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.
Google Maps page for Ristretto location
Back from AASCA in QLD, snuck in a quick NSW origin visit to Mountain Top Estate and slipped into Melbs. Coffee, coffee and more coffee! Full update soon. Some Ethiopian Amaro Gayo on the selves and in the grinder at Ristetto.
Big coffee action this weekend… kicks off this Friday 28th January for 3 days at the Gold Coast convention centre, Broad beach, Queensland.
Five prizes are for the taking; The Australian Barista, latte art and coffee cupping championships, Coffee in Good Spirits, and the inaugural National Roasting Competition. Heats are being conducted on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th while the finals are all being conducted on Sunday the 31st.
Winners will represent Australia at the world finals for their events in London at the World Barista Championship
The national event will be streamed live here. We’ll embed the broadcast in another post. Check it at Gun Barista channel and you’ll benefit from some additional social/ interactive elements.
Good luck to all competitors especially the WA contingent travelling across. Mark and Jenny from 5 Senses coffee who we know to have each been training hard in the lead up.
We would love to see a West Aussie take out a national spot in the Barista Championship - the last (and only) person to do so was Jen Murray who placed 3rd in 2008.
And for cupping well, WA is going for 3 years in a row. Good luck to Jeremy in the final and others Jay, Rich and Ben B in the Opens.
We’ve decided to have a break from attending nationally this year. I am writing this full knowing that we’ll be missing 3-4 days on unbridled and unmatched coffee passion and professionalism (and no doubt a bit of glory) and will miss the side catch ups and discussion. (Well…Who knows; if a cheap last minute flight can be found a massive day trip is not entirely out of the question!)
EDIT: Of course we are going! We’ll keep you posted, especially if we can find a way to publish captioned pictures from the mobile.
Further news and results whould also be posted at the AASCA website.
Let us assure you; if Ristretto had a mobile coffee service, it may very well look a little something like this!
Happy New Year.
Ristretto is back trading regular hours; M-F 6:30 am through ‘til 3:15pm.
This Friday (tomorrow) our Free Coffee Cupping sessions resume at 1:30pm Sharp @ Ristretto Perth.
Just present at the counter and bring your pallet. Best not to have eaten beforehand too - specially any spicy/ oilyfoods.
This week experience;
3 just arrived Guatemalan Micro-Lot coffees, our new Ethiopian Amaro Gayo, Kenyan AA from Nyeri’s Ndaro-ini factory (mill), a further Ethiopian from Moplaco in Yirgacheffe and a favourite Costa Rican - Herbazu miel.
These are all rather sweet, bright coffees that offer a lot in the cup. Personally, I am looking forward to expereinceing the Guatemalan micro-lot coffees side-by-side.
Hope to see you there.
- EM
Ristretto closes early today (Christmas Eve) at 11:30am.
The shelves at Ristretto are stocked with frershly roasted coffee beans, all the favourites are there including our Trader Blend plus some freshly roasted Costa Rican Estate for the filter/ plunger/ Aeropress regulars (the roast is also suitable for espresso with about a week’s rest).
We have also a few of the Aeropress brewers left as well as the ceramic pour over cones/ filter sets.
Just a reminder that this year we are open across Christmas and New Year - with the exception of Monday’s.
The schedule is like this:
Thurs 24th Dec, Christmas Eve - open 6:30am until 11:30am
Mon 28th Dec - CLOSED
Tues 29th, Wed 30th and Thur 31st, NY eve - open 7:30am until 11:30am
Mon 4th Jan - CLOSED
Tues 5th - Fri 8th Jan - open 7:30 until 11:30am
Our shelves will always be stocked with Fresh Roasted coffee for those on holidays and visiting town for some shopping.
Mon 11th Jan onward - resume regular trading 6:30am - 3:15pm M-F.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CUSTOM ACROSS 2009 PLEASE HAVE A PEACEFUL, HAPPY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY PERIOD. SAME GOES TO OUR LOVELY STAFF AND SUPPLIERS.
Emanuele and Ristretto team.
We received a very special Christmas present at Ristretto - finally our first shipment of a very special Grade2 Natural Process Ethiopian coffee from Amaro Gayo. Asnakech Thomas (Mill owner) is the only female producer, miller and exporter in the whole of Ethiopia. She leads with astounding commitment to quality and community paying a premium for the ripest sweetest coffee cherries, some 25% above the Fair Trade price, and then finishes the coffee to her exacting standards to create a fine, distinctive offering. Find; ripe succulent dark fruit and berries, semi sweet cocoa, molasses and syrupy sweet body. It opens up a bit more at light roasts and has a great overall tone and complexity for espresso a little darker. We’ve been looking forward to this tremendous coffee at Ristretto and cannot wait to roast and offer it in 2010. Thank you Asnakech, Kayd and Yesenia, Steve and Joseph and all the many others involved for getting this coffee out there and to us.
