Tabla de contenidos para October 2018 en BeanScene

There are some magical coffee moments you never forget. For Dinner By Heston Blumenthal’s Chef Director Ashley Palmer-Watts, that moment was five years ago when he, two chefs, and a maître d’ climbed Africa’s highest mountain peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. “I had some beans from Colombia which I had pre-ground, and my AeroPress, which I took up the mountain so we could have proper coffee in the morning. On the first day I brought my AeroPress out the guys thought it was incredible. It was one of those lovely surprises to wake up to,” Ashley recalls. Based on his coffee terminology alone, Ashley could be mistaken for any Melbourne barista. He knows his V60 pour over from a Clever Coffee Dripper, understands the importance of particle grind size and coffee’s 850…

DANE ROSS My first job in coffee was 1 4 years ago making coffees at the Powerhouse Museum. To build up my skills, I would train at night after service to continually improve my ability . I then moved in to events management at the Hilton in Sydney. To keep up my coffee skills I worked in coffee shops on the weekend. I moved to Manly and started managing Barefoot Coffee Traders and took on coffee full time. This lead me to opening and managing Kingswood in the CBD. I have also worked at Single O, Sensory Lab, Bondi Hall, and Stop Valve. Along the way I have met lots of great mentors such as Emily Oak and Matt Perger. My most recent endeavour has been opening up Apothecary Coffee…

Kyle Rutten is the National Training Manager for Suntory and Mocopan Coffee Australia. He has extensive experience in training and development, and people management. Kyle has a strong background in specialty coffee with a focus in bringing that expertise into the corporate coffee industry. He is passionate about developing people through knowledge and experience to further their careers. 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…

Twumba Coffee has placed first in the 2018 Cup of Excellence (COE) in Rwanda, with a score of 90.53. Mayogi women’s cooperative from the northern province of Rwanda was the runner up, scoring 90.06. Neither of the top two washing stations had previously entered the competition. The competition was held from 7 to 10 August in Kigali, Rwanda after a two-year break. The event marks the 10th anniversary of the first COE. Rwanda was the first African country to conduct the program administered by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence. This year’s program set a record for all-time entries with more than 344 washing stations entering the competition. Of those, the national jury narrowed it down to the top 150 lots. Only 40 qualified with a score of 88 and above to pass through…

Stepping out onto Sydney’s freshly manicured Allianz Stadium dressed in the Sydney Roosters’ iconic red, white and blue jersey is a memory few are lucky to share, but one Steve Wrightson recalls well. “It’s electric. I just loved playing the game of rugby league,” Steve says. “I played half a dozen games as a professional rugby league player until injury forced me to retire early.” Steve was a proud Roosters player, but his heart always stayed with his childhood team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Just recently, Steve visited the stadium where his sporting dream began, only this time watching in the stands donned in the Rabbitohs’ cardinal red and myrtle green colours. They didn’t win the preliminary final against their archrivals, the Roosters, but it did get Steve thinking about…

There are two traditional types of barista in Vietnam according to Han Tran: those that work in street vendors selling roadside coffee that’s “dark, dense, and bitter Robusta” or in male-dominated cafés that are attracted more to the female baristas than the overpriced beverage in front of them. When Han told her parents she wanted to pursue a career in coffee, naturally, she says, you can imagine their disapproving reaction. “They were against it,” she says. “Barista work had a bad reputation because of the stereotypes. A barista was not considered a profession in Vietnam. It was not respected. My parents were worried for my safety and that I would not earn a secure income.” If only they had a crystal ball to predict the future. They need not have worried. Han never believed…

Every Tuesday Dirk Sickmueller, General Manager of premier export company Taylor Winch (Coffee) in Nairobi, goes to auction. Rather than a vision of excited bankers yelling out figures and gesticulating wildly like a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, green bean buyers and local roasters bunker down in a theatre-style auction hall. The scene appears more subdued thanks to the digital platform the Nairobi Coffee Exchange implemented 20 years back, which only a few months ago had an upgrade to include a web camera and TV screens so that farmers in certain coffee growing regions can watch the bidding action unfold. Prices are displayed on a large digital screen. The numbers fly back and forth, with the final print, or best bid, confirmed or noted to a particular buyer. “This week, there…

The internet has made it easier than ever to stay connected, and telemetry allows café owners and operators to take full advantage. Telemetry, a system which monitors an espresso machine’s functions and performance via an internet connection, makes it possible for machine operators to keep track of how machines are being used – in real time and remotely. Most new machines are installing their own version of telemetry, and why not? Just about everything is connected to Wi-Fi these days from Apple Carplay to iPhones, each with the purpose of keeping us connected to the information we crave, and the information we need to help make our businesses run more efficiently on a daily basis. La Cimbali uses telemetry in its M34 and M100 machines, as well as most of its…

