World Coffee Events Announces 2013 World Barista and Brewers Cup Champions Sunday May 26th, World Coffee Events (WCE) announced the 2013 World Barista Champion and 2013 World Brewers Cup Champion at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) in Melbourne, Australia. The 2013 World Barista Champion is Pete Licata from the USA and the 2013 World [...]

“Mr Hunt, here is your mission … Should you decide to accept it. A great little not-for-profit called STREAT needs some help. They have no money (as usual) and they want to print and sell 3,000 copies of a cookbook. OK, it is going to be a fabulous cookbook – but they don’t actually have a [...]

Teaching anyone how to be a trainer in two hours was clearly a daunting task – with no time for an explanation of WHY training is important. Recently, I was asked to do a presentation on Training Strategies to a group of certified barista trainers at a Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) meeting in [...]

So what is the cloud? Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). End users access cloud-based applications through a web browser on a desktop, tablet or mobile phone. What are the benefits? Cloud based software provides business with a totally new experience of integration. It [...]

I was once a coffee geek. Unashamedly, my name was Mr Nang, and I was a frequent to the coffee forums. Yes, It’s true. I met at coffee geek meets, worked in some of Melbourne’s leading cafés, travelled to coffee plantations and competed in barista and latte art competitions. I even judged and organised some [...]

So what’s this Q Grader thing all about anyway?   There was no more popular question posed to me when I had the privilege of hosting a Q Grader preparation workshop at the Golden Bean Coffee Roaster Competition and Conference on the Sunshine Coast last October. Once and for all, let’s answer some important questions [...]

Until now, coffee products in cans and bottles have been made without taking into consideration the evolving sophistication of consumers’ palates. Having realised this, we set out to develop a coffee in a can product using real coffee, and so Espresso Kick+ was born. One of the key things I noticed was that a majority [...]

I often get asked about what a specialty beverage actually is? Well, specialty beverages are drinks that offer the consumer new taste sensations through creative combinations of flavours and textures. With the consumer of today being significantly more sophisticated and aware due to social media, access to travel and the inspirations of shows like MasterChef and [...]

Anyone travelling to Indonesia, Jakarta, should be sure to travel to the quaint city of Bandung, which is only 2 hours’ drive from Jakarta. It’s a city that offers a respite from the hustle and bustle and heavy pollution of the capital. Situated at 800 m above sea level, the climate is pleasantly warm, but [...]

Sustainability is a hot topic at the moment and business owners and consumers are all trying to do their part. Environmental Impact of Greenwashing  There has been significant growth in the number of products and services that claim to be sustainable, but it’s not easy being green. So instead of reducing the environmental impact of their [...]

It was two and a half years ago on a sunny April day that I flew into Australia not knowing anyone or what to expect, as I’d never been here before. But I had a plan to change the way Australians treated coffee. At that time, BRITA Professional Water Filtration was not a known brand [...]

True stories are often the hardest to swallow. Before we talk about the great coffee and food at STREAT, let me tell you the story of young “Jimmy” – a graduate of STREAT’s hospitality training and life-skills program. Jimmy still feels overwhelmingly sad about the way his mother, father and step-father treated him from early childhood. [...]

There are several strong trends running through specialty coffee in 2012. First and foremost is the continual upgrade by café owners in terms of coffee quality, choice of equipment and acknowledgement of the importance of employing skilled baristas. The specialty coffee café is often characterised by the Melbourne design aesthetic (a mix of industrial, retro [...]

I remember being confused about the coffee that was put in front of me on the cupping table: sweet but with almost a bittersweet salt caramel taste, some woodiness, a huge rich body and a delicate lemony acidity, the combination and intensities of which were unlike anything I had tried before.  What was this stuff? [...]

I recently had the good fortune of attending the adventure that was the Gloria Jean’s Abundance Global Convention 2012. The convention took place in India, and I was invited as a judge for their Global Barista Championships. Held from the 12th to the 18th of October, it was a week of my life that I [...]

Competition in the Australian coffee market has evolved at an unprecedented rate and on the surface, it appears that café owners are the ultimate benefactors, with coffee companies offering an array of discounts and promotions to secure their share of the marketplace. However, upon scratching the surface, the question arises, “Are cafés really getting such [...]

By Anne Cooper The annual Roasters Guild Retreat was held this year at the lovely Skamania Lodge at Stevenson just outside Portland. Each year it seems to be getting bigger and bigger with more and more attendees coming from far and wide, including Aussies like myself; Ed Strachan and Yu Yama from Single Origin Roasters [...]

