Innehållsförteckning för June/Jul 2017 från BeanScene

Toby's Estate Coffee 32-36 City Road, Chippendale, New South Wales, 2008 www.tobysestate.com.au If you’ve just picked up this striking red magazine – how could you not notice it – you are the lucky reader of the June edition of BeanScene. To help create one of our most artistic cover images yet, we went to Toby’s Estate Coffee’s new certified Q Grader Lab in Sydney and put our creativity to the test. “I wanted to capture something that was symbolic to the cupping process and the Q Grader program, but bringing it to life in a way that hadn’t been done before was our challenge. While there’s great beauty in a row of cupping bowls on a cupping table and watching that beautiful crust form before breaking through with a spoon, things…

The Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) President Brent Williams has presented Bruno Maiolo with a lifetime membership. Bruno was awarded honorary life membership at MICE for his services to speciality coffee in Australia. Bruno has been involved in ASCA for the past 15 years. He first got involved in a volunteer capacity, then as a judge. He served on the ASCA board for six years helping to shape the organisation, barista competitions, and evolve Australia’s specialty coffee industry. “My very first job was as a barista, strangely enough. I started in the spiritual heartland of espresso in Lygon Street, Carlton with the Brunetti family,” Bruno says. “I loved my work but it was more than that. It was about the relationships and even friendships with the customers that always kept things…

Communicating specialty coffee to consumers is an evolving art. In many ways, its narrative has become dense and complex, and rightly so, when you consider the long and involved processes to produce a cup of coffee – a seed that is pulped, fermented, dried, transported, roasted, and brewed – with every part of the process having significant implications on the final flavour. In attempt to bridge the gap, Zest Specialty Coffee has undergone rebranding to make “exemplary coffee approachable to real people”. “Put simply, we want you at home to make a Colombian Quisabony pink bourbon using a stove top or French press in the morning, and have not only the spectacular flavour of the coffee contribute to your daily coffee moment, but also be able to comprehend the flavour of…

They say that may hands make light work, and in the case of coffee production, it couldn’t be truer. When a café serves a customer a delicious single origin coffee from Nicaragua, the cup’s journey isn’t from the spout of a coffee machine to the cup. It starts long before that, in fact, well before the coffee is even harvested. While most coffee professionals have this knowledge and appreciation for the many processes involved in bringing a cup of coffee to life – and are doing an incredible job in relaying this information to consumers through packaging, information cards, or a good old-fashioned chat – the journey for the importer is entirely different altogether. Coffee traders have connections to origins, so the first thing we do at Cofi-Com is let…

In the 2014 hit song Budapest, British artist George Ezra describes the city as a “hidden treasure chest”. Soon enough, that treasure chest of specialty coffee coffee shops, historic pubs, thermal baths, royal palace, and vibrant night life will be on display when the international coffee community unites for World of Coffee (WOC) and the World Coffee Championships. The Hungarian capital will not only host Europe’s premier specialty coffee event, but for the first time WOC will be held by the newly formed Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), the amalgam of the Specialty Coffee Associations of America and Europe that officially came into being at the beginning of this year. Executive Director of the SCA Ric Rhinehart says it is an exciting time for the specialty coffee industry around the world…

Barista Lewis Baldwin of Higher Ground café and bartender Zee Wason from Lily Blacks have won Melbourne’s Bartender vs Barista competition. Monin and Mr Black hosted the event which saw the city’s best baristas go head-to-head with the industry’s most skilled bartenders to see who could produce the best signature coffee and cocktails. A supportive crowd of friends and colleagues gathered at Lock & Key on 8 May to watch the cocktail shaking and coffee extractions unfold. In the ultimate showdown against two sides of the hospitality industry – morning vs night professions – competitors had six minutes to complete two coffee-influenced drinks in front of judges – one alcoholic and one nonalcoholic coffee drink. The cocktail round, won by Zee, had to feature at least 20 millilitres of Mr Black.…

Project Origin celebrated the best of El Salvador coffee in its auction program, which took place from 24 to 30 April. With a score of 89.6, Ever Leonel Díaz Pérez from Finca Milaydi in the Chalatenango region took top honours for his Washed Pacamara for the second year in a row. Peaberry in Thailand won the online auction, buying Finca Milaydi’s coffee for US$10.40 per pound (about $14.10). Finca Milaydi is located at approximately 1400 metres above sea level, near the town of La Palma in the region of Chalatenango. The farm is protected by large hills, which form the border with Honduras. “Up until last year [Ever] had not been recognised for his own coffee as he always sold to other producers in his local area. Sometimes they would combine…

ASCA hosted its first Symposium on 27 March 2017, uniting café owners and business leaders who wanted to learn more about improving their business. Held during Melbourne Coffee Week in the lead-up to MICE, the inaugural event at Mercure Treasury Gardens was titled Secrets of Specialty: How to run a successful café. “This event, brought to you by Service Sphere, was designed to reveal the secrets to specialty coffee business in our competitive marketplace,” says BeanScene Editor and Event Chair Sarah Baker. “To help achieve this, we invited expert leaders in the fields of journalism, marketing, design, hospitality, operations, consultancy and the supply chain, to inspire our attendees to integrate changes into their current or prospective business.” The first session, “Going viral”, heard from former Fairfax media and top coffee journalist…

Benji Salim of The Q Coffee Trading is passionate about advocating Indonesia, not just because he was born and bred on the island of Sulawesi, or the fact that he connects with its culture and people, but because of its quality coffee that, until recently, has remained off the radar. “There’s a stigma surrounding certain origin countries and the quality of coffee they produce,” Benji says. “For a long time, the reputation of Indonesian specialty coffee has been below par, but it’s time to look at this producing country with fresh eyes, see the state of its green beans, and keep an open mind to what it’s capable of.” Benji is determined to be an advocate. He graduated university with a Bachelor of science in information technology, and a Masters…

