiments, highlighted by its CM Selections range.

CM involves placing coffee in sealed tanks with controlled exposure to carbon and oxygen, providing producers with greater influence over fermentation.

Habib says the experiments have resulted in Muje Masina producing a wider variety of flavour profiles than it could with traditional processing.

“In 2019, Muje produced eight different CM Selections coffees and we also bought their traditional washed and naturals,” he says. “Instead of going to 10 different stations, we can go to one station with 10 options. Being able to share that traceability and connection is good for the roaster, but it’s also good for the producers, because they now have products to bring to the market.”

Project Origin has several more projects in Ethiopia planned for 2020.

This includes a third CM processing station in Uraga, supporting a barista training school in Addis Ababa, and further investment in Muje Masina.

“I want to visit a place and have people be happy we’re there,” Habib says. “That means putting back into their community and trying to improve their standard of living as well as their coffee.

This creates a win-win relationship, which benefits them as much as us.”

For more information, visit www.projectorigin.com.au contact 02 6113 0810 or email info@projectorigin.com.au

beanscenemag.com.au

59

GREEN BEAN FEATURE

Bridging the gap Fairtrade ANZ is working with farmers in Papua New Guinea to improve coffee quality and create a sustainable future for the industry.

C

offee is Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) second largest export behind palm oil. The coffee industry employs approximately three million people and will play a major role in the developing country’s economic future.

After PNG gained independence in 1975, many foreign-owned coffee plantations were subsequently abandoned, leaving the local Indigenous population to learn coffee production from the ground up.

“Traditionally, coffee production in PNG was handled by plantations.

Indigenous members of the community were picking coffee or occasionally processing it, but all the knowledge stayed with the plantation’s owners,” says Will Valverde, Producer Support and Relations Officer at Fairtrade ANZ. Blessed with an ideal climate and soil profile for high-quality coffee, many locals seized the opportunity to independently farm coffee with enthusiasm. However, despite coffee production’s importance to the island nation’s economy, there are serious threats to its long-term sustainability.

“Youth are moving from villages into

“THE KEY IS BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN FARMERS AND CONSUMERS BY HIGHLIGHTING THE UNIQUE AND DESIRABLE FLAVOUR AND AROMA PROFILE OF PNG COFFEE.” cities and it’s hard to gain access to finance.

Most importantly, there is a major lack of knowledge in coffee production,” Will says.

“We look to empower farmers. It’s important to create better conditions for

Fairtrade running a Q-Grader-inspired training course in Neknasi in 2017.

60

beanscenemag.com.au

them and give them access to information.”

Will adds that engaging the next generation of farmers while educating consumers is a challenging task, but something that Fairtrade believes it can achieve.

“The key is bridging the gap between farmers and consumers by highlighting the unique and desirable flavour and aroma profile of PNG coffee,” Will says.

Among its many projects in PNG, Fairtrade recently partnered with the Coffee Quality Institute to run a training program for 20 farmers in PNG. The program is based on Q Grader courses on the nexus of agronomy and coffee quality.

“Over the next year we hope to build on this by conducting in-depth sessions on roasting, cupping, and coffee grading,” Will says.

In another initiative, in response to a growing consumer demand for highquality and ethically sourced coffee, Fairtrade has facilitated an ongoing dialogue between PNG farmers and the specialty coffee communities in Australian and New Zealand.

“Australia and New Zealand are some of the more complex coffee markets in the world, so it’s important to gain their support,” Will says.

This collaboration is having a positive impact on coffee producers across the PNG highlands. According to Fairtrade, many producers are now growing their businesses and reinvesting resources into their local communities, something which gives Will optimism about the future of the nation’s coffee industry.

“There’s a saying in PNG: ‘coffee goes, kapa comes’. Kapa is the iron roofs used for permanent housing,” he says.

“Basically, coffee stimulates the economy and gives people access to basic necessities – like roofing – that we can often take for granted. It’s very rewarding for us, seeing people overcome their challenges.

It’s very encouraging.”

For more information, visit www.fairtrade.com.au contact (03) 9602 2225 or email info@fairtrade.com.au

GREEN BEAN FEATURE

The Saga begins The South American Growers’ Association is on a mission to make high-grade, affordable coffee from Brazil and Colombia accessible to everyone, while creating a more sustainable future for farmers.

SAGA aims to make high-quality, ethically sourced coffee available at all price points.

I

n his position as CEO of Minas Hill Coffee, Marcelo Brussi has formed countless friends and contacts within the coffee industry. In 2014, a chance meeting with Melbourne-based Colombian coffee roaster Sebastian Farias left an indelible mark on him, which he knew one day would lead to something special.

“What caught my attention about Sebastian is that we shared many of the same thoughts about the industry.

He had really strong views about sustainability and the importance of promoting the welfare of farmers,” says Marcelo, Founder of the South American Growers’ Association (SAGA).

As well as personal ideologies, another factor drawing the pair together was professional experience. Sebastian’s work with Colombian-based Farmore has led him to advocate for small-scale independent farmers, something Marcelo says he could empathise with through his time with Minas Hill Coffee.

“We had such closely aligned values both personally and professionally that it immediately came to my mind – one day

we are going to create a partnership to work together,” he says.

More than five years later, that day has come. Marcelo and Sebastian have combined their expertise to form SAGA, a green bean trader specialising in Brazilian and Colombian coffee.

Launched in February 2020, the business takes a different approach to quality coffee, promoting inclusion and accessibility over exclusivity.

“At SAGA we deal with all shades of coffee. Finding the balance of quality and affordability is one of our key targets. We want to open the market up for everyone in the industry to have access to good quality coffee,” Marcelo says.

“We want to integrate logistics, minimise transportation costs, increase education, and reduce CO2 emissions, while promoting the best of these two beautiful countries.”

SAGA’s market is broad, ranging from microlots to single origin blends.

The trader wants to connect roasters to affordable, high-grade beans, and empower farmers to contribute to a sustainable supply chain.

“Imagine produce from two of the

best coffee countries being brought to Australia through the combination of two reputable companies. We have joined forces to showcase quality coffee, but also improve the livelihood of producers in both countries,” Marcelo says.

The green bean traders both have rich personal histories of contributing to economic and environmentally sustainable coffee production.

Through Farmore, Sebastian has been working with ecologically conscious producers in the Santander region of Colombia to create logistical pathways, trade, and competitive pricing.

Similarly, Marcelo’s work with Minas Hill has seen him work extensively with environmentally conscious farmers, some of which are continuing their business relationship through SAGA. “One pre-existing partner I’m continuing to work with is Pedro Gabarra Teixeira, who owns four farms near the border of the Southern Minas Gerais region in Brazil. He was recognised for his dedication to the environment in 2019 and was awarded for having the most sustainable farm in the entire country,” Marcelo says.

“We’ve learned a lot from each other.

He has the sort of knowledge we want to pass onto other farmers. One thing we are introducing is the use of Harvest Restore Bags. They are made of 25 per cent corn starch and will help to reduce plastic waste.”

Eventually, Marcelo hopes SAGA will be able to expand into other coffee growing regions in South America and contribute to sustainable farming on a wider scale.

“We want to fully support the region.

This includes providing farmers access to full after-sale support through roasters,” he says.

“Sebastian and I have big aspiration.

It’s an exciting project and we’re looking forward to where it takes us.”

For more information, email info@sagacoffee.com.au, or contact Marcelo on 0402 083 237

beanscenemag.com.au

61

CAFETTO CAFÉ SPOTLIGHT

CREAM

4/49 Jetty Road, Brighton, South Australia, 5048 Open Monday to Friday: 7am to 2:30pm Saturday and Sunday: 8am to 3:30pm (08) 8298 3149

After more than a decade in hospitality, twotime Western Region Latte Art and Adelaide Breezey Masters Champion Josh Rivers thought he could offer something new to the Brighton community with his café Coffee Rules Everything Around Me (CREAM).