Ray’s cafe in Brunswick - a special place. I passed through just a couple of weeks ago en route from the airport. Enjoyed a really neat espresso sweet and soft, balanced - perfect for an early Sunday morn pick-me-up, we’ll perfect anytime really. This room has some great history and to enjoy coffee there today is a good thing.
The picture above accomapnied a recent article by Matt Preston who looks back at a good decade of good and affordable food innovators in Melbourne. I really felt his passion here and will say I found it quite inspirational.
For awhile there things were a bit down in Melbourne in the mid-late 90’s. Amazing what can be achieved in a decade. Article link: My Delicious Decade
Herbazu Coffee Farm in Costa Rica’s West Valley region, Naranjo Zarcero area. This is an older video from early on this year which I remembered and dug up. It’s an interview with the farmers and a quick look at their micro mill with Transcend Coffee from Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. This was shot around the time the coffee we are currently drinking at Ristretto Perth was picked and processed, heck we that could be the beans we’re using being raked in the background!
Whether it’s a treat for yourself or someone important to you if good coffee rules the day Ristretto have a number of gift options for you to consider.
All are top top quality and represent great value.
Something that we like too about them; they’re rather unique and special.
1. Aeropress and Holiday Coffee Bundle $70
Included:
We like the Aeropress for its unique quality - it’s a hybrid approach between paper filter and espresso (more like stove top than espresso machine). You get an actual extraction like espresso (brew water through about 10g of coffee per serve under pressure) with the bonus of paper filtration to remove fine solids.
The result using good coffee is really good body and mouth feel like espresso, good intensity in taste and flavour and an enhanced clarity. We we’re initially surprised after waiting for stock to become available for 3 years. It’s deserving of all the interest and kudos from coffee enthusiasts over that time.
2. Japanese Ceramic Filter Cone Bundle $70
Heard of the “Mileta” the Xerox of the pour over filter coffee world throughout Scandinavia and elsewhere?! Its the same; a cone utensil which uses paper, cloth or metal filters to brew pour over coffees. The paper filter with freshly ground and dosed coffee goes inthe cone and water just off boil is poured through the ensemble which sits atop your cup or small jug (or travel mug)!
We have some fantastic ceramic filter cones from Japan. These are high quality, hard waring and rather “stylish”.
Included:
The results from this method are best compared to plunger or even siphon coffee. Against plunger there are less fine particles in your coffee so it tastes cleaner with more defined flavour and often plesant mouthfeel. Many people describe it as smoother and a bit more luxuirous than plunger brewed coffee. We agree.
Comparing with siphon and overall… its a cinch to prepare and even easier to clean up. Working with a grinder, brew water temp and dosing we belive its easer to achieve top results vs siphoe method and this is important to consider. Like the Aeropress clean up can be achieved in less than 1 minute. WOW! Siphon is spectacular but very time consuming. This is no low fuss top results method for home/ office or camping!!!
Here’s a link to our pour over/ filter users guide posted here at Perth Coffee blog earlier this year.
3. Ristretto Holiday Blend $12.50/ 350gms SPECIAL PRICE
We have a concept for a new blend that we have initially found to be rather pleasing and a great contrast to other offerings.
It consists of two miel/ honeyed/ processed natural coffees each from El Salvador and Costa Rica. The third coffee is currently a top notch Colombian from Huila, we are also trying some fab Guatemalans as an alternative. In any case, a clean sweet washed processed coffee. All are Arabica variety grown at high altitudes on Estate Farms. They can be collectively classified as Strictly Hard Bean and are Specialty Coffee grade.
For espresso we are finding a great smooth mouth feel with crisp brightness together with good caramel and sweet toasty flavours. In addition there’s usually some fruit quality (citrus or coffee cherry) and chocolate to be found. This is pronounced as espresso and a really great base for your milk drink. Its clean, smooth and crisp a great contrast to bolder and more intense coffees we sometimes use for espresso. It’s roasted for full flavour and to a medium degree.
Brewed with a filter method (like the ones above) we are really enjoying it for its body and mouth feel which is pronounced, a little like cream. The acidity is of great quality but overall its still very smooth. It is sugary (sweet) with toast and caramel flavour. Again some citrus notes usually come to the fore.