In continuing support and in line with their commitment to sustainable coffee and social conscience ‘dc’ in conjunction with Cofi Com and Rainforest Alliance will host an industry event at the ‘dc’ Laundry aimed at creating awareness and promoting the great work of Rainforest Alliance and it’s ‘Follow the Frog Week’ initiative. ‘dc’ are great supporters [...]

Café Culture covered the Stevia story a couple of years ago when the product was first hitting the café market as a serious sweetener, pushing for space with the sugar on the coffee shop table. Although Stevia has been around for many years, our research is now showing that the product has become more widely [...]

From the moment he knew that he’d be representing Australia in the World Barista Championship of 2012, Craig Simon literally did not rest – going into non-stop preparation mode for the huge task ahead. Having just over a month to prepare left little time for anything else. Let’s have a look at the chain of [...]

The underrated and underutilised beef Masterpieces are set to wonder Australian chefs once more.  If you could add a new and exciting red meat dish to your menu, would you be interested?  How about a new steak and chips dish or a mouth-watering sandwich with a bold global flavour – do you want to know [...]

What are you serving/being served in your café today? Since I first arrived in Australia a couple of years ago, I was overwhelmed at what a bunch of fitness freaks I found – that’s a good thing, by the way. I had just moved here from the USA and believe me, the difference in attitudes [...]

One doesn’t have to look far within the Australian coffee scene to see coffee shop roasting in house. It certainly is a growing trend, as coffee shops look for ways to remain competitive in a market that is attracting a lot of new entrants. Like most things in business, the pros and cons of such [...]

Bite Size Coffee Treats has a vision of changing the café scene in Australia. Their weapons of change are a range of bite size biscuits, small in size but huge in flavour, to be served by business owners complimentary, on the side of their coffees; the perfect coffee accompaniment, if you will. The concept is [...]

Yes, what is the issue with this stuff called Permeate in my milk? Does this additive taste bad, or is it going to give me long-term health issues? The truth is Permeate has been used in milk production for over 20 years in Australia and has been added to milk to ensure sugar and protein [...]

Dean and Paul Slade of Disavè Espresso Equipment Suppliers are excited to announce their recent acquisition of 9Bar Espresso Services! As of August 2012, we welcomed Craig, Jim and the team from 9Bar Espresso Services to our growing company. “Our vision, when we launched Disavè Espresso Equipment Suppliers in 2010, was to create a company that [...]

With the growth in specialty coffee and interest in origins, there have been an increasing number of roasters trading directly with growers. This approach to sourcing coffee is welcomed by Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand, as direct trade is a founding principle of Fairtrade. Fairtrade is underpinned by the promotion of long-term trading relationships and [...]

In tough economic times, it is even harder. Consumers are budget conscious and watching where they’re spending, making businesses work for their money. According to Dun and Bradstreet, the number of small businesses going bankrupt jumped by 48% over the last 12 months, while small business start-ups fell by 95% over the same period. Reasons [...]

A true testament to hard work!  After ten years with an unclouded vision and a loyal team of supporters, Café Biz celebrated its tenth year with great success. We all walked away proud and enlightened, with 100% commitment to continuing this great café industry show. C afé Biz has seen the largest ever roll up, with [...]

News and industry updates from the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association. With the Australian Barista Championships now completed for 2012, it is a great time to reflect on the Australian specialty coffee industry and its growth in the last few years.This year, Australia elected to bid for the right to host the World Coffee Championships in [...]

With the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association national competition just completed, we took a look behind the scenes to see just how these competitions are adjudicated. Craig Dickson of Veneziano Coffee Roasters, one of the most experienced and knowledgeable coffee judges in the country, speaks judging in the international specialty coffee arena. Already this year, alongside [...]

The latest hand held and tablet technology can increase sales and profit. Handheld technology for wait staff has been around since the 1990s, with a number of companies in New Zealand leading the industry with these products. New Zealand has always been a technology leader and in the 1990s, these were received with interest and trepidation. [...]

While coffee roasters and café owners alike probably wish their coffee was appreciated by customers without sugar, the reality is that the majority of consumers add sweeteners to their coffee. However, few coffee roasters and baristas have tested the effect that sugar has on their coffee blend. Most who have are quite startled to find [...]