Taking its name from a Wu-Tang Clan song, CREAM combines Josh’s love of hiphop music with coffee, which has helped the café make an impression since opening four years ago.

“It’s like fine-dining food with a laid-back vibe, and it’s pumping all the time with loud music,” Josh says.

“Jetty Road in Brighton had nothing going on at the time, but I could see there was a good demographic there. We came in and shook things up. Now the street is bigger than ever and an absolute destination.”

CREAM serves Five Senses’ Compton Road as its house blend, prepared with two three-group Synesso Hydra espresso machines, an Ubermilk, two Puqpresses, and one of four grinders. Filter coffee is brewed using Marco SP9s.

“Because we have such a name for specialty coffee, but we’re also in quite a

popular area, we get a big mix of orders coming in. People like their flat whites or lattes, but we also see a lot of magic, filter, and espresso drinkers,” Josh says.

“I’ve never worked somewhere where we get as many magic or filter orders as we do at CREAM, which I think is a testament to how many dedicated coffee drinkers are coming in. But at the same time, we go through 80 kilograms of coffee per week, so you can imagine how busy it gets.”

With such a high volume of coffee served at CREAM, it’s important the café keeps its equipment maintained. Since opening, Josh has used Cafetto Espresso Clean to keep his espresso machines in the best condition possible.

“I use Cafetto all the time. It’s my go-to espresso cleaning product and probably go through more than most other cafés,” Josh says.

Though CREAM takes its coffee seriously, Josh says it is important that this not be at the expense of its food offering.

“Adelaide had problems for a long time in the hospitality scene. You’d get good food and average coffee or vice versa. The idea was to stamp that stigma out, and combine good coffee, good food, and good service,” he says.

Mainstays on CREAM’s menu include the popular smashed avo, hotcake stack with fried chicken, and the donut breakfast

CREAM recently expanded, adding 40 to 50 seats to the Brighton venue.

62

beanscenemag.com.au

sandwich. While CREAM has been hesitant to include other breakfast standards, like the Eggs Benedict, the café has recently puts its own spin on the classic dish.

“Eggs Benny can be an absolute menu killer. People will go somewhere new, get too scared to venture out, and just go with what they know. Right from the start, I said ‘no Eggs Benedict’,” Josh says.

“But with the latest menu change, I thought ‘how can we recreate it?’ So we do it as a crazy three-cheese toastie, served with poached eggs, house-made baconnaise – hollandaise sauce mixed with bacon lard – and streaky bacon on top.”

CREAM’s success has allowed the café to expand, recently taking over the neighbouring store and expanding from 60 seats to more than 100.

“We have about 200 to 300 regulars that come in and we know on a first name basis,” Josh says. “These people now know each other too and do things outside of CREAM and help each other when they need it. It’s been great to build this community.”

CREAM has used Cafetto Espresso Clean to maintain its equipment since opening four years ago.

CAFÉ SCENE 10 HASTINGS STREET 10 Hastings Street, Noosa, Queensland, 4567 Open Monday 7am to 3pm, Tuesday to Sunday 7am to late (07) 5455 3350 Louise Thoms did not anticipate just how busy her café would become when she opened 10 Hastings Street at Noosa Main Beach in Queensland seven years ago.

“We were living in Portugal when my husband was offered a job in Australia.

We arrived in Noosa, where I found this empty space and thought, ‘I might open a café here’,” Louise says. “I had never been in hospitality before, was seven months pregnant, and already had three boys

under six. We initially only served coffee and cakes, but it has since grown to sevenday breakfast, lunch, and dinner service.”

Louise and her husband, who left his job to help run the business, have since purchased the restaurant next door to 10 Hastings Street and the motel behind it.

They will soon open another two restaurants in Queensland. Louise says a positive working culture and hiring great staff have been key to 10 Hastings Street’s popularity and success.

“The best thing about the café is its vibe, which comes from having staff from all around the world with great personalities that provide good service,” Louise says.

“Everyone says we have the best coffee on Hastings Street, and I think it’s because we

10 Hastings Street’s seasonal menu sources ingredients from local suppliers.

CALĒRE COFFEE 166 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065 Open Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am to 5pm Taking its name from the Latin word for “to care” or “to be warm”, Calēre Coffee in Fitzroy aims to bring a sense of warmness and hospitality back to the coffee scene.

“We are very lucky in Melbourne nowadays. Cafés are busy and many do a high volume of coffee, but this also means they don’t always have time to sit down with the customer and have a conversation with them about the coffee,” Owner Alicia Feng says.

Calēre Coffee shares its space with Gaea, a fine dining restaurant that Alicia’s partner Mo Zhou operates. Through both venues, Alicia hopes to promote an increased appreciation for coffee.

“My background is in fine dining, and as I became more interested in coffee, I realised it was being neglected in that space. At the end of the night, customers would be offered tea or coffee, but there was never any choice of single origins, or filter or espresso,” Alicia says. “At Gaea, we offer these options and try to use coffee as an ingredient throughout the courses.”

On the Calēre side, the menu of filter and espresso-based coffee is made

approachable thanks to an array of descriptor cards displayed on the bench.

Ona Coffee’s The Founder and Raspberry Candy blends are staples for milk coffee, and are joined by a collection of rotating single origins and premium coffees.

“There will always be one washed and one natural processed coffee on the bar.

I’ve found that a lot of people who are interested in coffee don’t actually know about processing methods and the differences between them,” Alicia says.

“It’s been a fun adventure to see what different processes people like, and it’s a pleasure to guide them across different types of coffee.”

Espresso-based coffee is prepared with a San Remo Cafe Racer and Mahlkönig EK43 grinder, but Calēre places emphasis on filter coffee – batch brew in particular.

“Our philosophy is that batch is more consistent and it lets us share more of our high-end coffee. In a lot of cafés, filter and pour over are priced high because it’s labour intensive. From a business side, batch is less costly and for the customer, it’s more approachable,” Alicia says.

“At the moment, we’re serving Indigo, the coffee Devin Loong used in the [2020 Southern Region Brewers Cup] as batch or cold brew at an approachable price, so everyone gets a chance to try a competition level coffee.”

only employ baristas with lots of experience who can handle the high volume.”

For the last few years, 10 Hastings Street has served Toby’s Estate’s Broadway as its house blend. Louise says the coffee works for a wide range of taste preferences.

“People really prefer Toby’s Estate. We tried a few different blends, and Broadway had a smooth quality to it. Our customers are 85 per cent tourists, so we didn’t want to go to an extreme and only attract a niche audience,” she says.

But Louise adds, the coffee has still attracted a small group of regular aficionados to the café.

“Toby’s attracts quite a lot of serious coffee drinkers, ordering anything from a simple espresso to a double shot piccolo, but at the same time we haven’t lost that crowd who want a mug full of milky coffee,” she says.

Beyond the stellar coffee offering, 10 Hastings Street attracts customers with its open and beachy aesthetic and live music six nights a week. Seasonal food offerings feature ingredients sourced from local farmers and suppliers.

With Louise’s business set to grow even further, she says her plan is “to keep modernising and changing, while keeping the things that make it good”.

Calēre’s filter focus has seen the small café connect with the artists, designers, shop owners, and coffee lovers living in Fitzroy and its surrounding suburbs.

“Our customers are not so much pedestrians walking past, but people who seek us out as a coffee destination,” Alicia says. “We’re quite small, so people can strike up conversations with those sitting next to them. It has become a little coffee community.

“It feels like I’ve delivered what I set out to with Calēre – bring out the warmth and connection between people.”

