In the current weeks leading up to the biggest café show in the nation, Café Biz, my team and I have had the exciting opportunity to visit many of Sydney’s favourite café and coffee haunts. What was impressive to me, was that Sydney is starting to blossom in its café culture and the different approach [...]

Copenhagen played host to the Nordic Barista Cup this year – a team event that is as much about coffee education as it is about competitive spirit … The Nordic region encompasses the five main countries: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. (For the nitpickers, let me acknowledge that the Nordic region actually includes an [...]

Toby Smith, founder and director of Toby’s Estate, has spent more than a decade in search of the world’s best coffee and has decided to spill the beans on all of his amazing travels. What started as a lifelong dream to visit Ethiopia, the home of coffee, led Toby Smith and photographer Garrett Robinson to [...]

Chef James Mussak’s third book, Great Chefs of Australia – Cooking with Love and Passion, proudly showcases 150 of Australia’s best chefs and cooks, along with many equally important gastronomic suppliers. The book is a great source of culinary reference material and a guide for those seeking special items to cook their ‘masterpiece’. Available through [...]

Eamon Sullivan’s day job is swimming for Australia – he’s in training for the London Olympics. He has recently opened a café in Perth with good friend Laki Baker called Louis Baxters and published his first cookbook, Eamon’s Kitchen – a collection of 100 recipes that Eamon loves to cook and eat, some old favourites, [...]

The ultimate guide to food in Melbourne and its suburbs. Whether you want to know where to go to sample the most authentic gelati, to source a Middle Eastern ingredient for your dinner party, to stock your freezer for busy weeknights, to take the in-laws for dinner or simply to have a coffee, you’ll find [...]

When three business partners of varying professional hospitality backgrounds get together in the same mind space, the result is Hobba. A great barista, a famous chef and a CEO from a major beverage franchise have created this caffeinated business that ticks all the boxes with atmosphere, great food and coffee backed up by real customer [...]

A husband and wife team have jumped straight into the deep end to create this impressive new eatery. Until October last year, Shane Edmunds had never worked in hospitality, let alone run an entire business combining a café, sandwich shop and bakery. Yet with the establishment of Charlie Lovett Neutral Bay, that is exactly what he [...]

When the name Bondi is mentioned, most will think of sun-soaked beaches, tourist buses, attractive locals, white pointers and a few different clichéd summer anthem songs. A specialty coffee house is not what would come to mind; however, The Favourite Child is bringing a wholly different flavour to what is probably the most famous beach [...]

Bean Drinking is the real definition of a micro roastery. We have come to this conclusion by seeing how they market the ‘third wave’. The ‘third wave’ is about taking coffee to a whole new level of sensory experience, enjoyment and appreciation. ‘Third Wavers’ appreciate each coffee for what it truly is and take whatever [...]

Today’s highly compliant and fast moving business environment has created some major exposures. In the past, risk was measured on the probability of natural disasters or a one-in-five-hundred possibility of a serious accident. The current focus, however, is on fines and penalties against companies breaching the law, theft or fraud by people in positions of [...]

increasing customer satisfaction. Previously we investigated loyalty systems and how a point of sale system can improve the sales process. These two areas focus on increasing revenue in your hospitality business. There will come a time where the revenue or turnover from a business has reached a certain level where you need to turn your attention to [...]

In our ever more complicated and fragmented world, we increasingly use brands as compass points to help guide us through our busy lives. Think about it for a moment: you’ve got a well-deserved Saturday night off and a partner or friend suggests the following options – Hoyts, Hogs Breath, Penfolds Grange or The Wallabies. Now [...]

Promoting and supporting ice cream in your café does not have to mean mainstream branding, it doesn’t have to mean loss of precious floor space to big display freezers, and it doesn’t have to come from soft-serve machines which can take considerable time and money to clean and maintain. On the contrary, ice cream can [...]

Sasha McGinley’s energy and passion for the coffee industry is contagious. Her excitement as she talks at a million miles an hour is a clear indicator that she loves what she does. Add to this an unusual case of a condition termed auto sensory efficiency (basically a condition which gives you heightened senses), and you [...]

The Steeping Room at ONA Coffee is a sensory concept designed to inform and educate their customers on the finer appreciation of specialty coffee. Using equipment that allows the coffee to be brewed in its purest form (meaning no milk, sugar or any other additive), the baristas take customers on a flavour journey around the [...]

Located in the inner-city Shades Arcade in Christchurch, my store, The Caffeine Laboratory, is closed whilst repairs continue on the arcade. Having spent four months dealing with the closure of my café, I decided to rent an 8 ft shipping container from Royal Wolf to continue serving my loyal customers. Our ‘Minicube’ has been operating [...]

