At Ristretto WE HEART COFFEE! Our Perth Coffee Blog covers on goings, thoughts and offerings from Ristretto and Perth's bourgeoning coffee landscape.
Visit Ristretto for Coffee at ShG18a 160 Central Arcade, 160 St Georges Terrace, Perth. OPEN M-F from 6:30am.
This week (i.e. tomorrow) we are cupping some recent espresso roasts of new arrival coffees. Most of these coffees are roasted medium to medium-dark. Origins include Costa Rica (x2), Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Sumatra and ah… that’s about it. Come along. Cupping starts at 1:30pm sharp at Ristretto and lasts for about 20-25 minutes. A great opportunity to explore a range of single coffees and find out what they are individually about. Hope to see a few first-timers at Ristretto cupping down!
On a recent visit to Melb I visited no less than six top notch coffee first locations that had opened since my last trip.
Some really good things are happening right across Melbourne town; lottsa coffee do-right in action…
Here’s a list below. Note; all are serving mighty serious coffee juice and worth multiple visits…
Seven Seeds - Melb~Carlton Cup of Truth - Melb; Flinders St Station underpass to Degraves - great little walk up… maybe doing it with even less floor space than Ristretto perth! Market Lane Coffee - Prahran Market - opened the week I was there. Proud Marys - Fitzroy~Collingwood, just down from Smith St. Check out the Synesso train ;) Dead Man Espresso - Sth Melb Flying Goat - Melb City
I also returned to St Ali & Dimatina coffee in Sth Melb and the awesome Mailing Room in Canterbury.
Now if I was to make just two special mentions; I enjoyed a really special shot of the 7S blend at Dead Man espresso it completely blew me away and was the best of 3 cafes I tried this at on this visit - it really all clicked, I found so much in the cup. Great coffee/ blend. Also Andy and Kerby at Mailing Room doing exceptionally well with their roast of the Agua Azul coffee from Hulia in Colombia.
Nov
23rd
Mon
NEW COFFEES ARRIVED! El Injerto estate in La Libertad, Huehuetenango, Guatemala (outlook pic above) is one of the farms that our new Single Origin Coffee offerings are from. These just in coffees are in great shape - we’ll be cupping them across the next two Fridays at 1:30pm at Ristretto. Along with a couple of Costa Ricans (Helsar De Zacero and Herbazu), a fine Kenyan from near Nyeri and top Huila area Colombian we have some very sound SOs to put across the counter and share in at the bar in the lead up to Christmas. Each individual coffee is chosen for its quality, appeal, distinct character and suitability for espresso and or filter/ plunger use. We will have freshly roasted beans for purchase daily and will feature a selection in our Robur grinder #2.
Congratulations to Steve “JBean1” who won 1st Place at Ristretto’s recent customer prize draw. Great to see the machine going to one of our many regular coffee customers at Ristretto Perth. We can all tell from the look on Steve’s face that he’s going to get great use from the unit.
Also well done to Brad Bowden who subscribed to the Breakfast with Barr show at RTRFM 92.1 during their recent radiothon and collected the Sunbeam 6910 Espresso Machine as a major prize donated by Sunbeam and Ristretto Espresso Specialists Perth.
Wow - what a big SPECIALTY COFFEE weekend! Thank you too all those that participated, volunteered, attended and showed interest. It was awesome to see so many Ristretto customers coming down for the experience and to see what it is all about.
By our estimates about 300-400 people attended over the course of the weekend. Across the events there were roughly 30 entrants. About a dozen volunteered as judges and another dozen assisting generally. Thanks again all.
Always a tough one but guaranteed learning experience. Year to year point score improvements for both Jesper and Emanuele in the Barista Championship event but not enough to “come home” with something to show off.
Congrats to Mark, Jeremy and Kaya for their winning results.
We do have a little momento from the weekend to add to Ristretto from the coffee Cup Tasting competition, which was exciting. Come down to Ristretto and have a look!
Nov
2nd
Mon
Coffee Cupping: Fridays 1:30pm coffee cupping sessions continue at Ristretto. All things going well, this week’s will be a table of new arrival current crop, in season, coffees that we’ll be offering over the next few months. Also expecting some goodies from Mercanta the Coffee Hunters plus our first directly traded micro-lot coffees from Guatemala. All up the pedigree is rather high and we’ve worked hard to keep it that way in relation to shipping and storage - lots of quality from emerging producers plus some Cup of Excellence farms work.
Looking through the lists I can see Urbanspoon is doing some good as there are many smaller establishing businesses across Perth doing well in the listings and frankly we all need some solid publicity to get the word out to others interest in good food and the culinary arts.
Visit Ristretto’s little listing by clicking below.
