BeanScene Feb/Mar 2016

Grinders Coffee 204 Norton St, Leichhardt NSW 2040 grinderscoffee.com.au A new year has begun and already there are many exciting things to look forward to on the coffee calendar. Two of the top attractions will be the Australian Coffee Championships, taking place throughout March, in addition to the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (see page 64). “In 2015 there was great excitement around the competition scene with two talented Aussies excelling on the world stage in the World Barista and Latte Art Championship. The hype around these competitions continues, but for the February cover of BeanScene we wanted to highlight the creativity that can be expected from the Australian Coffee in Good Spirit Championship, taking place on 10 March,” says BeanScene Editor Sarah Baker. To help honour this competition category BeanScene…

Salvatore Malatesta graduated from Melbourne University with an Arts/Law degree and honours in 1999. He worked at Gadens law firm for two years before stretching his business talents to a variety of industries including fashion label Rubric and Rhodes Corporate Travel. Salvatore is also a retail and strategy consultant. He has been involved in the coffee industry since 1993, and has helped develop 88 food and beverage outlets including St Ali, which started in 2007. Salvatore is a proud father of three children, a hip-hop enthusiast and an aspirational philosopher. Aymon McQuade is Executive Director of the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association. In recent years Aymon has been heavily involved with many coffee competitions, including the AeroPress New Zealand Brewers Cup and Huhtamaki New Zealand Barista Championship as both judge…

At the beginning of each year gossip magazines and newspapers make their yearly predictions: a celebrity couple most likely to marry, how the economy will fluctuate, and which sporting figures will win gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics. When it comes to predictions in the coffee industry, however, it’s difficult to foresee who will win the next World Barista Championship, or develop the most talked about gadget of the year. But according to former International Coffee Organization (ICO) Head of Operations Mauricio Galindo, one thing is certain: the world of coffee is changing faster than anyone could have predicted (see page 18). Consumption patterns are shifting among producing countries, export demands are growing at a rapid rate, and the impact of climate change is taking its toll on some of…

I began my coffee career in 1993 while studying Arts/ Law at The University of Melbourne. My first venue was aptly named Caffeine. My own self-actualisation in coffee resulted in a deep entrenchment in the third wave coffee movement. When I first entered the roasting business in 2005 I could count the number of specialty roasters on one hand, many of whom are still around and have become great friends. It was very much a grass roots movement, with the traditional coffee power structures questioned, and decisions being made bottom-up rather than top-down. A select group of emerging roasters rejected the idea that coffee was a commodity, that dark roast was the only way, and that blends were inevitable. I did (and still do) celebrate the subtle characteristics of single…

The Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE) has raised the minimum score for the Cup of Excellence (COE) champion coffees from 85 to 87. ACE Chairperson Geoff Watts says the decision to increase the score threshold was made in order to challenge coffee professionals to continue developing their craft. “It was time to raise the bar. Baristas and roasters have elevated their game, and are operating with unprecedented precision, and a new level of appreciation for intrinsic quality in coffee,” Geoff told BeanScene. “The global appetite for coffees of excellent quality has grown and coffee farmers have responded. The producing world is making great progress towards unlocking coffee’s latent potential.” ACE Board Member and Campos Coffee President Will Young says that over the past few years, and likely due to the…

This March will showcase Australia’s best barista talent when the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) hosts five national coffee competitions. Over three weekends, the winners of the regional competitions will compete in the Australian Brewer’s Cup, Huhtamaki Cup Tasters, Pura Latte Art, Barista, and Coffee in Good Spirits Championships. To kick things off, the Australian Pura Latte Art Championship will take place in conjunction with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, from 4 – 5 March. Latte artists will be invited down to Southbank’s iconic red steps alongside Melbourne’s Yarra River to showcase their skills in this open-air event. On 10 March, ASCA will present the Australian Coffee in Good Spirits Championship in a coffee-cocktail spectacular at a venue to be confirmed. The following day, on 11 March, Veneziano Coffee…