I have just arrived home to Melbourne from Ho Chi Minh City, after an exciting week at the 2011 Vietnam National Barista Championships. I was invited up to Vietnam as Head Judge, after visiting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh earlier in the month to calibrate the baristas and judges. The Championships were managed by Singapore Exhibition [...]

A common reaction to the excessive use of disposable coffee cups is: “Why don’t we just recycle them all?” To meet the demands of liquid portability, the simple paper cup is not just made out of paper; the paper is coated with plastic to make it waterproof. Disposable paper cups are made of about 95% [...]

DaVinci Gourmet is renowned for its support of the coffee industry and the talented barista … As part of this support, I have been travelling around doing quite a bit of judging for a variety of different sectors within this same industry. For a number of years now, I have been judging regional, state and [...]

Since January 2010, the Heron Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) detachment have provided support to Australian and International Stabilisation Force troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Recently they suffered significant morale problems, when their automatic coffee machine suffered a catastrophic failure. Flying Officer Brendan Smith decided to investigate the possibilities of acquiring new equipment as quickly as possible [...]

I recently jumped at a generous invitation to visit the top end city of Darwin, to report on its growing café scene. Darwin to me has always been known as a beer town, rather than a coffee destination. A lot has changed in the last few years. Sure, Darwin is still a great place to [...]

Have you considered the merits of producing you own baked goods from scratch, as opposed to outsourcing? The process can have an impact on your customers’ health, perception of you business – and also your bottom line … Ihad to really think about it when considering baking my own instead of outsourcing. Ultimately, I did [...]

It is very rare that you can walk into a cafe, only to be served coffee by an Australian Barista Champion. It is also even rarer to walk up behind the door of a mobile coffee van and be served a brew by a former Australian Barista Champion and 2 x Queensland Barista Champion! Well, [...]

When asking about the espresso coffee scene in Amsterdam, authorities in Australia and the UK led me to believe that there is no good espresso in Amsterdam. Well, I am here to say, this is simply not so. My local research with a hotel receptionist and hairdresser was more positive. (You can always count on [...]

High street café competition in Sydney’s suburb of Surry Hills is arguably the most intense in Australia, with every major coffee brand being represented within a 400 metre radius. To compete in this market takes more than just a unique café offering – finally it comes down to producing a great coffee. Twenty year industry [...]

STORY BY JACK SCHEEREN A few years ago when the Roast and Ground coffee industry told us that coffee should be drunk at 65, not 75 degrees, I don’t think anyone would have ever thought that we would one day be drinking it at 4 degrees. At ONA Coffee we are always looking for something [...]

STORY BY ANDY FREEMAN www.coffeesnobs.com.au In the last couple of years, the buzz words in the pointy-end espresso market have been ‘pressure profiling’, but what is it and how does it make espresso better? Slayer, La Marzocco, Cimbali and others are producing machines heading towards a $30,000 price tag, and all of the companies are [...]

Café Culture lost their graphic designer Louise Turner to the travelling bug earlier this year. We know she misses us and the coffee … so much so, that she has reported in on her super Swedish coffee experience in Stockholm. After travelling for 8 weeks straight around Europe and seeing a touch of London, I [...]

STORY BY INSTAURATOR Managing Director – Coffee Logic International. Around the world, Australia and New Zealand are recognised as world leaders in the espresso realm – quite an achievement for two continents located roughly 12,630 kilometres from coffee’s original birth place in Ethiopia. However, this shouldn’t be all too surprising, as there are two things [...]

Welcome back. In Part I of this series, we discussed some of coffee’s chemical makeup and its role in developing coffee’s flavour. This time, we’ll briefly discuss a few key components and take a brief journey to explore their role in flavour. COFFEE ROASTING AND AROMA DEVELOPMENT. Although roasted coffee contains over 1,000 compounds, the [...]

STORY BY SIMON DIMATTINA I was lucky enough to be born into a coffee family. My dad was one of the early coffee pioneers in Australia. He purchased Mocopan in the 1950s. At that stage, coffee was not a big focus, but as he ran the company for close to 40 years, he developed its progression [...]

STORY BY ANDRES LATORRE CANON Managing Director – Latorre & Dutch Coffee Traders. Brightness from the wet process, sweetness from the dry or natural process, or fruit flavours from the pulped natural process … what do you prefer? These are all traits that stand out on each of the different coffee processing methods. The processing [...]

STORY BY MARK BEATTIE COFFEE ROASTERS AUSTRALIA One of the biggest frustrations I hear from roasters, distributors, retailers and end consumers is: “Why does my coffee taste different? I’ve roasted the same beans with the same profile, or I’ve ordered the same blend, yet it tastes different”. I am sure everyone reading this will empathise [...]

