Table of contents for Dec/Jan 2017/18 in BeanScene

Bombora Coffee + Water Supplies 6/132 Garden Grove Parade, Adamstown, NSW 2289 www.bomborasupplies.com.au Over the year BeanScene has featured an array of different covershoot options – we’ve celebrated green beans, cáscara, Q grading, paper cups, and espresso martinis – quite a varied mix of the many beautiful and topical issues covering our industry. For our last cover of 2017, we thought it was time to celebrate the warmer weather and the beverage set to take over coffee catchups as drinkers shift from morning hot beverage comforts to cool caffeine refreshments. To help bring this cover to life, we coordinated a shoot at popular Melbourne café Industry Beans in Fitzroy. Thanks to Co-Founders Trevor and Steve Simmons and Venue Manager Clare Palmer, we took over their courtyard and celebrated the delicious cold brew…

ADAM METELMANN WINS ASCA WESTERN REGION BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP Adam Metelmann of Pullman Espresso Accessories has won the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Western Region Barista Championship for a second year in a row. Hyemi Lee of Lucky Cat Enterprises was runner up and Shari Almond of Pixel Coffee Brewers placed third in the event, which took place on 5 November at the City of Unley’s Double Shot Coffee Fiesta. “I would say the regionals win was a huge plus for the risks involved,” Adam says. “I presented the same experimental/ natural process Geisha from Ninety Plus for all my courses. I worked closely with the producers and sent them all my information and script to make sure I was honourably presenting their coffee with their blessings.” Adam was first introduced…

In a traditional café setting, baristas are confined to the bench while loyal consumers make a special trip for their morning caffeine fix. Coffee Machine Solutions (CMS) Co-Owner Greg Sparkes says times are changing with baristas taking coffee to the people and the rise of mobile coffee vans and bikes. “There’s been a large resurgence in the popularity of mobile coffee vans, cars, and push bikes, mainly because of the flexible lifestyle,” Greg says. “People continue to find the places where coffee demand is not yet met, and are taking the opportunity to set up shop before school, on sports days, or at an event.” CMS is a distributor of Fracino coffee machines, United Kingdom-built espresso machines that have been a staple arm of the CMS brand since 2010. Since…

Ona Coffee’s training warehouse is a buzz of activity on a week night. Just like musicians producing their best hits in a late-night jamm session, Ona Coffee’s “whiteboard sessions” are gatherings of staff members and brainstorms of ideas for new blends, concepts and products. When Ona Coffee Founder Sasa Sestic wanted to experiment with a new milk to suit its range of blends, the idea went straight to “the whiteboard”. “[At Ona], we are always looking for ways to improve our coffee, whether it be working with coffee farmers, trying new roast profiles, or in this case, experimenting with milk,” says Ona Coffee’s Hugh Kelly. “We decided to work with the team at Riverina Fresh and test different types and processes of milk to see what would work best, and…

Since 2006, Five Senses Coffee has hosted a range of practical and theoretical courses to help improve the skillset of Australian baristas. “The specialty coffee industry and knowledge around education has developed so much that we have to keep growing our curriculum with it,” says Five Senses’ Strategic Projects Manager Ben Bicknell. Five Senses has training academies located in Melbourne, Perth, and its newest addition, Sydney. Each venue is a dedicated training space featuring world-class equipment for participants to learn how to prepare coffee to the highest standard. “We invite people who have never made a coffee before, restaurant floor staff who need to expand their knowledge, technicians wanting in-depth product knowledge, and those looking to improve their service skills,” Ben says. “Some of our courses are less hands on,…

Host Milan challenges the definition of big, and then surpasses it. Gigantic or even overwhelming may be more adequate to describe the biannual trade gathering of the hospitality, restaurant, and catering event. Someone once told me that each trade hall was the equivalent size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground – and there’s 24 halls. That explains the suited men riding scooters and the deterioration from dress shoes to runners after day one of the event – but never for the Italians. This year, 197,602 visitors attended the 40th edition of Host in Italy from 20 to 24 October, an increase of 24.3 per cent from the 2015 event. Thirty-eight per cent of attendees were international visitors, coming from 177 countries including, as Host media put it “particularly distant or unusual…