Portland, Oregon was this year’s host of the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual exposition and the USA Barista Championship. The Scale of the expo is huge; 10,000 people visited the convention centre. That week from all over the world, including dozens from the Australian Coffee industry. It seemed that you couldn’t go anywhere in Portland [...]

Foodco Group Pty Ltd, based in Sydney and founded in 1989, has become one of Australasia’s leading food and coffee franchise business retailers. Concentrating on providing mall and high street locations, the Foodco Group comprises over 350 franchise business retail outlets trading through the Muffin Break bakery café franchise, Jamaica Blue café franchise and Dreamy [...]

A sustainable business model The hybrid café – like the hybrid car – operates on two levels to seamlessly achieve one objective. The hybrid car uses both internal power combustion and electric to get from A to B. One source of power takes over when the other is lacking, but importantly, they back each other [...]

So many times in Australia over the last two decades we have seen our manufacturing businesses move offshore or get swallowed up by multinationals. Upon a recent invitation to visit Roband Australia, we discovered this family owned Australian company still made catering and hospitality equipment for the world market here in the northern beaches of [...]

Held over 4 days, FHA is one of the biggest shows in South East Asia Food Hotel Asia (FHA) has drawn to a close for 2012, with their next event scheduled for April 2014.  Singapore, in typical fashion, had high occupancy rates both at the show and in the hotel industry, and this year saw [...]

The New Fair Trade – building relationships and generating a trust between the parties is the new Fair Trade; we call this “Relationship Coffees”. Fair Trade became a viable solution when coffee prices were in a low. Now that this is not the case, Fair Trade has become the norm when trading with high-end specialty coffee; [...]

Win a trip to India Thanks to Equal Are you Australia’s favourite barista? Sign up at www.mycoffeemybarista.com.ay One of the great things about our business is that we occasionally get the opportunity to visit a coffee growing region in some exotic location in the world. A big thank you to the Rubiaceae family for making [...]

Toby Smith opened his first coffee shop in Sydney 15 years ago. 15 years later, and it’s not just another coffee shop in Sydney – or even Australia for that matter. No, sights set high, Toby has gone to the USA and into a suburb of New York called Williamsburg. If you’ve never been to New [...]

The ACT has put themselves on the coffee map after the Ona Coffee sponsored ACT team shook up the Da Vinci State of Origin, beating all states in last year’s heats and coming a nail-biting second to Victoria in the grand final. The coffee industry commonly speaks of the way coffee appreciation has hit in [...]

Yes, my passport is running out of pages … with a few new countries being stamped in my little blue book. I recently had the pleasure of visiting Café Show in Seoul, Korea, in November, as a guest speaker of Coffee Magazine Korea and Proaster Coffee Roasters. I found the Korean café industry has amazing service [...]

A year or two ago, it may have been easy to dismiss social media as a mere fad, but when over 10 million Australians now use Facebook each month*, social media can no longer be ignored. It’s an important tool in your communications mix and an effective way to connect and gain feedback from your [...]

As David Attenborough might say, animals feel most comfortable in their natural habitats. People are the same, and that’s why interior design is vital to the success of cafés. A successful design can mean very different things for a café owner and a café user. For the café owner, the number one aim is to maximise [...]

Is it more environmentally friendly to drink from a disposable paper cup, or to drink from a mug and then use a dishwasher to clean it? At first glance, the answer seems obvious. In a world of 7 billion people and growing, surely a reusable cup is the only viable option. However, once you begin [...]

I work for BRITA Professional, a division of BRITA GmbH. So why am I a guy you should be listening to with regards to water or coffee? It is many years ago now that I left school to train as a chef, after which I moved into hotel and wine management. After a few years, [...]

The Golden Bean is being recognised more and more as an excellent opportunity for roasters across Australia to meet, share ideas and learn from each other. An obvious trend at the 2011 event was apparent, with many of the medal winning roasters using coffee beans sourced through direct trade with coffee farmers around the world. [...]

It was a trip into the unknown for me. I was personally feeling a little nervous about the project I’d been asked to perform by my good friends from Taehwan Automation, who build the popular Proaster coffee roasters. Nevertheless, I was on my way to Korea to speak about emerging trends in the café marketplace [...]

In 2003, Barista Techniques began its life as a set of training notes, which in 2005 evolved into the first edition of the book, Barista Techniques. As a result of its popularity and the demand for a comprehensive barista training resource, it was reprinted five times between 2005 and 2010. At the reprint stages, the [...]