Calēre Coffee intends to always offer at least one natural and washed process single origin on the bar.

beanscenemag.com.au

63

CAFÉ SCENE

Zubi Bar is designed to capture the beachside feel of Newport.

ZUBI BAR 323C Barrenjoey Rd, Newport, New South Wales, 2106 Open Monday to Saturday 5:45am to 2:00pm and Sunday 6:45am to 2pm (02) 9999 1519 Around 500 metres from the sweeping sands of Newport Beach in northern Sydney, Zubi Bar is connecting the community through good vibes and specialty coffee.

“We really embrace the community.

People treat Zubi like a meeting place.

We sponsor Newport’s local rugby club, lifesaving club, and the local school. There’s the feeling that if you come down, you’re guaranteed to run into someone you know,” says Steve Hulley, Owner of Zubi Bar. Zubi serves Campos’ Superior blend as the house coffee and the Blade Runner, a slightly lighter Scandinavian roast, for its cold brew. Single origin options are regularly rotated.

“At the moment we’re running single origins from Honduras and Thailand. The Thai one is the first we’ve tried, and it has shattered our expectations. It’s amazing,” Steve says.

“Campos is one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in Australia. I love what they stand for. All of their beans are sourced ethically and sustainably. They are great to work with.”

Steve adds that Sydney’s northern beaches have a unique market which he has adapted to over the years.

“Newport is a village on the beach.

It’s so scenic and has an active, surfer lifestyle. People in this area know what good coffee tastes like and what it should taste like,” Steve says.

“Modern shifts in the coffee industry come to Newport a lot later than in the city. The people here are a lot less influenced by trends.”

Zubi’s garden is one of its crowning features. It seats up to 60 people and

64

beanscenemag.com.au

entertains guests with live music on Sundays during the summer. The café also has its own bees which are used to produce honey used and sold in the store.

As for Zubi’s aesthetic, the café blends stylish urban grunge with a fresh beachside feel.

“You’ll struggle to find a backyard in Sydney like we have. It’s a beautiful oasis.

We have a coffee tree growing there and beautiful old mosaic tables,” Steve says.

“The café wouldn’t be out of place in a Melbourne alleyway. We used a lot of recycled timber to create a beachside feed, but everything is also distressed and mismatched.”

While Zubi is a thriving coastal café under Steve’s ownership, he took over the business under unfortunate circumstances.

“Zubi was started by Peter Dyball, who tragically contracted motor neuron disease. His family wanted to pass it onto someone who had a passion for coffee and the industry, so I was the lucky recipient,” Steve says.

“It was Peter’s baby and sadly I never got Live music lights up the courtyard every Sunday in summer.

to meet him, but a lot of my customers were Peter’s original customers and he is spoken about so highly. I feel like I got to know him through them. His wife also comes in every day for her morning coffee, we have a really good connection.”

Steve moved to Sydney with his Australian wife 11 years ago after owning pubs and cafés in his native South Africa and acquired Zubi shortly after. Following Zubi’s success, Steve has opened two other Zubibranded venues In Narrabeen and Bilgola Beach, NSW. “It may be a cliché, but as someone who moved here from another country, the most rewarding part of my experience is the people. It’s been amazing to engage in the community and be taken in by them,” Steve says.

“I still enjoy going to work after 10 years.

It’s humbling and we feel so supported.”

Zubi serves Campos’ Superior Blend as its house coffee.

LEAFE CAFÉ S276, Level 1, 277 cnr Morrow Street & Broadway, Newmarket, Auckland, 1023, New Zealand Open Monday to Wednesday and Saturday 9am to 7pm, Thursday and Friday 9am to 9pm, Sunday 10am to 7pm Leafe Café in Newmarket aimed to provide an oasis for customers in the new Westfield Shopping Centre where it opened in November 2019.

“We wanted to create a place where people could come and relax. It’s serene, with lots of greenery and big open windows. People can come in, take a step back from business or shopping, and have some really good food,” says Marketing Manager Mary Tapsell.

“We offer more than just your typical cabinet food for those who want to takeaway and have a really outstanding menu. There’s a variety of tastes on offer, from Asian fusion to good, Kiwi, European-style breakfasts with a twist. The interesting flavours push people’s tastebuds and give them something they may not have had before.”

Leafe sources its coffee from Atomic Coffee Roasters, chosen for its “in-depth

THE LITTLE BAY 33 West Coast Drive, Watermans Bay, Western Australia, 6020 Open Monday to Friday 6am to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday 6am to 5pm 0416 125 636 Celebrating its first birthday last December, The Little Bay in Western Australia attributes its warm atmosphere to friendly service, great food and coffee, and gorgeous views of the ocean.

“It’s been an outstanding first year,” Marketing Manager Anneliese Hvalgaard says. “We’ve been embraced by the locals, as well as the wider Perth community seeking out the coastal dining style we offer.”

The café’s light and crisp décor has also proved popular. The Little Bay complements a white backdrop with plenty of greenery and earthy textures through woven wicker cushions and furniture.

An outdoor seating area allows patrons to bring their dogs with them on coffee runs and brunch dates and captures the attention of passers-by.

“People love to go on long coastal walks, especially on the weekend. They’ll often stop by our coffee window and grab their beverage of choice while enjoying what Perth is known for – our gorgeous beaches,” Anneliese says.

and delicious” flavour.

“We also love the fact that they are Fairtrade and have been around for a long time. I feel like they are a traditional Auckland coffee roaster,” Mary says.

“They also have a great ethos, image, and a fantastic vibe, something it shares with Leafe Café.”

While the café has only recently

opened its doors, Mary says the community has responded well to the offering and atmosphere.

“When planning the café, we aimed to be a bit different. We wanted it to be something that really catches the eye, to create a destination place,” she says. “It’s not just somewhere only people walking past will stop by. We want people to actively seek us out.”

Leafe’s design plays a big role in helping the café stand out. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide plenty of natural lighting, complemented by soft pendant lighting indoors, a white colour scheme, and plant life spread throughout the venue.

“Being called Leafe, the greenery works really well. We’ve combined it with the existing design of the building and shopping mall to create a great-looking eatery,” Mary says.

The menu and aesthetic have attracted a more mature clientele, mainly shoppers and workers in their 20s and older.

“Newmarket is quite a traditional part of Auckland and has been around for a long time. But with this huge new Westfield opening, it brought in these specific designer stores and made it quite fashionable,” Mary says. “It’s definitely an artsy, quirky, and cool place to be.”

She adds that The Little Bay doesn’t just rely on its great location to attract customers, and that good service is what really resonates.

“People remember how you make them feel, and not just what you do for them,” Anneliese says. “That goes for service, food, and coffee. People don’t return to a café if they don’t enjoy the coffee.”

The Little Bay serves Locale Coffee Roasters’ single origins and No143 Seasonal Blend, which the owners chose for its full-bodied caramel flavour. Anneliese says The Little Bay’s owners, Elizabeth and Mark Ahearn, used Locale at their previous café, Little H, and have a long-time friendship with Locale WA State Manager Paul Solway.

“Liz and Mark wanted to offer premium coffee and Pauly had recently started working with Locale. It was like the stars had aligned,” she says. “We’re impressed by the standard of coffee and our customers love it.

And the support we receive on a daily basis with equipment, products, and promotion has been wonderful. We look forward to a good future with Locale.”

Now that The Little Bay is established, Anneliese is excited for an even bigger and better 2020.

“Elizabeth and Mark are very humble and focused on one thing – offering good service, food, and beverages,” Anneliese says. “It’s wonderful to see that be so well received.”

Leafe’s soft pendant lighting complements a white colour scheme.

