BeanSceneDecember 2019的目錄

Tilly Sproule of Tim Adams Specialty Coffee has won the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Northern Region Vitasoy Barista Championship for the fifth year straight. Zhuolu Xie of TonyJ Lab placed second and Sarah Jin of Extraction Artisan Coffee placed third in the competition, which took place at Latitude Coffee from 5 to 6 October. “This year I dived into the power of our relationships, and why developing relationships with our producers is the key for the sustainable future of specialty coffee,” Tilly says. As well as placing third in Barista, Sarah Jin won the ASCA 2020 Northern Region Brewers Cup, where Karen Silver of Pourboy placed second and Cooper Ahrens of Blue Sky Coffee placed third. Kyujong Han of Ginger & Green café won the ASCA Northern Region Pauls Professional Latte Art Championship for the second year in a…

Grimanés Morales Lizana of La Lucuma farm in Cajamarca has won the 2019 Cup of Excellence (COE) Peru, achieving a cupping score of 92.28 for her washed coffee. The coffee is an unidentified mutation of the Bourbon varietal Lizana named Marshel after her father-in-law. Lucio Luque Vásquez of Nuevo Progreso farm in Cusco placed second, scoring 91.44 with a washed Geisha. Junior Guido Flores Elera of Agua Dulce farm in Cajamarca placed third with 91.40 points for a washed Catuai. The Alliance for Coffee Excellence concluded its third edition of the COE in Jaen, Peru on 25 October, the last competition of COE’s 20th anniversary year. The judging panel represented markets from Japan, South Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Peru. The national jury evaluated…

As spring fades and the new year approaches, Australians flock to beaches and venture outdoors to embrace the summer warmth. The rise in mercury also leads to a shift in consumer behaviour as seasonal trends come and go. Research and Development Consultant at Veneziano Coffee Roasters Pete Licata says although demand for coffee in the summer remains steady, the heat means many coffee drinkers substitute traditional hot espresso-based beverages for cold, refreshing varieties. To adapt, Veneziano is celebrating the end of the year with the launch of its new cold brew range. “We’ve played around with cold brew in the past, but at Veneziano, we haven’t made it a major focus. With summer coming up, we wanted to change that, so we decided to work on something that was delicious and refreshing,” Pete…

From the farmer to the roaster, a lot of work goes into producing coffee to keep it consistent and at a good quality. To teach this to the public, Grinders Coffee has introduced a new series of public cupping sessions, the first of which took place at its Lygon Street café in Melbourne on 23 October, 2019. “If the consumer knows what to look out for, they’ll be better able to acknowledge, identify, and buy good coffee,” says Alec Zeta, Training Manager and Coffee Specialist at Grinders Coffee. “The more you educate people, the more they lean towards change, and the less they’re educated, the harder it is to break habits.” The October cupping session began with a summary of the work done by producers and roasters before coffee reaches…

Since its creation eight years ago, Minas Hill has strived to support its farming partners and their communities. Founder and CEO Marcelo Brussi says this is due to his understanding and appreciation of not only the farm owners, but the workers who make coffee production possible. “My grandfather worked on a coffee farm, and I have always valued the work of the pickers, truck and tractor drivers, and seed sowers – those doing the work we don’t always realise even exists,” Marcelo says. “We’ve intentionally partnered with producers who we can help contribute to their communities.” The green bean trader formalised this commitment with the formation of the not-for-profit Minas Hill Foundation in October 2019. Marcelo says running Minas Hill’s philanthropic efforts through a separate entity has improved the transparency…

“OAT MILK HAS BEEN TRENDING GLOBALLY DUE TO ITS CREAMINESS AND NATURAL SWEETNESS. THIS COMBINATION MAKES IT UNIQUE COMPARED TO OTHER PLANT-BASED MILKS AS IT APPEALS TO THE DAIRY DRINKING SEGMENT TOO.” Plant-based milks have become a part of Australia’s mainstream café culture. Baristas around the country are now adept at working with non-dairy products, with consumer demand driving cafés to introduce more variety. According to a 2019 study by Report Buyer, plant-based milk isn’t a simple craze which will fade into obscurity any time soon. The research shows the global alternative milk market is experiencing a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent and is expected to reach revenues of US$38 billion (about $55 billion) by 2024. “Where soy was once the hero, almond has now taken over, but there are also other great tasting varieties…

Though KeepCup celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019, it has only been in the last few years that consumers and the industry have caught up with its message of single-use waste reduction. “Ten years ago, people didn’t know that disposable coffee cups weren’t recyclable and the massive plastic waste problem we are now facing globally wasn’t really being discussed,” says Abigail Forsyth, Co-founder and Managing Director of KeepCup. “But people have woken up to the issue, realised that single-use plastic – indeed all avoidable single-use items – are a huge problem, and that these little coffee cups contain plastic.” When the waste dilemma was raised to prominence in Australia by the 2017 ABC television series War on Waste, the café industry was quick to respond to the coffee cup crisis.…