After ten years of involvement in the media business, running an industry trade magazine, a café and coffee trade events, it has been very exciting to see the industry and its players grow around us. As the industry grows and new competition enters the arena, we continue to evaluate our business philosophy and market position, [...]

Italy! Its very name conjures endless images, many of which reflect a culture obsessed with cuisine and coffee.  So when a close friend announced she was getting married by Northern Italy’s Lake Como, we just knew we had to do everything in our power to get there. Fast forward to September 5th and less than 5 hours [...]

Will Priestley is no newcomer to the coffee scene and the art of the barista. At 26 years of age, Will is widely known and respected throughout the industry. He has competed in just about every barista and latte art competition throughout Australia, becoming the Australian Latte Art Champion in 2010 and placing second in [...]

Fifteen loyalty cards in my wallet and loyal to none.  Loyalty, like celebrity and organic, is a term that has lost a large part of its ammunition through overuse. These days it is not uncommon to find most people carrying around between 5 – 10 loyalty cards. When a lot of those cards are for [...]

Hudsons Coffee has named its best barista and bean team! Yijun Yuan, from the Melbourne Central store, is the National Champion of the 2011 Hudsons Coffee Barista Competition; and husband and wife team, Adam and Allison DeVries, are the Bean Team winners. After months of gruelling heats, the top three competitors from across the country [...]

Australia’s favourite top-health yoghurt brand, Vaalia, has won the prestigious ‘Best new functional dairy product’ award for its probiotic drink Vaalia Innergy at the International Dairy Federation Dairy Innovation Awards. The 2011 awards, held at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Parma, Italy, drew more than 100 entries from 25 countries. Winners were selected by [...]

Now in its second year, the Rosé Revolution is all about driving awareness of the dry, purpose-made, delicious Rosé style to consumers. The 2010 Rosé Revolution was one of the largest social media initiatives undertaken by a collaborative group of winemakers. The hashtag #RoseRev trended as the top Twitter hashtag in Australia on Nov 30, [...]

Gloria Jean’s Coffees has taken delivery of the award winning Lot # 5 Norival Favaro – Sao Marcos bean and is giving its customers the opportunity to sample and buy the bean – which is one of the world’s most sought after coffees. Only 2,756 kilograms, or 46 sacks, of the bean was produced, making [...]

Neal Robinson, aged 62, passed away recently following a courageous fight against cancer. Neal worked for over 25 years at Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, beginning in 1986 as a District Sales Manager for the Southeastern United States. He was promoted to Regional Sales Manager, then Regional Vice President for the Southeastern United States. In 1993 he served [...]

Matt Wilkinson, co-owner of Pope Joan in Melbourne, is the undisputed winner of the title of world’s best sandwich maker at the World Sandwichship, which was held at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival 2011. The World Sandwichship Competition consisted of a one hour round, where the participants [...]

After 20 years of providing free of cost* espresso equipment, AMANTI is now offering their revolutionary AMANTI Espresso Bar (eBar) free of cost. The eBar is a state of the art modular café designed to recreate the authentic Italian espresso experience. Beautifully crafted, the eBar is a fully functional modular café and a true masterpiece [...]

What better way to top off a successful, stressful and busy 12 months for Disavè Espresso Equipment Suppliers than moving locations! After many weeks working 16+ hour days, Dean, Paul and the team at Disavè have finally moved into their spacious new factory and showroom, conveniently located in Dandenong South. “We are very excited to [...]

How’s this for a very cool idea for summer! The guys at Bean Drinking are bottling their own brew, calling it a rich and decadent concoction of their finest specialty coffee – expertly blended by their own baristas. Each batch of iced coffee is pulled, blended and bottled by each barista for individuality. The origin [...]

It’s been a busy year for the 5 times world record breaking Olympian. In 2011, Cleo magazine announced Eamon as their Bachelor of the Year, he took out first place in Celebrity MasterChef, opened a café in Perth and released his own cookbook. In amongst this, he has been in the pool a bit too. [...]

There are many benefits of implementing digital menus boards; the main one is the ability to influence customers at point of sale. Typical hard benefits are print cost savings and new revenues from combos or timed promotions. Soft benefits, like fewer walkways and longer dwell times can also be crucial to the health of the bottom line. [...]

Introducing a new and refreshing hand-crafted café table top made from sustainable plantation solid timber with a rich, earthy finish. Ideal for the business operator seeking a warm, natural ambience for their customers. Currently available in two sizes: 70 cm x 70 cm and 110 cm x 70 cm. Available in two colours: chocolate (dark) [...]