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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

With building economic pressures, these days people are much more discerning about where they spend their money. Great news for bank balances … bad news for retailers.  With a lot of people scaling back their lifestyles and spending less on dining out, we need to start thinking: when a customer does walk into your café, [...]

Winning the gold medal in the Single Origin category at the 2010/11 CSR Sugar Golden Bean Coffee Roaster Competition has shone a spotlight on the Ducale Coffee brand. This is exactly what General Manager Henri Kalisse was planning as part of the Ducale transformation from its traditional Italian coffee roots to a driving force in [...]

Many children as young as ten were selling wares like postcards and chewing gum to support their large family units. Many of these children he talked to had come from poor rural areas by themselves to seek work in the busy city of Hanoi. Jimmy straight away had a vision of how he could turn [...]

I recently spoke at a conference for banana growers. Youíre thinking, What does Phillip Di Bella know about growing bananas?î Nothing! So why did they ask me to speak? What could I share that would inspire farmers? The answer is PASSION! The importance of passion in work, my own passion for my work, and my [...]

For many, good coffee is a luxury we like to treat ourselves to on a daily basis. Founder and owner of Numero Uno Coffee Roasters, Gina Di Brita is a proud and passionate female figurehead. Numero Uno has a strong vision. Since 2003, Gina has been ticking all the right boxes when it comes to [...]

Travelling back to Australia from San Diego, we had planned four days in Hawaii. Our goal? Coffee and volcanoes, staying at Keauhou in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island in the heart of the Kona coffee growing region. At first glance you might think that coffee and volcanoes have little to do with each other, but [...]

“Is this Plaza San Miguel?” “sí señora.” “Oh my god, Mark … are you sure this is it? There’s nothing here … get out and ask someone.” Mark and I had bartered our way from the main square in Guatemala Antigua, to this quaint little town at 5,600 feet above sea level. There were no [...]

Craig Dickson, CEO at Veneziano Coffee, has always had a passionate desire to learn about coffee, and he also encourages employees to educate themselves as much and as often as possible. His philosophy has led to Veneziano Coffee providing competition training and support to many of Australia’s best known and awarded baristas. As a specialty [...]

Off to Asia for a quick week of checking out the café scene in Singapore and Vietnam. I have been travelling up to South East Asia now for the last ten years, and it’s great to see some of my predictions come to fruition in the café market. I have been keeping a keen eye [...]