To celebrate the joy of Christmas and use across the Holiday Season we are packaging an extra 100gms for the same price - that’s like an extra 30% value:)
4. Packaged Coffee 250gms from $12.50/ 250gms
We have been sourcing and roasting our own beans for some time now at Ristretto. This has allowed us to deepen our expertise, improve quality and assurance and widen our range of fine offferings.
For the Christmas and Holiday periods we are carrying some new and exciting Single Origin coffee beans packaged for retail.
Note that these Single Origin Coffees are superior and distinctive in quality and good enough to stand on their own - there’s no need to blend and in some cases it’s a shame to blend them.
If you want to explore coffees, and coffees from particular farms and regions, this is a great way to go!
New Single Origin Coffees on offer at Ristretto Perth:
In February we will be releasing our updated Ristretto Custom blend. Our take on the classic mocha-java blend. Ristretto was awarded a bronze medal in the national CSR Golden Bean competition, open to commercial coffee roasters nation wide, in November with our initial iteration of this and really look forward to the full release.
Have you questions or simply need a bit of help? Simply approach any of the staff at Ristretto Coffee + Espresso Perth.
FREE Coffee Cup Tasting (Cupping) Session this, and pretty much EVERY Friday 1:30pm sharp at Ristretto Espresso Specialists Perth. This week: four fine East Africans roasted light/ for full flavour plus some espresso production roasts of Guatemalan, El Salvador, Brazilian and Sumatran coffees. Visit and taste, come and experience what it’s all about… GREAT COFFEE.
NOTE: No Cupping on Fridays until regular trading hours resume in early-mid Jan. See more recent post re Holiday trading hours above.
Very recently a few of us had a look around the web for new Perth Food Blogs - we came up with a few new ones and returned to a few favourites.
The driver was to find a place for our own little staff EOY. We are returning to a favourite this year, one of the smallest and most professional rooms in Perth. We shall let you know how it all goes.
Current Perth Food Blogs (New and re-discovered), these are updated regulary…
Blogging yourself or have a suggestion? Let us know across the counter sometime.
NO ESPRESSO! Jennifer Murray has arranged a meet at WABA this Sunday for Perth coffee folk keen to explore fine coffees via other than espresso brew methods. Look out for lotsa Single Origin Coffees and some purpose built filter blends. A few Ristretto peeps will be in and out and we’ll be bringing in some of our roasted coffees really special micro lot coffees well suited to pour over filter.
On a recent visit to Melb I visited several top notch coffee first locations that had opened since my last trip. It turned out to be a fantastic mixed bag of experiences.
There’s many really good things are happening right across Melbourne town; lots coffee do-right in action…
Here’s a list below. Note; all are serving mighty serious coffee seed juice and worth multiple visits.
Seven Seeds - Melb~Carlton, Berkeley St towards city end. A genuine coffee institution (but you already knew that!)
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 ;) A must visit if you are around Smith St or Brunswick St.
Dead Man Espresso - Sth Melb. Warning: Freakish espresso extraction experienced!
Flying Goat - Melb CBD. Straight up joint that’s Oooozing coffee goodness and love. Honest.
I also returned to St Ali & Dimatina coffee in Sth Melb and the awesome Maling Room in Canterbury. Missed Brother.
At Mailing Room Andy Lew, Kerby and team are now roasting. This is great news as these are some of the most dedicated and skilled coffee professionals in Melbourne. As usual this is proven in the cup!
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 the 3 cafes I tried this at on this visit - it really all clicked, I found so much in the cup. I don’t mean to single out but this shot really sang. Then there was the shot of Colombian Agua Azul, a great coffee suited for espresso, experienced at Maling room. So chocolaty with some fruit - great mouthfeel and so so memorable and I also loved the way Kerby pulled it from the machine so casually, seamlessly while engaged in conversation - cool (of course when was doing all her barista cross and checks in the process too).
(Edit: the Costa Rica Herbazu at Proud Mary’s was pretty cool too)
Anyway, to receive 2 shots of the calibre above and also many many good shots where I experience some coffee origin character, distinctive mouthfeel, a good finish or a mix of these elements in a solid extraction was a treat and I enjoyed them immensely.
(Note: I’ve edited this post a couple of times to complete)
NEW COFFEE JUST IN! 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. Between now and Christmas new season green coffees for our roasting are arriving from Guatemala (about 5 select lots, including our direct trade - we love fine Guats), Ethiopia (this coffee is like berry jam!), Costa Rica (3 awesome estate coffees), Dominican Republic, bio-dynamic coffee from Brasil, a Nicaraguan, restock of the Kenyan Gethumbwini, a fine Sumatran, and a rock solid Colombian (sweet, toasty with some fruit flavours and acidity).
