top baristas

System

Wondering if I can tap into the great coffee network. I'm trying to expand our list of contenders for Barista of the Year, an award we give in the annual Age Cheap Eats guide. If you know someone who works the machine at a Melbourne cafe and can consistently pull a great coffee, please name names. Because it's for Cheap Eats, obviously it would need to be someone at one of the more budget-minded cafes, rather than a high-end restaurant. Cheers, Roslyn

over_extracted

How are you going to decide who the winner is???Good luck on your search,i hear Melbourne has many good barista.

admin

Hi guys - would appreciate it if you could give Roslyn a bit of help with this Melbourne barista thing - can you speak to friends/colleagues and see if we can get her a shortlist... Tx -A

[deleted]

I live in Richmond, so my usual hang out is Cafe Veloce, where I always get a great coffee from Pete Van Haandel. It is also always well worth the journey across town to enjoy a terrific coffee (or two) at Wall Two 80 in Balaclava, courtesy of Trent Nash or Chris (not sure of surname) behind the machine.

[deleted]

Don't you think it is unfair to limit it to budget or cheap meals. You should be able to include all baristas unless you state in the award that it is omly for cheap cafes so the public know.

john_2

Brian I think you have a good point. A Barista comp is a Barista comp and should be open to all and sundry. "The Barista of the year", what is the criteria for the judging. And as per what OE said who is going to decide the winner. Sorry ADMIN, I am not sure if I agree with you about passing on names etc. Is that not doing Roslyn's job for her. John

admin

Roslyn's original request was because they were looking at the Age's 'Cheap Eats', however in terms of timing that's now past. In general, there is no restriction in terms of where baristas are employed in my eyes - any nominees who are great at their job are fine. John - Roslyn asked permission to tap into our network because given our collective experience, she thought we may be able to give her some leads. Unfortunately we didn't manage to come up with any names, which is somewhat disappointing. What's more concerning to me is that one of Melbourne's top baristas that I rang on Roslyn's behalf declined to give any names in case he was helping 'the competition'. I found this very small-minded, given that he had once been featured in Cheap Eats, and had also been given significant exposure in Crema. Admin.

lars

Hey Admin - sorry this took a while, but i decided to do some research on who are considered top baristas in Australia. Unfortunately I found it very hard to get any information on Melbourne baristas, but here is the list I came up with (most of them are from Sydney)... It looks like a lot of them go on to work for a coffee company after a while, but some keep working on the shop floor -ie still working as baristas; I have compiled a list of both types: working in cafes: Will Young (Campos Coffee - Sydney) Gus Gallardo (ex-2 Park in Sydney - now working in his own cafe called Russo in the City). Sonny ??- used to work for Campos - not sure where he works now, but he was really good. Jai Gabbard - used to work in a cafe in Manly and apparently has gone out on his own.. corporate ones: Maico La Penna - permanent barista for Piazza d'Oro - has just won the Australian barista competition. Ryan Spinoglio - barista for Andronicus coffee in Sydney. Corrine Tweedale - classy female barista - has just been taken on as full-time trainer for Gloria Jeans Coffee. Paul Bassett - last year's World Barista Champion, based in Sydney - the face of Sunbeam in Australia, and rumour has it, is about to launch his own Signature Blend of Coffee. There's also a guy called George Sabados, who was apparently involved with AASCA, but who is now looking after Michel's Patisserie?? This is the result of some quite a lot of research but there are probably plenty of others (especially in Melbourne?)!! Lars

[deleted]

Geroge Sabados is the father of modern australian espresso, please learn your facts. Will Young is inconsistent sometimes his coffee is over extracted which has a far worse flavour than under extracted. Don't forget Alex Kum and Domenic that performed extremely well in the recent australian championships.

Jerry

Russ, just curious, have you ever seen George Sabados pull a shot?

lars

That's funny Russ - my research showed that most people would consider the 'fathers of espresso' in Australia to be the early Italians in Sydney & Melbourne followed by Ian Bersten on the roasting side, and a guy called Terry Seremetis, on the coffee-making side. -L

FreshCoffee2

Lars and Jerry, I think "Russ" is pulling your collective legs...perhaps he IS George Sabados with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek!!! FC.

[deleted]

where can I get my hands on your "research" lars? It is quite ill informed, have you read coffee floats tea sinks?

john_2

;D This topic appears to have gone from 'doing someones job' for them to trying to 'give some of these ones a job'. I move that we bury this topic, 8) before it gets a little toooo personal and the claws start coming out. PS I could have recited all the above names except for Sonny's. :o JD

lars

I think "Russ" is pulling your collective legs...perhaps he IS George Sabados! FC.

Actually F.C I think you're right. From what i hear, only G.S. would claim that 'George Sabados is the father of modern Australian espresso' -L :o

Jerry

Please check out ... http://203.15.102.143:8080/ramgen/media/9362FoodArt_CoffeeArt5.rm

FreshCoffee2

Would like to see where you are leading us but...cant open the link. Are you sure it's correct? FC

Jerry

It is a link to a media file. You will need real media player to view it, however mine opens automatically. The link definately works, just tried it again now to be sure.

ristretto

Reading this thread only serves to remind how prickly coffee can be. What started as a reasonable request for information quickly degraded into a slinging match of personalities. Perhaps this is the reason there is so much animosity between coffee companies, roatsters, baristas and cafe owners. The only people that really count are customers who, in the main, still don't know a good coffee from a bad one. So with all the hot air being blown around about who is Mr This or Father That why is there still so much swill being served in cafe's if there is so much expertise. I will get off my soap box now. Ristretto 8)

admin

Actually to industry most analagous is probably the wine industry, which has the egos, but seems to get by without the nastiness and vitriol associated with the coffee industry. Any theories as to why the difference? -A