Christopher Areskog’s first time in front of a coffee machine was a foreign experience. The closest thing he’d come to hospitality was “a Maccas shift”. If he’s really honest, he didn’t love café work to begin with. But the longer he works with Wheelly Good Coffee, the more he likes it. “I’m a recovering drug addict,” Christopher says. “Coming off drugs, I was quite aggressive and intolerant of people and their complicated coffee orders to begin with. I didn’t know how to talk to people – it was challenging. But now I enjoy customer interaction. My customers are my number one priority.” Christopher is committed to his newfound barista skills and working with Whitelion, a national non-profit organisation that reaches out to vulnerable people aged between 12 to 25 years of…

WEGA URBAN Urban is the new Wega espresso machine created especially for the Australian market. The technology in the Urban comes from the progression of Wega’s multi-boiler technology range. It includes a new easy-to-use 1/4 steam tap for faster milk foaming, dry steam, service boiler boost for intensive work periods, and the opportunity to pre-set optional functions to control the machine remotely via Wi-Fi. The Urban also comes with accurate temperature monitoring of its electronic components for precise diagnosis in real time, and pulse width modulation for meticulous temperature control. Coffee Works Express will distribute the Urban in Australia from end of December, 2017. For more information, visit www.coffeeworksexpress.com.au MONIN TROPICAL ISLAND BLEND Monin Tropical Island Blend syrup adds an exotic flavour to summer with its blend of tropical fruits…

When making big purchasing decisions, customers can be convinced of technological benefits, quality and design aesthetics, and even the price tag, but what about colour? Too often, La Marzocco Australian Marketing Manager Jets Anita Langlands says, customers will debate at length as to which colour or model La Marzocco Linea Mini or GS3 will best suit their kitchen bench, retail space, or office suite. “Because we’ve given them such a range of choice, making that final purchase decision can often be the hardest and most time-consuming for customers, and we’ve found a way to take that pressure away,” Jets says. The solution is augmented reality (AR). App builder and content management system Plattar has teamed up with espresso machine manufacturer La Marzocco to launch a global AR app application for…

Dale Harris of Has Bean Coffee in the United Kingdom is the 2017 World Barista Champion. The first-time national champion beat 58 country representatives to claim the prestigious title at Café Show Seoul from 9 to 12 November. Miki Suzuki of Japan was runner up, Kapo Chiu of Hong Kong was third, Ben Put of Canada was fourth, Hugh Kelly of Australia was fifth, and Kyle Ramage of the United States took sixth place. “I’m overwhelmed,” Dale says. “Of course I’m super happy with the result. It’s recognition of the long journey our whole team have been on over the years. [Steven Leighton], my boss and friend, supported me through every year of competition without ever complaining about the cost or the time because he believed in me, and that…

Simon James leads the Coffee Diploma training at Genovese Coffee. With his 18 years of experience and involvement in helping develop the written curriculum for the internationally certified Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) courses, it’s no wonder clients travel from around the world to experience Genovese’s reputable training. In 2017, Simon and Head Specialty Roaster Ben Toovey, both authorised SCA trainers, welcomed guests from China and Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Iran. They were also invited to instruct at the Barista Guild of Europe’s Barista Camp. The reason, Simon says, is Australia’s status of quality. “The country’s reputation for quality coffee and education is second to none, and Melbourne seems to be the centre of the coffee universe,” Simon says. “Sometimes our participants have professional backgrounds and different coffee qualifications, but they attend…

Disposable paper coffee cups made some of the biggest headlines in 2017, and for all the wrong reasons: their incorrect disposal, inability to break down at landfill, and impact on the environment. There has been less conversation, however, about the impact disposable paper cups have on trees. According to the journal Nature, the global tree count has fallen by 46 per cent since the dawn of human civilisation, putting extreme stress on our forestry sector. Around 25 billion hot coffees are served in paper cups each year according to the National Coffee Association of America. This equates to 10 million trees destroyed annually. For every tree destroyed to make paper cups, it’s one less tree in the ecosystem, one less tree absorbing carbon dioxide, producing oxygen, and filtering groundwater in our…

