BeanScene的June 2021目录

The Pantry 1 Church St, Brighton, VIC 3186 WWW.PANTRY.COM.AU Our June cover shoot couldn’t have been a more Melbourne experience if we tried. On commute to The Pantry in Brighton, Victoria, the sky turned black, the heavens opened up, and down came a heavy downpour. Minutes later, the sunshine returned. When BeanScene Editor Sarah Baker and regular photographer Blake Storey scouted the venue, The Pantry was a buzz with options, from large street-facing windows to marble table textures and beautiful indoor plants. But it was outside, among the glistening water-covered tables and seats, underneath the autumn leaves, that we found our winning spot. The Pantry baristas produced espresso and piccolos on repeat, using Lavazza’s La Reserva de ¡Tierra! Colombia, thanks to the Lavazza Foundation’s origin projects in the Meta region.…

Few families have had quite as big an impact on Queensland coffee and hospitality as the Merlos. Dean Merlo founded Merlo Coffee in 1992, and started roasting his own coffee in 1996, helping spearhead a new wave of quality coffee in the state. But it was actually his father, Gino Merlo, who brought espresso coffee to Queensland. “He started a restaurant called Café Milano in 1958 and brought the first espresso machine into Queensland. It was a big commitment and when it came time to service it, he had to fly someone up from Sydney, which wasn’t cheap in those days,” Dean says. “I remember drinking coffee from an early age and had always been interested in it. Coffee was only one part of what Café Milano offered though. My…

Waste going to landfill is too big a problem for just one company to solve. It will take a collective effort from the consumer, business, and the government. That’s why sustainable food packaging company BioPak is sending out an open invitation to all industry members to be involved with the online platform Compost Connect. “There is next to no end-of-life solution for food packaging in Australia. The percentage currently recycled or reused is in the single digits – there’s no avoiding the waste crisis. For cafés, this is particularly visible because of the focus on takeaway coffee cups, but it’s reflective of all food packaging,” says Gary Smith, CEO of BioPak. “At BioPak, we take plants, produce products, use them for a short period of time, then return it to…

To be truly sustainable is about more than just the environment. According to non-profit organisation StreetSmart, having a social responsibility and considering the impact on staff, suppliers and communities is one small step Australian businesses can take to make a large impact. For 18 years, StreetSmart Australia has been developing campaigns to help people experiencing homelessness and work towards ending homelessness. Over the past decade, StreetSmart’s industryrecognised coffee event CafeSmart has helped raise $1.5 million to support more than 1000 grassroots homelessness projects. Each year, cafés and coffee drinkers across the country gather to raise funds for their local homelessness organisations and services. CafeSmart community project grants provide vital aid and practical resources to organisations caring for some of society’s most vulnerable people. This directly contributes to the aims of…

DANDELION & DRIFTWOOD 20 Doncaster Street, Hendra, Queensland 4011 Open daily 7am to 4pm (07) 3667 8388 When Penny and Peter Wolff opened the original Dandelion & Driftwood more than one decade ago, it provided something new to the suburb of Hendra in Queensland. “We offered full table service, were detail driven with tasting cards for every coffee that went out, and had a massive range of coffees and brew styles on offer. It’s more common now, but was quite radical 11 years ago and helped drive suburban café culture in Brisbane,” Penny says. While the original café closed its doors in 2018, Dandelion & Driftwood continued its life with a new location at Brisbane International Airport. However, with COVID-19 bringing international travel to a halt last year, Peter and…

Even with soy’s longevity and oat’s rising popularity, almond milk has become the reigning dairy alternative for coffee. Why is that? When you order a dairy milk coffee, most of the time, you’re expecting it to be rich, round, and maybe even a decadent coffee experience. I think a big part of why almond milk is the plant milk of choice for many consumers is its ability to enrich that experience. When evaluating plant-based milks, a lot of specialty baristas seek out ‘neutrality’, where the most ideal characteristics of almond, soy, or oat play a support role to the coffee. But many people enjoy the sweet, creamy, nutty profile of almond milk. So, is that the only way to think about the pairing, or can we expand our approach to…

Babin Gurung is the New South Wales Barista Trainer of Suntory Coffee Australia. 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. Matthew Lewin is the 2019 ASCA Vitasoy Barista Champion, and Vitasoy ambassador and coffee consultant. Matthew has worked in the coffee industry for the past 10 years, honing his barista skills and coffee knowledge. He won the 2018 Fushan Cup Barista Championship in China. Matthew is currently…