17 competing Baristas stepping up this Saturday and Sunday at the Mount Hawthorn Community Centre. I am sure this is a top number for any state championship this year and trust that it serves as a barometer for the interest in and dedication to Speciality Coffee across Western Australia. Good luck to everyone.
There’s also very solid entries for the Cup Tasting Championship and Latte Art Championship.
“The response to competing has been overwhelming, with 17 baristas setting themselves for the Barista title and many also in both the Cup Tasting and the Latte Art competitions.
Also look out for the new AASCA T shirts to be on sale at the event, designs put together by AASCA media partner in Bean Scene Magazine look amazing and it will be the height of summer fashion. We thank Fair Trade for their support in producing the T shirts so wear them with pride everyone !
Matt from Abstract Gourmet has been heading up the organising committee over in WA and the event promises to be fantastic, it will be held at The Town of Vincent Main Hall 197 Scarborough Beach Road (cnr The Boulevard), Mount Hawthorn from 9am on the 7th of November.
AASCA will have a coffee cart on hand to show case baristas coffees after competing and you can get up close and personal about all things barista!
Funds raised from the coffee cart will go to funding the National competition as all this stuff costs a bit so feel free to taste the great coffee and help support AASCA”
Earlier this month A Bowl of Honey, a local Perth foodie blog, listed their 5 top places for coffee. Ristretto has been included (!) along with a number of others. Take note; unlike Ristretto, many of the others are OPEN WEEKENDS (I think all but one) … and WE ALL KNOW AT RISTRETTO HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HUNTING FOR A GREAT CUP OF COFFEE ON SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS.
Are you unsure if the specially prepared cup of fine specialty grade coffees you experience really tastes any different? Watch this vid at youtube to ensure you’re actually tasting coffee and not simply flushing it down your throat! Also find out why we use spoons and aspirate the coffee at our Friday afternoon cupping sessions to enhance the opportunity more fully taste our great coffees at Ristretto Perth. From Tom Owen at Sweet Marias.
Check this first look Aerobie Aeropress review at local Perth blog of Bowl of Honey. This is an independent review. Its great to read and hear about more people exploring great coffees and find out what coffee can be - what it is TODAY! We plan to hold some Aeropress demonstrations over the next couple of months at Ristretto - times TBA. Watch this space.
Undeniably, the biggest weekend in specialty coffee here in WA is coming round again…
The WABC takes place across the weekend of the 7th and 8th of November at the Mount Hawthorn Community Centre, the same location used last year. it is organised by Australasian Speciality Coffee Association (AASCA).
The annual event aims to send WA State winners directly to the national finals - the winners of which then progress to the world finals for each field of entry; Barista, Latte Artist and Cup Tasting.
Ben Bicknell from WA won the cup tasting championship here in WA last year and progressed all the way to the world finals held in Cologne Germany. Similarly Catherine Ferrari represented Australia at the Cup Tasting the year before.
Our hope at Ristretto is for similar success for a WA entrant this year especially in the demanding and coveted Barista Championship. ‘carn WA!
The competitions are open to all working baristas and enthusiasts; you do not have to be a professional. We regard it as a great vehicle for the promotion and application of industry best practices behind the bar and the sharing of and communication about, often remarkable, quality coffees.
The free public event is not-for-profit and organised by volunteers.
Those interested in competing visit the AASCA website for further competition and entry details.
So please mark the date in your diary - whether spectating, volunteering or competing we hope you can attend and enjoy a great weekend of coffee, coffee, coffee!
We’ll post further information as it comes to hand.
Jesse Hyde, a dedicated professional barista, established his new cafe the Dancing Goat late last year, while finalising his preparations for the AASCA barista Championship finals as Victorian Barista Champion.
Matt Preston recently reviewed this tidy little set up. Check Matt Preston’s review of Dancing Goat Cafe here. It reminded me that we have heard many good things about DG across this year from a few of our Ristretto Perth customers who travel to/ from Melbourne.
Hearing from Jesse’s of his ambitions for the DG team and Cafe earlier on in the new year while at the National AASCA Barista Championships, it sounds like he’s pretty much hitting the high marks he hoped for. Go Jess!
If you are in Melb why not check it out Dancing Goat, it’s not too far away from Brother Baba Budan (a long time fave); two true coffee quality focused independent specialty spots within a few blocks of one another.
At Ristretto WE HEART COFFEE! Our Perth Coffee Blog covers on goings, thoughts and offerings from Ristretto and Perth's bourgeoning coffee landscape.
Visit Ristretto for Coffee at ShG18a 160 Central Arcade, 160 St Georges Terrace, Perth. OPEN M-F from 6:30am.
.jpg)