The Little Bay is the second café owned

by Elizabeth and Mark Ahearn.

beanscenemag.com.au

65

TECH TALK

Maurizio Marcocci is the Director of Service Sphere.

The evolution of coffee grinders Maurizio Marcocci of Service Sphere discusses how coffee grinding technology has developed to keep up with advancements in brewing.

I

n the 20th century, the coffee industry experienced an evolution from percolator-style to the drip method of coffee brewing. Now in the 21st century, we are seeing the development of pods, capsules, and other sophisticated brewing technologies around the world.

To meet these technological developments and demands, coffee grinding has evolved as well.

The first coffee grinder, dating back to the origins of coffee, was the mortar and pestle. People in Ethiopia, the Middle East, and early coffee drinking countries would use the small club and bowl to grind up coffee beans for brewing.

While the mortar and pestle is still a popular device to create powders and pastes, this method proved impractical and inconsistent as coffee consumption took off around the world. In the 15th century, people used their manual spice grinders or grain mills to grind coffee.

The first coffee mill, made specifically to grind coffee beans, was invented by Englishman Nicholas Book in the late 17th century. Coffee was placed in the top of the lever device and was grinded into a bottom drawer.

Thanks to its success, many other inventors and companies put out their own manual devices throughout the 18th century. These were household items until the late 1800s, when American company Hobart produced the first electrical coffee grinder, leading a shift towards the grinders we know today.

Since then, developments in coffee

66

beanscenemag.com.au

grinding continued, but in less obvious ways. Burrs were made with new materials, improving their performance.

Weights for measuring coffee output were introduced. Slight design changes were made to improve workflow.

In the last decade or so, as the specialty coffee scene took off and customer expectations rose, new technologies were implemented into coffee grinders to improve quality and ensure consistency.

Some of these new developments include: •R eal-time grinding. This is achieved using a laser analyser to continuously check coffee while the grinder is operating and automatically adjusting, as necessary, to accommodate optimal grind requirements. Real time notifications can alert the user of worn burrs or the need for a general service •B luetooth-enablement. The grinderdoser, connected to the espresso machine via Bluetooth, provides constant control of coffee-dispensing parameters and automatically carries out any grinding and dosing corrections to ensure optimal, constant dispensing.

A great example of this is the LaCimbali Elective feature, a Bluetooth system built into LaCimbali’s M34 and M100 models.

•T ouchless coffee grinding. An integrated system can ease the work of the barista by maintaining a dialogue between the machine and grinder-doser.

This technology guides the barista step-by-step through each beverage

preparation stage, from grinding to dispensing. Some grinders enable the on-demand, wireless grinder-doser to identify the coffee dose to grind (single or double), to dispense it, and communicate this to the machine. This enables the machine to only allow the correct recipe to be selected.

• I ntelligent grinding. This total grinder

LaCimbali Elective is a BlueTooth system built into its M34 and M100 models.

Left: Titanium flat burrs, popular for their long lifespan.

Centre: Red speed blades, intended for high volumes.

Right: Hardened steel, the most common type of burrs.

automation technology includes not only the monitoring and measuring of every aspect of a coffee grind, including density and temperature, but also the adjusting of the grinder to automatically maintain the desired specification.

•T hermal stability systems, like those featured in the Mythos One grinder.

This gives maximum consistency to each dose. It guarantees constant temperature in the grinding chamber and therefore better-quality espresso extraction, giving greater flexibility and efficiency.

•W i-Fi connectivity. Wherever you are, you can connect to the grinder through the cloud. Grinder data is remotely and easily accessible by the barista, coffee roaster, business owner, or service agent. Operators can monitor any and all grinder outputs, keep up with maintenance needs, and improve coffee quality using data tracked by the grinder. This is a key component of the Mazzer Robur S grinder.

•A nti-clump crusher technology.

This sits between the blades and the funnel and acts as an anti-static barrier.

It allows the dose to pour out cleanly, with no spray, which results in reduced wastage. Eureka grinders make great use of this technology.

Developments in grinder technology have improved versatility as well as consistency and quality. Burrs come in all shapes and sizes, each offering different benefits. Two of the most common types of burr blade shapes are conical and flat.

Conical blades, shaped similarly to a cone, sit closely inside one another. The coffee bean is broken down as it moves between both of the burrs. Conical blades often feature low retention and are popular in hand grinders or for domestic use.

Flat blades sit parallel to one another

The Eureka Atom 60E features impressive anti-clump crusher technology.

while the coffee beans travel between them. Flat burr grinders provide better control and are popular in cafés.

Grinder burrs can also be made of different materials, each suited to different budgets and requirements.

These include: •H ardened steel. This is the most common type of blade found within a grinder and is the standard with most grinder makes and models. It is used as an all-rounder for grind efficiency and cost effectiveness.

•C eramic. Ceramic blades are a great alternative to metallic blades.

However, one issue is that they don’t do well with blunt impact or foreign objects, such as a hopper screw. If these come into contact with a foreign object during grinding, expect them to break or shatter.

• Titanium. Blades of this material have a far longer lifespan than standard hardened steel blades and don’t heat soak as quickly. The downside is that they are more expensive than the standard steel option.

•R ed Speed. Red Speed blades are a combination of titanium and aluminium. They are intended for high volume accounts and have an extended grinding life. Red Speed blades are also far more resistant to heat soaking.

•D iamond Inside. Diamond Inside is a patented process for thermal cryogenic treatment of burrs at -193°C. This results in the formation of an increased crystal structure that guarantees a superior wear resistance and duration.

Diamond Inside is able to preserve the optimal geometry of the sharpening longer than any other burr typology.

This keeps the granulometry constant for an exceptionally high quantity of ground coffee, around 1300 kilograms with burrs of 65 millimetres. The total duration can reach up to 1500 or 1600 kilograms.

In many ways, grinders are just as advanced, complex, and evolved as espresso machines and brewing equipment. As the industry’s knowledge continues to grow, coffee grinders will keep developing to produce even better coffee. Coffee grinders have come a long way since the mortar and pestle.

For more information, visit www.servicesphere.com.au

beanscenemag.com.au

67

ESPRESSO YOURSELF

Jibbi Little of Jibbijug is the 2019 ASCA Pauls Professional Australian Latte Art Champion.

Giraffe Jibbi Little sticks her neck out with a latte art pattern that puts the humble giraffe in the spotlight.

W

hen thinking of new patterns, animals are an easy and reliable source of inspiration.

From cute koalas to majestic eagles, there’s no shortage of unique critters that can make a pattern stand out from the crowd. Not only are there hundreds of animals to base a pattern on, there’s an infinite number of ways they can be realised.

You could tell two latte artists to draw you a fish and receive wildly different designs. Think of the hundreds of swans and dozens of butterflies that have flown across latte art competition benches.

With its long neck, skinny legs, and distinctive facial features, the giraffe is another animal with endless potential.

I presented this pattern at the Australian Specialty Coffee Association 2020 Central Region Pauls Professional Latte Art Championship as part of a Safari Tour theme, also including a

68

beanscenemag.com.au

penguin (see BeanScene December 2019) and a kangaroo. These patterns put the animals in their natural habitat, using trees, leaves, and the sun to set the scene and capture the imagination.

The aim of this set was to combine multiple old-school techniques to create something new. Rosettas are used to add texture to the mane of the giraffe and leaves of the trees. A different technique is used for the leaf on the left to add variety. Arnon Thitiprasert’s cunning eye technique is employed to give the giraffe a soft, serene expression. Finally, dragging and dropping techniques are used to fill in the simpler details that make the pattern pop.

Listing these components may make the design sound easy but bringing them all together is not. It will take practice and patience to perfect the techniques, spacing, and pattern. But once those willing to invest the time and effort master the design, they’ll be feeling as tall as a giraffe.