In ancient Palaeolithic times, dating back over 10,000 years ago, bows and arrows were used in battles and hunting. The symbol is also affiliated with Apollo, the Greek god of archery (among other things), but my favourite reference is Dragon Ball, a famous Japanese cartoon character who posed with a bow and arrow. Like many of my latte art ideas, I turned to Google for inspiration on different images that I could translate the cup, including Dragon Ball. I decided to create my own version of his famous stance but with an angel holding a bow and arrow instead. I’m using a 35-gram shot, a 25-second extraction, and a 300-millilitre cup. In competition I would use a minimum 20-second extraction time. If you use any less than that you’ll be deducted four points. It’s important…

If you regularly make soy coffees for your customers, you have probably noticed that soy milk is often harder to work with than dairy milk – it tends to curdle more in coffee, especially when steaming hot. With some coffees it behaves well, with some it doesn’t. The delicate protein structures in milk are to blame for the curdling effect. Proteins are long, folded chains of amino acids. Humans only use about 20 different amino acids, and they can be linked after one another in any order. Most proteins contain hundreds of them. When we digest food, our stomach acids and enzymes break proteins down into amino acid blocks. We then build them up again into human proteins. Human proteins are different to soy proteins and different to dairy milk proteins. Just like Lego, these…

Y “You grow coffee in Australia?” I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve been asked this question. For the record, yes, we do. The first coffee seed arrived with the First Fleet around 1788, but it did not survive in the harsh climate of Port Jackson in Sydney Harbour. However, there were many efforts to establish coffee in the warmer climates of the northern rivers of New South Wales and Queensland. Back in 1889, almost 130 years ago, the North Coast of NSW actually exported 83,066 pounds or 37.71 tonnes of raw and prepared coffee, all picked by hand. “Cultivation of coffee has already passed successfully through the experimental stage in this colony (NSW): in suitable places on the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed Rivers,” wrote F. Turner, a fellow of the…

A 3am wake-up call isn’t my ideal of fun. As I drove out to country Victoria on a frosty winter’s morning with ice on the roads and high beams on to pierce through the darkness, my only thought was: who’s up this early? As it turns out, a high proportion of the people responsible for sustaining Australia’s obsession with milk-based coffee is – our dairy farmers. On arrival at Margaret and Gordon Lockett’s Gippsland property for first milking at 6am, country hospitality was at its best. I received a warm welcome from the herd of 360 Holstein Friesian cows which had instinctively gathered in an orderly fashion at the milking gates, showing cows have more natural intelligence than most give them credit for. Gordon’s rotary milking system is a traditional…

The City of Unley’s fifth annual Double Shot Coffee Fiesta will be held on Sunday, 4 November. The event will see cafés, roasters, suppliers and baristas from around South Australia set up shop at the Soldiers Memorial Gardens in Unley. Double Shot Coffee Fiesta will include free coffee tastings, workshops to develop participants coffee making skills and presentations by industry professionals. Gourmet food and a jam-packed entertainment program will complement the caffeine-centric celebration. City of Unley Event Manager Carly Hemus says the free community event is a chance to relax with friends or take the opportunity to learn from the industry’s best. “It’s the perfect day out for all ages. We’ll have art and craft activities for the kids, and for the adults we’ll have a bar serving beer, wine and…

Spending the morning with Salvatore Malatesta looks like a scene out of The West Wing. Inside the engine room, meetings are held back to back and some intertwine with each other, from a menu consultation to a discussion on solar energy. Salvatore brings out hard-hitting questions, evidence of his law background and efficiency to just “get to the point”. Occasionally, he pauses to reply to a text message or buzz his PA for a contact. No two days are the same for the owner of one of the county’s most iconic coffee roasters. Salvatore’s role is not about bean selection or the inner workings of roast profiles. His job is to take his business from a roasting brand to a creative agency. “The original intention of ST. ALi was to…

Prior to 2015, Colombia produced coffees for quantity, not quality. All of the country’s coffees were washed processed due to a restriction imposed by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) to promote only cultivars that focused on volume. The aim was “balanced, elegant, and clean” coffee, not exotic. “The Federation checks every lot that leaves Colombia. If the coffees were found to be anything other than washed processed, it would be rejected,” coffee importing business Cofinet Co-founder and Director Carlos Arcila says. Thanks to globalisation and influence of other countries producing amazing natural and honey processed coffees, the FNC revoked its restriction in 2015. Small farmers started experimenting with new processing methods, and the result, Carlos says, is a rejuvenation of the country’s reputation to produce high quality and exotic flavour profiles.…