The Santo Antonio, Pinhal, Vertentes, and Mirante farms of Brazilian coffee producers Pedro and Mariana Gabarra have received Carbon Positive status, following a year-long third party assessment and audit of the farm’s carbon emissions. Carbon positive or ‘free carbon’ means the farms remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than they generate. “The path we’ve been following for some years, which is to pursue an increasingly sustainable production, is working and bringing good results,” Pedro says. Pinhal was named the most sustainable farm in Brazil for 2019 by Globo Rural, a respected agricultural publication. To reduce emissions across their farms, the Gabarras use S10 Diesel across their entire vehicle fleet, implemented solar panels to generate clean every, and control and treat liquid waste. The total removal of CO2 was mainly achieved…

Stefano de Pieri is amazed at how Australia’s coffee culture has evolved. Over the past 30 years, he’s watched consumer demands transition from “hot coffee” orders to discerning set temperatures, and the rise of the at-home barista. But most of all, he’s amazed at the nation-wide respect for the humble caffé latte, which, back in his home down of Treviso near Venice in Italy, was nothing more than a decaffeinated children’s drink. “On our farm, a real caffè latte was a decaffeinated drink called miscella leone or the lion’s blend. It had a very gentle flavour, like chocolate milk. I had it with milk every morning before school, sometimes with bread and sugar, and more often than not, with polenta. It was a plant-based mix of roasted ground chicory. Our…

Visiting Bonnie Coffee is a unique experience. Its two coffee shops sit on the ground floor of large heritagelisted buildings in the heart of the Melbourne and Sydney CBDs, combining a classic aesthetic interior with modern and sophisticated coffee to create a feeling almost like stepping out of time. “The heritage-listed buildings will be here forever, so it sends the message ‘we’re here to stay’. We do the same thing consistently, day in, day out, and that’s what makes it so great time after time,” says co-owner Lloyd Smith. Bonnie Coffee is committed to preserving more than just its historical façade. Sustainability is at the heart of the business and everything it does, from responsibly sourcing coffee for its Mumma’s Boy Blend to receiving carbon neutral certification from Climate Active.…

When it comes to sustainable behavioural change, it takes time, but it can be done. Supermarket shoppers now take reusable bags to collect their groceries, gym users carry stainless steel drink bottles in hand, and more restaurants are replacing plastic straws with metals ones. In the café scene, there is still a mix of ceramic, reusable, and single-use plastic cups being used, but according to Huskee Operations Manager Michael McFarlane, the end goal is a single-use free environment, and it’s no longer a matter of if but when the transition will occur. “The great news is that standard reusable cups do currently co-exist with single-use cups. Some cafés are committed to zero waste and some are already 100 per cent Huskee Cup users, but what we really want to see…

The first question Phillip Di Bella asks when he starts his day, is “how can I help?” The Founder and Managing Director of The Coffee Commune in Bowen Hills, Queensland, says for him, success is measured by how many people he can help accelerate their potential. “My whole brand promise and purpose is to see people grow and get them from where they are, to where they want to be,” Phillip says. “So, each day I ask myself: how can I help a coffee enthusiast, barista, café owner, roaster, or supplier?” With the impetus to help grow more businesses, Phillip launched The Coffee Commune in March 2021. The 2000-square-metre facility is worth an estimated $20 million, including a green bean warehouse, shared roasting facility, and packaging machines, with the mission…

Water quality has a massive influence on the quality of your cup of coffee. You can ruin your favourite coffee by choosing the wrong water, but you can also enhance the flavour experience by using the “right” water. To achieve a consistent and perfect water quality, you need a good understanding of the water composition. That’s why BRITA has a special department dedicated to taste. Taste is measurable and organoleptic testing is a particular scientific field. On the basis of more than 100 different standards for organoleptic testing, together with my team in the BRITA Organoleptic Analysis Department, I choose a suitable methodology for every question that needs to be answered. Sometimes several methods are necessary to answer a rather simple question. In organoleptic testing, it is never about a…

After more than a year of waiting, I couldn’t have been more excited to compete in (let alone win) the 2020 Australian Pauls Professional Latte Art Championship. 2020 was a tough year for many of us in the coffee industry. Our cafés went empty, our health and livelihoods were put at risk, and we could no longer see the people important to us. It took strength, resilience, and positivity to get through it. These are themes I chose to take to the national stage. Peter Pan is a cheeky guy who never grows up and always has a smile on his face. I hoped it would put a smile of the judges’ faces too. This is an advanced latte art pattern and not something you’re likely to get on the…