1.

Build your base with the handle at 12 o’clock. Opposite the handle, pour two connected S shapes then pull through. This should resemble two hearts.

3.

Drag a line through from the bottom of the oval through the top. Drag a second line on top of this one, forming a T or pickaxe shape.

5.

From the top of the latest rosetta, drag a line down across the other side of the drops.

7.

From the point you pulled up, drag further to the left, ending near where the first leaf starts. Drag back, curving halfway along the line to create a P shape for the face. In the same movement, use the cunning eye technique to fill in the face and create the eye.

2.

Along the rim from 11 to 2 o’clock, pour a 10-leaf rosetta.

From the same starting point, pour a seven-leaf rosetta that connects again with the first, forming an oval.

4.

Pour a seven-leaf rosetta from the middle of the cup to three o’clock. Near the bottom of this rosetta, pour three small drops of foam, pulling up as they land to create small arrow shapes.

6.

Turn the handle to three o’clock. At the top of the rosetta from step 4, pour a small loop, then pull up. From the same starting point, drag slightly to the left then pull up again.

8.

Finish with a drop of foam for the sun between the giraffe and the right tree.

beanscenemag.com.au

69

TRAINING TACTICS

Babin Gurung is the New South Wales Barista Trainer of Suntory Coffee Australia.

Tamping touch Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on correct tamping techniques to achieve consistent espresso extractions.

C

orrect tamping is one of the most understated skills necessary for even extraction. How hard you should tamp, whether it matters, and the future of automatic tampers still sparks conversation behind the coffee bar. Tamping is important for even extraction, but the difference of ideas come around the technique involved. Over the years, I have seen, heard, and read about various tamping techniques and found some work better than the others.

Simply put, tamping creates resistance in ground coffee and minimises gaps, causing water to pass slowly for extraction of all the favourable solubles.

Extraction is the key word here and it

70

beanscenemag.com.au

is what can make or break your coffee.

So, here are two things a good tamping technique should achieve: Consistency: A good tamping technique should create consistent pressure in every shot of coffee you make. The idea is to promote even distribution so the water flows through individual grains of coffee and extracts as much flavour as possible.

Keeping tamping consistent means you can focus on other variables such as distribution, grind size, or dose to change the outcome of flavour in your coffee.

This can be particularly challenging in cafĂŠs where there are multiple baristas.

Different methods of tamping can create different results leading to inconsistent coffee for the customers.

Figure 1. An example of fluid and consistent coffee extraction through even tamping.

Care: Good tamping technique should minimise repetitive strain injury, also known as RSI, to your body. Far too often we see injuries in baristas to their backs, wrist joints, ligaments, and muscles due to poor practices. This can negatively impact baristas’ long-term physical health, ultimately affecting business operations.

Now that we know what factors to consider, let’s take a look at the best manual tamping practice.

Press: Instead of using your arm strength which can cause strain, lean your body forward to add the weight (approximately 15 kilograms). This means you are not using excessive force when tamping, giving you more consistency while reducing strain.

Figure 4. The flow-on effect of uneven tamping, resulting in an uneven pour.

Figure 2. Correct hand position and pressing technique with the tamper.

Uneven tamping

Position: Stand in your natural standing position. Comfort is key as baristas spend many hours on their feet. Stand sideways to your work bench and hold your tamper like a flashlight while fully wrapping it (see figure 2). This will keep your back straight and minimise repetitive bend in your wrist.

Uneven puck

DOUBLE TROUBLE If you’ve ever wondered about double tamping, it is essentially where you tamp once with half the dose, and a second time with a full dose. What you’re basically doing is creating two layers of coffee in your handle where water has to pass through two separate beds of coffee with a pause in between. This will create a slower and uneven extraction of flavours, so best avoid this method.

SIDE TAPPING Some baristas like to tap the side of the group handle to ensure nothing sticks to the side wall of the basket. But what this actually does is shifts the puck, creating a channel around it. You could go back and tamp it again – double-tamping – but it doesn’t fix the channelling issue.

This will cause water to flow around the puck and not through it, giving a faster and inconsistent extraction. The best solution to avoiding excess coffee on the side wall is to get a tamper that fits your group handle perfectly.

SPRING-LOADED MANUAL TAMPER There are few brands and models of spring-loaded tampers available. They are designed to give consistent pressure like an automatic tamper does, but without the price tag.

Figure 3. A flat tamper and even pressure will avoid an uneven extraction.

Uneven pour

Uneven tamping

Placement: Place your tamper flat and even on top of your group handle before pressing it. This is to avoid slope which can cause uneven flow and extraction.

This means the flavour of your coffee can change from cup to cup.

and stops moving further. It is more important to keep the pressure consistent per coffee than the amount you apply.

PRESSURE POINT One of the most commonly asked questions is “how hard do I tamp?” Try three different tamps: light, hard, and very hard. You will notice a change in puck light and hard tamp. extractionUneven between Once coffee grounds have firmed up, pressing harder does not make any significant difference. The “sweet spot” is where your coffee grind is firm enough

AUTOMATIC TAMPER Is the automatic tamper the way of the future? Well, in many ways, it can be. It encapsuleates the two main features a good tamping should have: consistency and care. Automatic tampers can be set to a specific amount of pressure which produces consistent results and you are also less likely to develop RSI through its use. From a training perspective, I spend a fair bit of time teaching new baristas on tamping and monitor their techniques throughout the session.

Now, if a café has an automatic tamper, I focus very little on tamping but instead use the time to talk about other aspects of coffee making. Automatic tampers do come with a price tag but if used properly, a lot of time can be saved in a busy café, giving you long-term return on your investment.

As more and more cafés are realising this and have embraced them as part of the standard café setup, tamping may no longer be part of conversation behind the coffee bar and be replaced with something even more exciting.

beanscenemag.com.au

71

R&D LAB

Dr Monika Fekete is the Founder of Coffee Science Lab.

Life in the fast lane

Dr. Monika Fekete discovers why coffee grinds become coarser when the grinder heats up and how it changes the speed of espresso extraction.

I

ce, fresh, cold milk, and a perfectly balanced espresso shot are the key ingredients to a delicious iced latte over the summer months. The warm, balmy nights might give you a head-start waking up your machine and grinder from their slumber. But as the day goes on, your perfectly dialled-in shots will speed up and you will need to adjust your grinder a bit finer.

The reason we need to adjust our grinders throughout the day to meet with the climatic demands of summer or winter is a surprisingly complex question without a solid explanation.

Rising temperatures as the grinder and machine heat up are clearly central to this problem. As we discussed in the August 2019 issue of BeanScene, temperature affects practically all aspects of the brewing process.

In the mystery of increasingly faster shots, we can hypothesise that two factors in particular will have an impact: 1. I ncreased extraction temperature as a result of warmer grinds in the espresso basket.

2. Potential changes in size of the grind particles as the grinder heats up.

When scientists try to understand a complex system, they like to break it down into simpler chunks. In other words, study just one feature at a time and hold everything else constant.

In the June 2019 issue of BeanScene, we focused purely on the temperature of the grinds, eliminating any potential variation in grind particle size. In that study, we found that hotter grinds and consequently hotter extraction temperatures reduced the viscosity of shots. This makes sense, as liquids with lower viscosity can flow faster. However, this “shot viscosity” effect only accounted

72

beanscenemag.com.au

Figure 1. Experimental design: Two coffees tested on two grinders, both running cold and after warming up.

Flat Burr Grinder for a few seconds decrease in shot time, while in reality, the shift can be much more dramatic.

This leads us to the second chapter of the story: grind particle size distribution.

