That’s according to one of Australia’s finest coffee gurus, Tim Adams, who is buzzing at the recent rapid change in his home state.
“It used to be a real struggle to get a café’ owner to really invest, to buy into my spirit of excitement,” the owner of the Sunshine Coast’s Tim Adams Specialty Coffee says. “But now all the café owners get it because their customers get it, and that’s led to some really incredible places opening up.”
The ‘it’ that he refers to is perfection.
“The focus up here is all about perfecting coffee. We’re now seeing a lot more venues in an espresso bar style as people keep making the push toward high-end specialty coffee and away from the mainstream.”
The greater respect for specialty coffee comes from customers knowing more about what goes in their mouths. “I’d say about 90% of my customers have a really in depth knowledge of everything from the bean to the equipment being used, and they want quality every time,” Adams says.
The changes have happened because of Brisbane’s specific traits.
“We’ve had to bend the rules,” Adams says, “because what works in Melbourne and Sydney doesn’t necessarily work here, so we are constantly shifting all the time to suit the market and to suit what people want here. We have to look at every part of the coffee experience, not just good latte art for example.”
Not that he’s taking anything away from the current generation of latte artists.
“The level that Queensland’s latte artists are operating at is extraordinary: there are things they’re doing that blow me away,” the 2009 Australian Barista Champion says, before explaining why Brisbane will be bursting with plenty for both the new and the experienced at this year’s Café Biz Roadshow.
“The focus here is on everything café with absolutely everything of the highest quality and presented to impress, otherwise there’s no point.”

Tim Adams: Café owner, coffee roaster, coffee consultant and barista champion.