STEVE WRIGHTSON – GENERAL MANAGER FOR SUNTORY COFFEE AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND Steve Wrightson is the newly appointed General Manager for Suntory Coffee Australia and New Zealand business. Steve has been a key member of Suntory Coffee’s success over the last decade, driving his leadership position in the fresh coffee market. His appointment will play a critical role in supporting the continual growth strategy for Suntory Coffee’s Melbourne and Auckland roasteries, the Mocopan and Robert Harris branded business, and the Espresso Mechanics business also across Australia and NZ. PETER WEST – VICE PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER, AUSTRALIA, PACIFIC & INDONESIA, COCA-COLA EUROPACIFIC PARTNERS Peter West, currently Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil Australia, will become Vice President and General Manager for a newly created Australia, Pacific and Indonesia Business Unit. He…

Sustainability. One word, yet with so many different connotations depending who you speak to. In my world, the idea of sustainability springs to mind when I take my collection of six reusable bags to Coles on the weekend – a treasured supply from roasters over the years. It’s front of mind when driving my car to work, watching my neighbour unnecessarily wash his concrete driveway, and when I bring my reusable coffee cup to a local favourite for that feel good moment. It was even behind the gusty intention of my sister who tapped on the window of a litter bug on the weekend, insisting they pick up the takeaway bags we watched thrown out the window. In some way or another, sustainability dictates our every move. In this edition…

One of Milklab’s many defining features is the breadth and variety of its range, from dairy and lactose-free milks to the popular almond and soy and even offbeat options like coconut and macadamia. However, one plant-based milk was notably absent from the Milklab range, until now. Milklab Oat milk will officially launch in the second half of June 2021, completing the Australian brand’s plant-based portfolio. “Milklab’s advantage as a brand is the extent of our range. We’re unique with how we provide dairy and lactose-free milks alongside dairy alternatives so can cater to a café’s full milk requirements. We see the ‘holy trinity’ of plant-based milks being almond, soy, and oat, and without oat there was a gap in our portfolio we’ve worked on filling for a while,” says Natalie…

The first thing Coffee Tools Distributing Director Curtis Arnold did when the first batch of Hunu reusable cups arrived was test if the product did what it claimed to do: fit in your pocket. “It really did. It’s a lightweight, good sized cup that collapses down easily and does slide into my pocket. Here at Coffee Tools Distributing, we don’t sell anything we don’t believe in or wouldn’t use ourselves, and this product is no exception,” Curtis says. “I had bought all the other collapsible coffee cups on the market to compare it with, and Hunu really does stand on its own for being a truly slim fit, sturdy enough to hold coffee, and portable. It’s ideal for anyone wanting coffee on the go. You can keep it in your…

Most people want to make choices that are better for the planet, but often those decisions come at the cost of quality or convenience. In 2017, the ABC’s War on Waste brought attention to the millions of disposable coffee cups going to landfill every day, which inspired many viewers to pick up a reusable cup. However, remembering to clean the cup, take it each time to get a coffee, and carry it around until they got home, meant a lot of those cups weren’t reused. Antony de Fina, Head of Sttoke Australia, says sitting down at a café and drinking from a heat-stable ceramic cup is an experience no plastic or paper takeaway cup on the market could match. So, if reusables cups couldn’t compete with disposables in terms of…

Cafés are often limited by available workspace and time to produce a consistent, high volume coffee. In previous issues, I talked about the benefits of using technology and training to increase coffee quality and consistency, but this time, I want to focus on maximising speed and volume through workflow. Setup: Café setup and layout is the first step to managing volume and efficient workflow, and it all begins with the correct placement of your tools and equipment. At Suntory Coffee, we like to follow the principle of “mise en place” which means “everything in its place”. A clean and tidy workstation helps with a smooth operational flow, and also makes a good impression on customers. Here are few things that need to be considered as part of your café setup…

During the weekend of 20 to 21 March 2021, New Zealand crowned its 19th Barista Champion. Congratulations to Luise Metelka of Flight Coffee Roasters in Wellington. Luise took the hotly contested title with Hanna Teramoto (2014 NZBC winner) of Woozoo Group runner-up and Frank Hsu of Franks Coffee in Wellington coming third for a third time. The vibe around the Championships was palpable. Indeed, the Championship lends itself to excitement. Why does a coffee competition create such emotions? After a particularly intense year of planning, delaying, and postponing, full credit goes to our community for supporting and believing in us all along. More about what happened in March 2021 to come in another article. What gives the Championship it’s longevity? With anything, the secret is in the planning and construction…