Cow number 125 is always first to Stanvale Farm’s milk station each morning. Number 6389 is always one of the last. “Cows are more intelligent than people give them credit for,” says Dairy Farmer Gordon Lockett. “They’re creatures of habit. They’re instinctive animals that understand routine and like consistency.” Each morning the same herd of cows wait for Gordon at the milking gate before first light, knowing very well that those first in line are first out. Then there are the lazy ones, the ones that would rather sleep in and force Gordon to round them up every morning. His favourites are Blue Mac, Colin, and Fleetwood – named after the iconic band. From 6.30am to 8am and 4.30pm to 7pm, 338 Holstein cows filter through Gordon’s rotary milking system.…

In my early days as a barista, supply chain blame always came to the fore whenever there was a complaint from a customer about the coffee. An unskilled barista would blame the roaster, the roaster would blame the green beans. Having trust in the production chain, however, is crucial. The end flavour of a coffee relies on the strong journey of skill and transparency throughout the chain. Each link has to trust every link before them. Trust that the green beans were bought with good faith on quality, trust that the roaster has the right profiles to get the best out of the coffee, and trust that the barista has the skills and equipment to extract the most flavour. As an initial consumer, I had no idea about the origin…

In the past five years, filter coffee has found a home among the specialty café market, but also in the home of coffee connoisseurs wanting to recreate delicious home brews. The best part about this method of coffee making is how easy it is. If you take away the many variables of espresso extraction, in filter brewing, all you need is tasty coffee, a grinder, water, and your favourite brew method: Hario V60 pour over, clever coffee dripper, Yama brewer, AeroPress, siphon... the list goes on. Not only is filter brewing a traveller’s delight, it’s a nice way to transition tea drinkers to coffee and a perfect Christmas gift for a friend or family member. Don’t be alarmed that I’ve expressed the word “Christmas”. This is the time to tick…

When it comes to training, one of the biggest questions I get asked is: when should I calibrate my grinder? Calibration is simply the process of adjusting your grinder, moving the blades of the grinder closer or further apart, to ensure you get your desired outcome from the coffee. That outcome could be consistency or based on hitting a specific coffee recipe or hitting a specific taste/flavour. For example, the dry weight of ground coffee is commonly referred to as the “dose”, let’s say 20 to 21 grams. The time it takes to extract the coffee (usually measured on the coffee machines screen or by using a timer) at 25 to 30 seconds pouring time and a yield of 40 to 44 grams. Put in real life terms, the process of…

NSW Allpress Espresso 58 Epsom Rd, ZETLAND Austin’s Coffee & Tea 62 Broadmeadow Rd, BROADMEADOW Campos Coffee 193 Missenden Rd, NEWTOWN Coffee Warehouse Café 17 – 35 Parramatta Rd, HOMEBUSH Don Campos 2/21 Fountain St, ALEXANDRIA Double Roasters 199 Victoria Rd, MARRICKVILLE 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 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…

It’s competition season once again. For the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Board, this is one of our favourite times of the year. We love feeling the excitement of our members and experiencing the passion of the competitors. The 2019 ASCA regional championships kicked off on 15 September with the Northern Region, followed by the Southern Region from 13 to 14 October, Central Region from 27 to 28 October, and Western Region from 3 to 4 November. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to head to your nearest championship to see what our incredible barista community is capable of. It’s impressive to see a new generation of talent coming through the ranks, and repeat offenders who believe that persistence pays off, and indeed it does. While it’s baristas who take centre…

The end of July saw two returning champions crowned at great competitions held in Auckland. L’affare Melrose hosted a record number of 34 coffee cuppers for the New Zealand Cup Tasters Championship. With standing room only, the talented cuppers eventually whittled down to the final round. Impressively, this was the first time that all four finalists scored eight out of eight cups correctly in the open round. This included Takahito Koyanagi of Toasted Espresso in Auckland, 2016 NZ Cup Tasters Champion; Woo Hyung Lee of Camper Coffee who entered at the last minute; May Chan of Story Coffee in Auckland; and Stu Hargie, representing Jacobs Douwe Egberts and 2011 NZ Cup Taster Champion. With a perfect score in 4.11 minutes, Stuart Hargie won the New Zealand Cup Tasters Championship for a second time. “It’s…