To counteract the shift towards faster shots, baristas need to adjust the grinder finer during the day. Does this intuitive solution address the real issue of grinds becoming coarser at higher temperatures? Let’s find out.

In the following set of experiments, I tested two grinders (a conical burr grinder and a flat burr grinder) and two single origin espresso roast coffees, aged over seven days from roast (Colombian washed and Ethiopian natural process beans, thanks to Vacation Coffee Roasters).

Each coffee was ground on each grinder “cold” and again after a warm-up.

For the “cold” samples we ground each coffee in the morning, just after

Conical Burr Grinder the grinder had been switched on. The grinder temperature was measured in each case, and was typically about 13°C. Then, keeping the grind setting constant, two kilograms of coffee were ground through on both grinders to simulate intense grinder use in a café.

Immediately afterwards, the participating coffees were also ground without changing settings – these were our “hot” samples.

As I wanted to separate the effect of grind particle size from grind temperature and outgassing, both cold and hot grinds were allowed to rest for an hour after grinding before a set of 10 repeat shots were made on a LaMarzocco Linea PB. The brew recipe was kept constant for dose (20.0 grams) and beverage weight (40 ± 0.5 grams).

Extraction times were close to 30 seconds for the cold samples but ran up to 12 seconds faster for the hot samples.

Grind samples of each condition were

R&D LAB

Figure 2: Particle size distribution of cold and hot grinds. Left: flat burr grinder.

Right: Conical burr grinder. No clear shifts can be observed between cold and hot samples.

Particle Size Distribution (flat burr grinder)

taken to La Trobe University in Victoria and their particle size measured on a laser particle sizer in triplicate runs.

Figure 1. shows changes in particle size distribution for both the flat burr and the conical burr grinders between “cold” and “hot” grinds. While we might expect to see a characteristic shift between the particle size distribution of the samples going from cold to hot, this doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s clear that some of the peaks have shifted, but it’s hard to tell if the grinds have become coarser or finer overall. And which particles should we pay attention to anyway, the smaller ones or the bigger ones?

A little dive into some theory will help.

Particle Size Distribution (conical burr grinder)

When we think about how water flowing through the puck wets the grinds, it’s important to consider the surface area as well as their volume. For applications where the active surface area of powders is especially important, chemical engineers tend to focus on the Sauter mean diameter (SMD or d(3,2)). SMD is an average particle size that takes into account both particle volume and surface area. A typical SMD for espresso grinds is around 40 micrometres. That’s about the diameter of a human hair.

Condensing the information from the graphs shown in Figure 2 to just one number for each sample gives a new insight into how particle sizes shift after the grinder heats up. This time we can

Figure 3: Increase in the mean diameter d(3,2) shows a clear correlation with reduction in extraction times for all four samples. Dots: flat burr grinder. Squares: Conical burr grinder.

observe a clear trend: the SMDs of all four “hot” samples increased by 8 to 27 per cent compared to the “cold” grinds, an indication that the grinds have indeed become somewhat coarser.

What’s more, as shown in Figure 3, there looks to be a strong correlation between the increase in SMD and the drop-in shot times. This holds true for both bean origins and both grinders.

In all cases, coarser grinds produce quicker shots.

Why exactly the grinds become coarser when the grinder heats up is still a question to be studied in more detail. One explanation could be that beans fracture differently depending on their temperature. As Christopher Hendon and co-workers showed in their 2016 paper in Scientific Reports, grinding beans cold results in somewhat finer average particle sizes. It would make sense that the opposite happens when the beans are ground at higher temperatures. Measuring fracture force needed to break coffee beans under different conditions is one of the next projects I would like to explore.

What we can take away from this experiment is that coffee grinds become a little coarser when the grinder heats up, and this small shift has a large effect which can account for a reduction in extraction times as much as 10 to 15 seconds. Combined with the smaller effect of increased extraction temperatures resulting from hotter grinds (up to two seconds), I believe now we have a better understanding of what happens to espresso flow when grinder, machine, and baristas work hard on a busy day in the café.

I would like to thank Dr. David Hoxley and the Webb Lab at LaTrobe University for their kind assistance with the grind particle size measurements.

beanscenemag.com.au

73

BeanScene is available at...

NSW

Grinders Coffee 11 Logan Rd, WOOLLOONGABBA

Cartel Roasters 1/80 Little Malop St, GEELONG

Rocketfuel Coffee 6 Stirling Hwy, NEDLANDS

Hard Coffee 24 Tedder Ave, MAIN BEACH

Casa & Bottega 64 Sutton St, NORTH MELBOURNE

TAS

Austin’s Coffee & Tea 62 Broadmeadow Rd, BROADMEADOW

Merlo Coffee 10 Thompson St, BOWEN HILLS

Coffee Traders 3 Blake St, MORNINGTON

Campos Coffee 193 Missenden Rd, NEWTOWN

Merlo Coffee 104 McLachlan St, FORTITUDE VALLEY

Commonfolk Coffee 16 Progress St, MORNINGTON

Coffee Warehouse Café 17 – 35 Parramatta Rd, HOMEBUSH

Merlo Coffee 1/78 Latrobe Tce, PADDINGTON

Allpress Espresso 58 Epsom Rd, ZETLAND

Don Campos 2/21 Fountain St, ALEXANDRIA

Pablo & Rusty’s 200 Mary St, BRISBANE

Double Roasters 199 Victoria Rd, MARRICKVILLE

Sexie Coffie 10/3 Enterprise Cct, MARYBOROUGH

Grinders Coffee 204 Norton St, LEICHHARDT Pablo & Rusty’s 161 Castlereagh St, SYDNEY Pablo & Rusty’s 3 Plassey Rd, NORTH RYDE Toby’s Estate 32 – 36 City Rd, CHIPPENDALE Toby’s Estate 129 Cathedral St, WOOLLOOMOOLOO Tulipshi Café Suite 307, The San Clinic Bldg, 185 Fox Valley Rd, WAHROONGA Veneziano Coffee 52 Bourke St, SURRY HILLS White Horse Coffee Shop 2/137 Flora St, SUTHERLAND

QLD Clandestino Roasters 59 Rene St, NOOSAVILLE Emjays Coffee Shop 6, Zanzibar Resort, 47 – 51 Mooloolaba Espl, MOOLOOLABA Emjays Coffee Shop 12, Coolum Beach Retail, 1782 David Low Way, COOLUM BEACH Emjays Coffee Shop GA, 340 Adelaide St, BRISBANE CBD

The Two Professors 49 William St, ROCKHAMPTON Veneziano Coffee 369 Montague Rd, WEST END

SA Argo on the Parade 212 The Parade, NORWOOD Bar9 Whitemore 34 Whitmore Sq, ADELAIDE Coffee By The Beans Shop 3, 394 Henley Beach Rd, LOCKLEYS Complete Café Services 525 Portrush Rd, GLENUNGA Ivia Espresso 27 King William Rd, UNLEY Rio Coffee 22 Nelson St, STEPNEY Veneziano Coffee 111 Melbourne St, NORTH ADELAIDE Xtraction Coffee Connoisseurs 4/20 Canterbury Dr, SALISBURY HEIGHTS

VIC

Common Ground Coffee 225 – 229 Victoria St, WEST MELBOURNE Cornerstone & Co 75 Ludstone St, HAMPTON Dolo Inc 428 Johnston St, ABBOTSFORD Domenico Traditional Coffee 223 Moreland Rd, COBURG Eureka Coffee and Growers Espresso 332 St Georges Rd, FITZROY NORTH Home Barista Institute & The Cafe Coach Level 20, 41 Exhibition St, MELBOURNE

Island Espresso 171 Elizabeth St, HOBART Pilgrim Coffee 48 Argyle St, HOBART Villino Café & Specialty Coffee Roaster 30 Criterion St, HOBART