Imagine the next big technological breakthrough in the coffee industry. Could it be a device that raises quality to new levels? Or will it embrace new technology like automation and telemetry? These are questions that the 2020 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) will ask during its Product Innovation Awards. MICE provides a platform for dedicated members of the coffee sector to congregate and share new ideas and technology. These annual awards bring these new developments to the forefront. “The Product Innovation Awards shine a spotlight on the great and creative work being done in coffee,” says MICE Show Director Lauren Winterbottom. “Past winners have included energy systems, water filters, and coffee destoners that truly had something new to offer the industry, and the awards drew attention to these innovations.” With nearly 200 brands set to…

Anthony Douglas of Axil Coffee Roasters has won the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) 2020 Southern Region Vitasoy Barista Championship. First time competitors Ben Cheong of Veneziano Coffee Roasters placed second and William Cruger of Five Senses placed third in the competition, held at St Ali in Port Melbourne from 26 to 27 October. This year marks Anthony’s sixth time competing and first time winning the barista championship. “This is the culmination of six years of hard work,” Anthony says. “I was inspired by feedback on my previous routine at nationals, where I scored well across most of the boxes except for flavour, so I realised there was a lot of work I needed to do to understand flavour and how it was perceived and better control that.” St Ali…

La Marzocco has opened the doors of Accademia del Caffè Espresso, its centre for cultural and educational development and research that aims to build a sustainable future for espresso coffee. “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 magical place here in Florence that puts the history of La Marzocco, and in fact the world of coffee, in the spotlight,” says Marta Kokosar, General Manager of Accademia del Caffè Espresso. “We can’t wait to share this masterpiece with the world, which we hope will contribute to the future health and longevity of our industry.” The Accademia del Caffe Espresso, housed in La Marzocco’s industrial building in Florence, Italy, was home to the company’s factory from…

Coffee is often compared to wine. Both beverages originate from plants, can possess complex flavour profiles, and offer varying degrees of quality based on how they are produced and processed. The Bordeaux region of France is synonymous with high-quality wine, thanks largely to its ideal climate for growing grapes and the work of its producers. According to Will Young, CEO of Campos Coffee, if coffee was to have an equivalent, it would be the Baru Volcano area of Chiriqui province in Panama. “There are so many micro-climates in that area. You’ll be standing on one crest, watching a rainstorm one kilometre away that never touches where you are. It’s what happens when the climate is being affected by both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, because Panama is this skinny piece of land…

Coffee quality depends on every link in the supply chain. The producer needs the right growing conditions, the roaster must follow a specific profile, and the barista has to extract the right flavours. Hugh Kelly, Training Manager at Ona Coffee and 2016 and 2017 Australian Barista Champion, says without a knowledgeable barista, all the effort put into a coffee before it reaches the café can be lost. “Ona is spread across the whole coffee supply chain. We work closely with our green bean suppliers and have a roasting team who are obsessed with what they do. [We] work with manufacturers to make their machinery work how we want them to and operate our own cafés, so we see how each of these steps are linked,” Hugh says. “Without proper training, the…

“THE MARKET IS CHANGING. IT’S VOLATILE AND COMPLEX, SO THE MORE CONNECTED WE ARE, THE BETTER.” HostMilano 2019 is a beast of the expo world. The biennial event was the talk of the industry for the past few months, with chatter among businesses on what to expect, who was attending, and the necessity to take comfortable walking shoes. For many Australians, the 24-hour journey to Milan is a commitment. It’s time away from businesses, a different time zone and a foreign city devoted to risotto, fashion, and aperitivo. But as BeanScene discovered, a visit to HostMilano is an essential one for those wishing to do business, invest in products, and make new connections to take home. Along with the record-breaking crowd of more than 200,000 visitors who flocked to Rho Fiera for…

Minimalistic, elegant, and iconic are the first three words Charles Stephens, CEO of Espresso Company Australia (ECA), uses to describe the new Rocket Espresso Cronometro range. Released in late 2019 and now available throughout ECA’s national specialty coffee retail network, Cronometro derives from the Italian word for stopwatch, which is reflected in the extraction speed of the machine. “With the help of the Cronometro’s shot timer feature, you can adjust and dial in your grind size – either coarser or finer – to speed up or slow down the flow rate of the espresso to achieve a guideline extraction of 30 millilitres in 30 seconds.” However, Charles says modern home baristas now like to follow a unique recipe, often published by the roaster, which includes an espresso volume over a number…