Backstage at the ASCA Australian Coffee Championships, baristas nervously polished their glassware, some muttered words of encouragement to themselves, and others recited parts of their routine. But most were not alone. Cutting a silent but supportive shadow on the parameters of the competition stage, or offering words of encouragement, were their coaches. To athletes of all standards and sports, a coach has long been key to preparing and pushing them to reach their potential. Whether the International Olympic Committee one day defines coffee championships as a sport is another matter entirely, but what was noticeable at this year’s national finals at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) was the fact that the top three performing baristas each had a coach – and not just any mentors, but past World Barista…

ALEX WINTER Pictured from our recent journey to Quindío, Colombia are some beautiful Geisha and Java naturals from Finca La Estrella, Pijao drying on newly constructed African beds. With guidance, local farmers are implementing more innovative low cost processing practices suc h as these, whic h drastically improves bean quality . This provides a superior cup and, in turn, means they receive more for their harvest. As a coffee roaster (K oKo Coffee Roasters), there is no better way to gain an understanding of the relationship these coffee farmers have with their soil and the sustainable processes they use than to witness it first hand. T raversing down the steep slopes with . It Jairo ’s Ivan and his pup to his G eisha trees is something I wont forget…

Months have passed, and I’m still asked why I thought this year’s Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) was one of the most memorable to date. I could say it’s because the event attracted such a high calibre of exhibitors, and international guests and hosted all five national coffee championships under the one roof, but there’s just two words that come to mind: the vibe. At the risk of stealing Dennis Denuto’s famed line in The Castle, sometimes there’s just no other explanation. At 9am, an hour before the event officially opened, the Grand Pavilion was alive with the sounds of grinders dialling in, machines extracting, friends uniting, hi-fives being exchanged, and the microphone on the grand stage getting tested before the three-day competition extravaganza kicked off. It was such a…

El Salvador and Nicaragua have returned to the Cup of Excellence (COE) competitions with successful results. Jorge Raul Rivera of Santa Rosa was the winner of the 2017 El Salvador COE, which took place from 4 to 7 April in San Salvador. This is the first COE competition that has been held in the country since the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) withdrew the competition temporarily in 2015. “Being back in El Salvador after taking the time off previously was the big story for ACE and for the country,” says Darrin Daniel, the newly appointed Executive Director of the ACE. The Santa Rosa farm, primarily known for producing a large amount of Pacamara varietals, won this year’s event with a honey-processed coffee with a score of 91.28 points. Despite the effects…

To celebrate 90 years of heritage, technology, and design, La Marzocco hosted the first edition of Out of the Box (OOTB) in Melbourne on 28 March at Abbotsford Convent. “This is the first time OOTB has been in Australia. The concept started as a forum six years ago as a means to connect friends and family with La Marzocco’s traditions and values. The event is a celebration of the company’s 90-year history, and its passion and excellence in producing quality espresso machines,” says La Marzocco Australia’s Tom Beaumont. The festival-like program had something for everyone. The True Artisan Café featured rotating roasters including Campos Coffee, Villino, Padre and Red Brick, Industry Beans, and Allpress. To enhance the taste experience, Café Imports’ Noah Namowicz presented on whether a stratified green buying model…

Each year thousands of Australians head to to Bali for its tropical climate, pristine beaches, friendly culture, and party scene. One thing missing, however, is the specialty coffee Australians have come to expect from their homeland. That was, of course, until Shae Macnamara – an ASCA coffee champion – decided to make the holiday island his home. “I saw a huge opportunity for growth in Bali,” says Shae. “It has a huge population, attracts thousands of expats, and has an established coffee culture. But I wanted to bring specialty coffee to the masses.” According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 Indonesia was recorded as having the strongest growth of Australian short-term resident departures over the past decade. With more than 10,000 Australians estimated to be living in Bali,…

Brett Dedman, Business Development Manager of Espresso Mechanics, frequently talks to café customers about the right equipment to suit their venue based on size and need. When he questions the need for a filter brewing station, all too often he hears the comment: “We’d love to install a brewing station, but it’s just too time consuming to manage.” Sound familiar? With the new Marco Sp9, that problem is alleviated. “I think filter brewing is something most coffee shops are interested in, but it has the potential to be more widespread across the Australian market. To achieve this, the Sp9 is the gold standard of automatic brewing. It’s essentially an automated Kalita, V60 pour over or Chemex, all in one,” Brett says. “Think about the process of brewing a Pour Over.…

When you ask a foreigner what the capital of Australia is, they often answer Melbourne or Sydney. They look perplexed when you tell them it’s Canberra, one of the world’s lesser known capital cities. Now try and tell them that the country’s capital is also putting Australia’s roasting capabilities on the world map. If the latest results from the Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA) are anything to go by, it might be time to start telling this story. In March, Bean!Roasters by Cosmorex in Canberra was awarded the title of AICA Champion Australian Roaster for the second year running, placing the Australian Capital Territory in the spotlight for outstanding coffee production. In fact, out of the six Champion trophies awarded at the fifth annual AICA presentation gala, there were no Champion…

Melbourne awoke on 30 March with that feeling of excitement and anticipation, much like diehard footy fans on the eve of the AFL Grand Final, or children the night before Christmas. For the Australian coffee community, our version of Christmas was about to spring to life, with presents in the form of copious amounts of delicious coffees, five Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Australian coffee competitions, and a family reunion of national and international coffee representatives. At 9am, one hour before the doors to the sixth instalment of the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) officially opened, exhibitors could have been forgiven for thinking otherwise. The aisles were pumping with people, reunions, and free-flowing coffees, and like many of the 120 exhibitors have since expressed, in true Dennis Denuto style (yes,…