NEW ZEALAND Bean Addicted 4 Link Dr, Wairau Park, North Shore, AUCKLAND Espresso Workshop Roastery 19 Falcon St, AUCKLAND

SINGAPORE Yahava KoffeeWorks 4 Jalan Gelenggang, SINGAPORE Papa Palheta 150 Tyrwhitt Rd, SINGAPORE

Jasper Coffee 267 Brunswick St, FITZROY One Origin Specialty Coffee 83 Glenferrie Rd, MALVERN Proud Mary 172 Oxford St, COLLINGWOOD St Ali 12 Yarra Pl, SOUTH MELBOURNE The Vertue Of The Coffee Drink 8 Raffa Pl, CARLTON The Winey Cow 39A Main St, MORNINGTON

FEBRUARY 2020

A World-Class Coffee Magazine

The age of simplicity Advanced technology meets uncomplicated design

Veneziano Coffee 16 River St, RICHMOND Good morning, Vietnam

WA Urbanistar Cafe & Empire Coffee 212 William St, NORTHBRIDGE

Axil Coffee Roasters 322 Burwood Rd, HAWTHORN

Yahava KoffeeWorks 4752 West Swan Rd, WEST SWAN

Café Esssence 53 Bull St, BENDIGO

Yahava KoffeeWorks Bussell Hwy, MARGARET RIVER

Cold coffee makes its mark 49 ISSN 1449-2547

Airport coffee reaches new heights 02

Andre Eiermann calls Australia home

9 771449 254002

List excludes retailers that are distributed copies of BeanScene through Gordon & Gotch.

To become a BeanScene stockist today email subscriptions@ primecreative.com.au or phone +61 (3) 9690 8766

TEA SCENE

Bradley Cahill and Mafalda Moutinho are Co-founders of Casa De Cha and Consultants to the Australian Tea Growers Cooperative.

One of a kind Bradley Cahill and Mafalda Moutinho of Casa De Cha on where Australia ranks in the rapidly growing global tea market.

T

he Australian tea industry has been evolving and gaining momentum with new growers winning awards nationally and abroad, year after year.

Although colonial Australians have been growing and producing tea since the 19th century, Australia’s true potential as a growing region was only realised around 20 years ago. This was a result of growing demand for green tea in Japan and Japanese companies looking to grow tea during their off season. Together with the Australian Government and the Department of Primary Industries, several test plantations were set up using Japanese tea plants and processing methods. These experimental plantations were very successful.

One of the first locations chosen for the original pilot program, due to its ideal climate, was Mangrove Mountain in New South Wales.

John Robb, a horticulturist and camellia expert, was the consultant to Mangrove Mountain, and helped propogate all the plants. He has travelled the world extensively to research tea production. He is a founding member of the Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd (AGTPL) and Chairman of the Austea cooperative and brand. Fourteen years on, Mangrove Mountain is no longer just an experiment but a thriving business and new source of pride for the community. The owners have even expanded the farm to double the size of the original plantation.

“The new branch of Austea was designed with the sole purpose of supporting and showcasing a carefully curated collection of only the best teas Australia has to offer,” says John.

“Additionally, both the AGTPL and the Austea cooperative were created to act as catalysts in the set-up, education,

Brendon Collins and his father on the plantation with their home-made push bike harvester.

and development of this industry and its potential farmers, and assisting farmers who are interested to make a smooth transition from other crops into tea.”

A brilliant example of the potential Australia has a tea-producing country is Arakai Estate. Brendon and Kristie Collins started Arakai Estate using one hectare of the family’s sustainable timber farm.

Over three years, they planted six different varieties of Japanese tea plants, normally used for production of green tea. This totalled about 12,500 tea plants. Good elevation, rainfall, and fertile soil with the correct acidity, together with a desire to do something different, were behind the farm’s success.

They use Taiwanese methods of tea processing and embrace their originality and ingenuity to create a completely new product. As such, Australia is now represented by a novel and eclectic take on tea processing besides its unique terroir.

“Our first commercial harvest and run of the processing factory was in September 2015,” Brendon says. “We were ecstatic with the final product and knew then that we were really onto something good.”

Samples were entered into the

Australian Tea Masters’ Golden Leaf Awards for the first Australian International Tea Expo in Geelong, Melbourne. A panel of certified Tea Masters judged the teas, which were up against Australian and International entrants.

To Brendon’s complete surprise, he was awarded Best Australian Green Tea, Best Australian Black Tea, and the major prize of Best Green Tea from the international field.

“It has never been our aim to produce commodity tea. We will remain as a smallscale operation to ensure we produce the highest quality whole leaf tea possible,” Brendon says.

Hopefully, more entrepreneurs will follow in Arakai’s footsteps, and create completely new products and experiences that will continue to take the world by storm.

Brendon was involved in the initial pilot program managing the plantation propagating the plants, and working closely with the DPI during the early stages of the program and continues to.

He has helped set up Arakai Estate with their plants and equipment along with many other small to medium holders that have yet to harvest.

beanscenemag.com.au

75

ASCA

Kieran Westlake is the President of the Australian Specialty Coffee Association.

Coffee 4 Change ASCA is committed to addressing human rights issues at home and in origin countries.

T

he goal of the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) is to not only provide thought leadership to the wider coffee community, but to drive real action and positive change.

To this end, ASCA has been working to formalise a partnership with the charity Project 4 Change (P4C) and its fundraising platform Coffee 4 Change (C4C). The partnership aims to address two major concerns of the Australian coffee and wider community: access to secure housing for vulnerable Australians and finding solutions to ensure economic stability of our coffee farmers worldwide by addressing C-price issues globally.

C4C is an all-in-one loyalty, marketing, and pre-ordering application provided to cafés absolutely free.

Let’s consider the cost of your current applications. Is it 2, 3 or even 8 per cent of revenue sometimes? Even a basic stamp card system can cost an average café thousands per annum. Using the free C4C loyalty application, cafés ask their customers if they would like the value of their free “loyalty coffee” to be donated to P4C. The café can still provide the customer with the free “loyalty coffee” and is eligible to receive a tax-deductible gift receipt for the donation.

C4C was created to help raise funds for P4C, which was born out of the need for crisis housing in the aftermath of 2011 Queensland floods and now focuses on affordable and crisis housing in Australia.

Since late 2019, fires have raged across Australia and our need as a nation for access to short- and medium-

76

beanscenemag.com.au

term housing is apparent and a basic human right.

The right to housing is about more than shelter. Without it, many other basic rights are compromised, including the right to family life and privacy, the right to freedom of movement, the right to assembly and association, the right to health, and the right to development.

P4C seeks to address these human rights issues, which hundreds of thousands of Australians face the stark reality of going without. The deprivation of these rights is absolutely relatable to the issues faced by farmers at origin, the very communities that sustain the coffee-drinking nations of the world. But there is a problem largely caused by the creations of coffee-drinking nations – the C-price and climate change.

The C-price is the commodity price of coffee, as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York.

This treatment of coffee as a commodity means that it becomes detached from quality, and the supply and demand of the actual supply chain. Instead, it becomes a vehicle for commodity traders to make vast amounts of money.

For many coffee farmers, this has caused the cost of farming coffee to become higher than the value it can be sold for, and for workers, earning less than a living wage.

An artificially low C-price can exert economic pressure on areas and countries around the world where political insatiability, corruption, and climate change is already eroding the rights and civil liberties of communities and people. This goes beyond housing to personal security, civil liberty, and freedom from persecution.

This puts the future of coffee at risk. If producers stop farming coffee, drinking nations will have less to offer while demand continues to grow.

