Matthew Michaelis
Skilled coffee roasters and coffee growers work tirelessly to maintain the high standards we enjoy in Australia. In the northern rivers we have many of them right under our noses. Here are some of those champions of coffee…
Sticky Buns and great coffee
Mr and Mrs Bun the coffee makers, or David and Jenny Kennedy (as they’d probably prefer to be called), are the owners of Bun Coffee. In November 2004 David shipped a small roaster from Turkey to the port of Brisbane and then on to Byron Bay.
Less than a year later he relocated his young family from Sydney and Bun Coffee was born (the name came from his nickname during his days in a French patisserie – Mr Sticky Bun). He now spends his days sourcing and roasting premium single-origin coffee beans from around the world.
Back in the early 1990s, David’s commitment to his then Sydney cafe led him to spend a number of years learning the art of roasting. His training, along with what seems almost a ‘calling’ to create award-winning coffee blends, has paid off and since 2005, Bun Coffee has won multiple awards.
The roastery itself is an Australian Certified Organic (ACO) processor that is Fair Trade certified, Rainforest Alliance certified, HACCP certified and an accredited Swiss Water Process roaster.
If you want to sample a Bun Coffee try it from the roastery itself, it’s an experience. Byron Bay Arts & Industy Estate, weekdays 8am–4pm.
Bun Coffee – Unit 15-17, 1A Banksia Drive Byron Bay.
Phone 02 6680 9798.
www.buncoffee.com.au
Botero: Young, up and coming
If you meet Danny Young you’ll soon realise he’s in this coffee thing boots and all.
Behind every bloke there’s a gal and Jill Young, his wife, when asked, ‘Why coffee?’, replied, ‘I wanted something more tangible in my life, something that had appeal, offered variety, was satisfying, had meaning on a daily basis, was without limitations and was globally desired… more than an ordinary life’.
That’s all fine but I did explain to Jill that I was already married… No, seriously though, eight years later, over numerous cuppings and an expanding Botero team, Jill and Danny Young have grown a brand widely appreciated.
They’ve surrounded themselves with all things coffee. Botero has a state-of-the-art facility in Maclean, northern NSW, roasting weekly to order.
‘We’ve built Botero on service and quality while maintaining the highest level of consistency’, Danny told me. ‘This level of professionalism means we’re supplying an increasing number of cafes and establishments throughout the region and interstate’.
Botero seems to be getting a name as an event coffee too, with 120kg of the stuff sold in their pop-up at Splendour this year.
When it comes to the Youngs, there seems little time for marital issues, and anyway, they can always talk about it over coffee.
Botero – 275 River St, Maclean. Phone 02 6645 5541.
www.espressobotero.com.au
Moonshine in them thar hills
If you looked to find the Moonshine folks you’d find them hidden amongst the coffee trees in the hinterland of Federal. Moonshine is a boutique, small-batch roaster.
This little company doesn’t provide branded umbrellas or colourful windbreaks (yet). Instead they’re producing some lovely blended roasts.
Try to get a table in the Footbridge Cafe in Brunswick Heads and you’ll soon realise it’s not an easy affair. The crowded little place is turning the people and the Moonshine on, and the quality of my latte attests to this fact.
Specialising in Australian-grown coffee and using local beans as a part of their blends, each batch of coffee is micro-roasted by hand, and the hand belongs to Richard Kelly.
He, along with his wife and two children, the latest Luna, born only a few weeks ago, live on the farm where Dad works the roaster and blends the beans. Everything here is done by hand and is evaluated using old-fashioned means (all five senses) with ‘a little bit of science’.
All in all the quality and consistency of this coffee is working to their advantage in a fiercely competitive market.
If you wanted to drink a cup then the Doma in Federal serves a good cup, as do Punch & Daisy in Mullumbimby and Luscious in the Byron Arts & Industry Estate.
Moonshine Coffee Roasters
Federal Road, Federal.
