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When you’ve been working in hospitality for 35 years, there comes a time to settle. Having run many businesses from cafes, to espresso bars, to restaurants to fine diners, in 2015, George Choutis opened Roastville, the spot that would allow him to stay in one place for the foreseeable future.
Dan Kim has worked in cafes all his life but it wasn’t until four years ago that he was able to commit wholeheartedly to a single thing; coffee. Having previous co-owned Heritage Coffee Brewers in Summer Hill, it was the birth of his daughter Ava that led to Kim to exclusively focus on coffee in his next outing, Primary Coffee Roasters.
Unlike most other fields, there’s no definitive source of knowledge in coffee. There’s no bachelor of coffee, or even a diploma. While short courses abound in the area of barista training or hospitality skills, these are focused on the process of making coffee in its final step, and ensuring legal hygiene standards are met.
Being many miles and many time zones away from those who grow our favourite coffees, it’s not often that the coffee community in Australia get to meet the farmers who tend to the coffee plants which produce the beans that go into our cups.
It is no stretch to say that coffee can be good, but taking the next step and making coffee do good is a whole other thing. While many coffee companies tout their impact on the communities they source beans from or their efforts to give back to the communities they serve, most still run as for-profit enterprises.
In a newly created laneway between Clarence and Barrack streets in Sydney’s CBD, St Dreux Coffee Roasters are counselling the rest of the coffee industry that what customers want and what the industry is offering are not always one and the same.
Announced on Monday morning, The Grounds will be opening a coffee-focused venue in Eveleigh South in mid to late 2020. Perhaps unfairly maligned for the hordes of Instagram-focused customers, The Grounds is now signaling its intentions to be a driving force in Sydney coffee, bringing its in-house ethos to all things coffee.
Located just up the road from the workaday hustle and bustle of North Sydney’s CBD, Humm Coffee Roasters are taking control of their coffee, and inviting you to do so as well.
With the expert guidance of Keith Klein, co-owner of Grace & Taylor and former head barista at Devon Group, we have developed a guide for coffee brewed with the V60 method. Give it a go and compare your cup to Klein’s; this Friday, April 19 Grace & Taylor will only be serving filter coffee at their Newtown location.
Taking a passion from a side-project to a full-time job will always involve a learning process, and that is what Matt Troughton’s journey with coffee has been. After upping sticks from Brisbane to New Zealand, Troughton became enraptured by the lives of baristas he saw while taking care of his newborn.
In early April, Backyard Opera had the privilege of sitting in on Australian Barista Champion Matthew Lewin’s routine as he prepared to compete in the World Barista Championships in Boston. Yesterday, Lewin advanced to the semi-finals of the World Barista Championships.
Getting a glimpse into the back end of the coffee industry isn’t as simple as leaning over the counter to see the barista’s hands working the machine. The many inputs that go into a cup of coffee, from the café, roaster, equipment supplier and individual staff members can present a multi-tiered maze for the casual observer, let alone someone interested in opening a café.
Melbourne café and roaster Market Lane Coffee has always had its focus on the ground on which it stands. First founded in Prahran Market and now with eight locations across inner Melbourne, each one is close to director of Market Lane, Jason Scheltus’s heart.
There’s a few things going on behind the counter at Went To See the Gypsy, the new café from the team behind The Gypsy in Potts Point. For starters, the espresso machine is built into the structure, rather than sitting up on top, but getting into the details with head barista Simon Gautherin opens up the future of coffee.
Having been at the helm of café-cum craft roaster Pablo & Rusty for the past fifteen years, CEO Saxon Wright has had a front row seat to the rapid transformation of coffee in Sydney and around the world. This has meant that Saxon has had to take on many hats, from roasting, to green bean sourcing to technological innovation.