For many people in the coffee industry, their passion was ignited by a great coffee tasting experience. In the case of Instaurator, Director of Espressology and author of The Coffee Entrepreneur, this occurred with an Ethiopian coffee when he was in his early 20s. “I didn’t know coffee could be that good,” Instaurator says. “I don’t know what varietal that coffee was – probably an heirloom Sidamo – but I remember being struck by the exotic taste and aroma. It was very enticing.” While Instaurator would go on to literally write the book on being a coffee entrepreneur, it was his pioneering brother Robert Forsyth who lured him into the specialty coffee industry. Instaurator tasted that eye-opening Ethiopian coffee while on summer holidays from university when, out of curiosity, he went to see what his brother was up…

Enzen Liu is the winner of this year’s Almond Breeze Breezey Masters competition. The specialist latte art event, now in its fourth year, sees baristas from across Australia and New Zealand showcase their latte art skills using Almond Breeze Barista Blend. Enzen, Head Barista of Cuckoo Callay in Sydney, battled his way through knock-out rounds in a latte art smackdown at Specialty Coffee Curators in Marrickville to secure his place in the final against Victor Vu of Bicycle Thieves Café in Melbourne. Both first and second place-getters won a trip to the United States to compete at the New York Coffee Festival. In the final round of the Breezey Masters Final, Enzen produced a free pour seahorse and poodle design that saw him take the title. “To win is a dream come true. I…

Over the past few years, hundreds if not thousands of coffee roasters have set up shop around Australia, with lenders, co-roasting facilities, and contract roasters having lowered the bar of entry to the industry. However, the sudden rise of coffee roasters has created a competitive landscape sometimes called oversaturated, meaning new players may struggle to thrive. According to Tim Mazzarol, Winthrop Professor specialising in small business management at the University of Western Australia (UWA), Australia has many mechanisms in place to support someone looking to start a small business. “The coffee roasting and café industries are seemingly perennial, and a business can really get going if it finds a good niche and is well managed,” Tim says. “The overall climate in Australia is relatively good for small business and the ease of starting…

In the world of competitive coffee championships, precision matters. Every seemingly minor variable can have a major influence on the flavour and presentation of a barista’s coffee, with the winner often separated by just fractions. Because of this, the competitive scene attracts those in the industry who are passionate, skilled, and committed. Veneziano Coffee Roasters has an active history participating in coffee competitions and is channeling its team’s expertise and experience into its training programs. “All of our training stems from our experience in barista competitions. It’s the pinnacle of the coffee industry and many of the skills translate to café baristas. We believe in teaching these skills and striving for excellence with our students,” says Jade Jennings, National Training and Development Manager at Veneziano. The roaster offers a range of training courses…

In September 2019, representatives from some of the largest coffee roasters and traders in the world converged in London for the International Coffee Organization CEO and Global Leaders Forum. The event addressed environmental and economic sustainability across the entire supply chain of the coffee industry. The forum led to overwhelming support for reform and many leading organisations, including Lavazza, signed a declaration of intent known as the London Declaration. The document acts as a pledge to take action on four themes: promoting competitive and sustainable production, fostering responsible and equitable growth, promoting responsible consumption, and promoting public-private dialogue regarding policy development. In addition to supporting the declaration, Lavazza is advocating for environmental awareness through the launch of its sustainability-themed 2020 calendar, Earth CelebrAction. “The 2020 edition of our calendar, entitled…

Despite five consecutive wins at the Northern Region Barista Championship, Tilly Sproule says the growing Queensland coffee scene has kept her on her toes. “There’s a bit of excess pressure every year, but part of me feels proud to come back and represent 12 months of exploring new coffees and ideas. There’s also been a nice movement in the Northern Region competitions,” Tilly says. “The support you feel onstage is incredible. This year, the room was jam-packed and the community was keen and excited to see what we had to present. There was also so much passion from the baristas this year – old faces coming back and new ones striving to succeed. I like to think I played a part in that.” When Tilly began working as a barista…

REGIMENT 333 George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000 Open Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm (02) 9299 4001 After 20 years of experience in hospitality, Zach Hiotis had a vision to bring something fresh to the Sydney CBD. In early 2017, Regiment was born, and on the verge of its third anniversary, Zach says the café is continuing to go from strength to strength. “Regiment is a collective progression of everything I’ve done over the years. I really wanted to bring a higher end offering to the CBD market,” Zach says. “The aim was to create a mix of a destination café and a traditional CBD café. Something that would cross people’s minds to visit when they came into the city, but that could also meet the fast-paced requirements of…

Every edition we highlight BeanScene’s digital coffee community, hearing from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram followers. For more information, visit www.beanscenemag.com.au MATT WILSON Two-and-a-half years ago, l couldn’t stand coffee. Now I have it almost every day. I used to be the odd one out, ‘that’ person in the group who didn’t drink coffee when I went to a café. Now I understand why people always harp on about how they need their morning coffee. I’m a latte guy myself, no sugar for me though. Coffee gives me that much-needed energy boost during the day, especially workdays in my copy-writing role. I find sometimes that, no matter how much I try to focus, that I just need that extra boost. I usually drink coffee at work but I’m currently learning how…