Phone 02 6688 4469.
www.moonshinecoffee.com.au
Zent’ and the art of coffee roasting
The coffee purist and the coffee grower are sometimes melded like a zen farmer with a caffeine habit and there appears to be no-one who embodies the passion of coffee more than Rebecca and John Zentveld of Zentveld’s Coffee.
Rebecca is a fierce friend of locally grown coffee, as you’d expect with 50,000 of the bushes in their backyard. Zentveld’s also has a constant need for more local green beans.
Keeping high demand for their brand satisfied means that Zentveld’s heavily supports other local micro-growers, buying-in their green beans.
If you’ve ever been concerned about origins, then think about this company.
When you choose to buy their Australian product, it’s from around here, it’s ‘almost organic’ (not certified but nothing nasty used I’m assured) and it’s filled with the energy and personal touch that good owner-operators instil. If you prefer the flavours from overseas, to stay competitive Zentfeld’s has its own global blends too.
Whatever you do, don’t get Rebecca started about her favourite topic – local beans – unless you’ve got a few hours to kill (it’s the caffeine I think).
One good reason to visit their coffee plantation is the fantastic views; a second is a bag of fresh-roasted beans direct from the roaster. This week there’s even a classical ‘Coffee Concert’; a live classical concert with the Southern Cross Soloists. This event is being held on Friday August 15 from 11am. Arrive early for coffee and cake on the verandah. Tickets are $55 through Southern Cross Soloists (www.southernxsoloists.com) or at the Bangalow Art Space.
Zentveld’s Coffee
193 Broken Head Road, Newrybar.
Phone 02 6687 2045.
www.zentvelds.com.au
Ewingsdale a growing ambition
John Frater is the owner of this very local brand. With 5,000 well-established coffee plants and another 1,000 to be planted in spring this year, he’s not shying away from the task of moving his coffee upward.
Using organic principles and a ‘spray-free’ environment for his plantation, his blends are as close to clean green as you can get (without certification of course).
A no-nonsense, hands-on sort of guy, you’ll find John talking-up all things coffee at his stall in Bangalow Markets.
He sells his small coffee plantation with all the gusto of his larger competitors and he doesn’t appear too concerned about their market share. ‘I don’t care about my market share, there’s plenty of demand and I’m doing all I can to fill my own’, he told me.
Ewingsdale Coffee grows the beans and supports other smaller micro-farmers by buying as much as he can to supplement his own supply of beans. They don’t roast though, that’s taken care of by the Bun Coffee roasters down the road.
It’s a lovely thing when people can work together in harmony and still be in competition. The way Australians drink coffee, they all need to be producing as much as possible. Try this brew at either Mullum Mac, Station St in Mullumbimby, or the Soul Bowl, 2/14 Bay St (opposite the Surf Club) Byron Bay.
Ewingsdale Coffee
163 Quarry Ln, Ewingsdale.
Phone 0418 477 665.
www.ewingsdalecoffee.com.au
Barefoot on the beans
Don’t you just love the back-lane hole-in-the-wall? Barefoot Brew Room is as rustic as you get. This is the front counter (almost literally) of a tiny but thriving cafe. It smells like team spirit and freshly ground and roasted coffee. A team yes, and not quite in their teens are Rodney Contojohn and his girlfriend Dawn Beaumont.
Within minutes of my enquiring about the goings-on of this caffeine burrow, Dawn was spouting information on their enterprise like a well-seasoned public relations pro.
Rodney is the roaster behind these blends and he hand picks, blends, then personally cares for the roast until satisfaction results. He was taught how to roast coffee personally by Phil Di Bella at Di Bella in Sydney’s Surrey Hills and, like all clever students, he thought he might set-up a shop himself.
Not only have they a flourishing cafe, but it didn’t take long to tell me of their wins at the Golden Bean Awards 2013: Silver Medallist – Overall Golden Bean; Bronze Medallist – Espresso (Blend II); Bronze Medallist – Milk-based latte (Blend II). When you consider the size of this little business and then imagine the size of the overall coffee market… it’s a big deal indeed.
Barefoot Brew Room
1A Lawson Lane, Byron Bay.
Phone 0430 316 066.
www.barefootroasters.com.au
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