Without funding to find solutions to these issues or for the programs already in place, we are complicit in the destruction of our own industry’s survival and that of the people that ensure our prosperity, and the erosion of rights humans share globally.

On 11 December 2019, ASCA and P4C signed a heads of agreement to allow money to be raised by C4C to address C-price issues alongside Australian housing issues. The funds raised will be held in trust by the charity with an advisory board including ASCA members to oversee its distribution at origin. At scale and to date, I believe C4C to be the most meaningful way to provide funding down the line to areas of the supply chain that need it most. This ensures their wellbeing and economic sustainability, as well as the sustainability of the entire supply chain.

Finally, with the Australian bushfires still raging and causing Australia’s largest humanitarian crisis since the Black Saturday fires of 2009, charities like P4C are essential to provide solutions over the long and painful rebuilding of these communities.

As an industry, we can be the mechanism to continue to provide for our fellow Australians.

For more information, visit www.coffee4change.org.au Sign up for our FREE newsletter at www.australianspecialtycoffee. com.au

NZSCA

Emma McDougall is the Communications and Administration Co-ordinator of the NZSCA.

Looking back to look forward

As another epic year begins, the NZSCA reflects on a successful 2019 and gets excited for what’s to come in 2020.

2

019 was a big year for the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association.

It kicked off in February, with a full field of competitors in the Meadow Fresh New Zealand Barista Championship. The venue, Expressions in Upper Hutt, once again created a magical theatrical atmosphere. Introducing cool cash prizes for the Best Newcomer, Best Milk Beverage, and running People’s Choice invigorated and encouraged a diverse range of entries.

The champion was Dove Chen, who also won in 2017. When asked about his journey, Dove said, “I learned the importance of finding a balanced taste in coffee, as well as the balance of training and resting to maximise productivity”.

Runner up was Heesun Christina Lee from Atomic Coffee Roasters. Ken Te from Society Coffee in Auckland came in third and took out the coveted Best Newcomer.

Team NZ then represented us well in Boston at the World Barista Championship in April. In a competition where there can be only one champion, it is often more about the learning and journey than returning home with a trophy.

One big weekend in May saw the NZSCA crown new Cup Tasters and Latte Art Champions in maxed-out competitions.

On 3 May, Ozone Coffee Roasters in Auckland hosted a full field of 32 coffee cuppers, all aiming to accurately and quickly slurp their way through to the final round.

The winner, Alan Bruce of Flight Coffee Roasters, was no stranger to competing as a veteran of Barista and Brewers, though a first time Cup Taster. When asked if he had

2019 NZ Barista Champion Dove Chen.

any tips, he mentioned he kept his food bland in the lead up, including no pesto for lunch and his “secret weapon”, his favourite orange spit cup.

Runner up was Anne-Lise Monard-Stott from Ripe Coffee Roasters in Petone, third place went to Ewan Kim of L’affare, and Takahito Koyanagi of Toasted Espresso in Auckland rounded out the finals.

On 5 May, La Marzocco was the perfect host of the Meadow Fresh Latte Art Championship. With interactive pouring competitions along with the skills of the milk wizards on stage, the art in the cup was next level.

Hoony Chae of Mojo Coffee was crowned champion, runner-up was Leo Li of Newbie Café, and third place went to John HoJun Sung of Grey Street Kitchen.

Hoony and Alan headed to Berlin in June. Alan’s fifth placing at the World Cup Tasters Championship was the icing on the cake, but their professionalism and eager attitudes off stage won the most praise.

The highlight of the year would be the Annual General Meeting, returning to Sherwood, Queenstown in May. There was

reason to celebrate this year as the Lifetime Achievement award was handed out for only the third time. Ninety people from our eclectic industry celebrated as Chris Dillon from Coffee Supreme received the prestigious title.

In June, the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Guild created an ambitious program of 20 cupping events around the country.

Armed with only a spoon, nearly 200 attendees put their tasting skills to the test by identifying origins. Held in cities from Auckland to Christchurch, this event was a highlight among others in the Guild.

Our education program continued to move forward, with Barista Level One taught in Auckland in October. Lined up for February 2020 is the almost sold out Instructor Level One training in Nelson.

Wrapping up a successful year, the NZSCA hosted a Christmas party with a difference in December. The Coffee and Good Spirits Throwdown became the vehicle to introduce this exciting competition to NZ competitors. Around 150 people enjoyed a stellar night at Atomic Coffee Roasters. Watch out for this event to move to other centres.

A special thanks to the volunteers at all our events. Above all, thanks to our members, sponsors, and supporters who make our community diverse, engaged, and continuously evolving for the betterment of all in coffee.

We look forward to an even better 2020.

For more information on the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association, or to join, visit www.nzsca.org

beanscenemag.com.au

77

E-SCENE

Every edition we highlight BeanScene’s digital coffee community, hearing from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram followers.

For more information, visit www.beanscenemag.com.au

ANDREW AKATHIOTIS My coffee journey is one that started through family bloodlines spanning well over 50 years in Melbourne’s café culture. I remember when I was eight years old, trying for the very first time to make coffee at one of my father’s cafés. I don’t know if my passion stemmed from this moment or if it was a culmination of life experiences that made me realise this is what I wanted to pursue.

Today, I find myself honing my craft at my latest venture, Volume 2 café in Abbotsford, Melbourne. Volume 2 is the personification of a modern Melbourne brunch experience, something that has been sculpted from the beginnings of my coffee journey. It is Volume 2’s mission to provide an unparalleled eye for detail, striving to deliver food and coffee that inspires the heart and soul. It is our prerogative to help encourage people on their own coffee journey and fall in love with coffee like I have.

‘Like’ us on Facebook/BeanSceneCoffeeMag

LÍVIA RESENDE

I am a specialty coffee lover from Minas Gerais, Brazil. I remember in my childhood going to work with my dad to assist the coffee farmers and my mum making our coffee every morning. I still miss that nice smell.

In my early 20s, coffee helped me to survive long nights drawing architectural projects. Work in the construction industry built up my love affair and appreciation for the caffeinated drink. My first coffee expo – in Brazil in 2014 – is where I learned how innovative farming techniques and processing of coffee beans were becoming, and how farmers showcased their achievements in national competitions and abroad. That is where I became hooked.

Since then, I have studied, worked, and volunteered in the coffee industry. And here I am, in a new job with Minas Hill where I can use my previous knowledge in project management to work in the coffee industry.

Follow us on instagram.com/beanscenemag

SASINA CHOMSUWAN

“Coffee is meant for sharing.” I wholeheartedly believed this ever since I set foot in Melbourne – home to a vibrant coffee culture.

My love for coffee started growing after trying out different beans. At first, I thought all coffee tastes the same – bitter and astringent, and we drink it to get the caffeine kick. But what I discovered was, despite the seemingly similar appearance, there are a wide array of taste profiles and drinking experiences a variety of beans can deliver.

Getting to converse about coffee with passionate coffee drinkers is a highly impactful aspect that binds me to this career. Just as the saying goes: “sharing is caring”, the same applies to coffee – some old tales stay timeless. I always catch myself being amazed at how borderless this world can be. This tells me that I’ve got a long road ahead, and I’m more than ready to walk this journey with those who share a passion for coffee.

Follow us on @BeanSceneEd

78

beanscenemag.com.au

WE WANT YOU! Have a coffee passion you’re dying to share?

We’d love to see it. Email a 150-word bio about your love of coffee, your favourite coffee moment, and a little about yourself with a high-resolution image (1MB or greater) to BeanScene Editor Sarah Baker: sarah.baker@primecreative.com.au

Made from

AUSTRALIA GROWN OA N TS

enquiries@altdairyco.com 1800 673 392

E V I T A N R E T #AL YNATURE B