It’s that time of year again when shoppers stress at the thought of what to buy their loved ones – and for that annoying person who has everything and you know a box of Cadbury Favourites isn’t going to cut it. It’s also that time of year when we reflect on how fast the year’s gone. To some, it’s a scary reality, but to the team behind the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE), it means the biggest dedicated coffee event in the Southern Hemisphere is just a few months away. What does this mean for you? Well, for starters, we’ve got your Christmas present sorted for that notoriously difficult friend – provided they’re into coffee. Tickets to the hottest coffee event in town are now available to purchase. See below…

For years, Australia’s housing market has been identified as a “seller’s market” and that trend is set to continue in our roasting industry according to Licensed Business Broker Dan Levitus. “Any coffee roaster is winning at the moment,” says Dan of Link Business. “It’s the best time to sell a roastery. It’s a competitive buying environment and that drives the price up. Sellers have all the leverage.” Roasting has been regarded as a growth industry for the past 20 years, but in the past five, Dan has seen a lot of “garage-type home roasters” pop up and grow until they reach their limits. “Often, those roasters push 400 to 500 kilograms [of roasted coffee] or more per week, and get to the point where their equipment can’t handle any more…

Hugh Kelly was the top-ranked barista leading into the semi finals of the World Barista Championship (WBC) after day one of heats, impressing the judges with his new take on milk texturing and use of dry ice to cool his espressos. He was selected as one of the top six baristas to compete in the finals on 12 November in Seoul, and the first to take to the stage in the final round, followed by the national barista champions of Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In his finals performance at CafeShow, Hugh used a green-tip Geisha coffee from Finca Deborah in Volcán, Panama, produced by Jamison Savage. Jamison was in Seoul to watch Hugh perform using his coffee. To add a new layer of flavour…

Grinders Coffee is committed to maintaining a high level of coffee quality and knowledge across the board, so much so that everyone in the company is assessed on their ability to dial in to a supplied recipe and produce a number of beverages to a high standard in 45 minutes – even the receptionist. “We want everyone to be ambassadors of coffee,” says Nick Percy, Grinders Coffee Specialist for Victoria and Tasmania. At its internal coffee academy, Grinders staff must work through set criteria, such as the theory of coffee growing, processing, and roasting, and exposure to cupping, scoring, and analysing. Grinders’ on-the-road customer support staff must complete advanced skills assessment and indicate their ability to dial in and adjust a recipe to get the most out of two supplied…

Service Sphere’s efforts to refresh technician training in the coffee industry was recognised at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) 2017, where it won second place in the Judge’s Choice Product Innovation Award. Service Sphere Business Development Executive Alana Lombardi says the award validates the industry’s need for a unique and structured course to help develop the future of coffee machine technicians. After three years of running its Training Academy for clients and partners, Service Sphere last year opened the course to a larger audience to better educate the industry. Service Sphere Service Manager Huw Harts says a skilled technician must understand coffee and have a passion for it. “Technical training is about understanding how different machines function, learning how to diagnose faults, and how to address them correctly. It’s about improving everyone’s knowledge…

BROTHERS KEEPER CAFÉ 481 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong, Victoria, 3144 Open Tuesday to Friday 7am to 3.30pm, weekends 7.30am to 3pm (03) 9822 1003 Kooyong’s reputation for its January tennis tournament may be sidelined with the rise of the area’s latest attraction – Brothers Keeper. Brothers Nick and Naidos Markou have brought their welcoming charm and passion for specialty coffee to the leafy and affluent inner city suburb, and the locals are quickly adapting to the new kids on the block. “We’re serious about our coffee, and it was time Kooyong got serious too,” Nick says. To be fair, Nick and Naidos have had a head start. They grew up working in their parents’ café, before taking the next step of business ownership – six in total over the past 15 to…

NICOLAS TOBON I grew up in Medellin, Colombia, playing in my best friend’s backyard where his family had a small coffee tree. Our friendship grew out the back of his house alongside the coffee tree. Years later, at the end of 2008, I moved to Australia and rediscovered coffee. Working as a barista, I met another best friend, Cesar Vela. His knowledge and passion for coffee united us initially, and we founded the roaster, C Connection Coffee, offering single country, single origin blends (www .colombianconnection.com.au). I love to drink my morning coffee at Café con Lec he in Surry Hills, which often becomes a headquarters where I meet my friends to keep learning and discovering the amazing world of coffee. I now know what that small tree in my friend’s…