Adelaide coffee suppliers

5 coffee-aholics made the trip to the city of churchs earlier this week to discuss the latest trends in the office coffee marketplace.

Among the many topics discussed was the launch of a new coffee equipment distribution website at http://www.juraaustralia.com.au/. Designed to bring together the thoughts and products of professional Jura distributors in Australia.

LITTLE INDIA: All of this sight seeing has to take a toll and by 1pm we were ready for some serious local cuisine. We had caught a taxi from the Orchasrd Road to Little India. After a few minutes of wandering through bargain stores, tailors, phone card sellers and, electronic outlets we came across an excellent Indian kitchen.

We ordered Lamb Masala, Chicken curry, yellow rice and chapati. All up S$10.30 (AUD $8.11) for this spread. The meal arrived quickly, about 2 minutes after the order.

A well run family business.

A coffee to remember

ORCHARD ROAD SINGAPORE: Had a rest morning today and took the opportunity to sample this wonderful island nation's coffee. After strolling along Orchard Road past incredibly expensive departments stores we stopped at the franchise coffee store "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf" located outside Borders book store.

Jeff ordered a machiato ($3.70) and I opted for a long black ($4.30). When my drink was being prepared I noticed that they just poured it from a thermos of drip filter coffee. I wasn't paying $4.0 for that and asked for it to be made fresh, on the espresso machine. He said OK, we'll just substitute your order and make it a double espresso.

When the order did arrive I did indeed have a double shot of espresso measuring about 50ml. Jeff had a machiato which was more a cappuccino in an espresso cup.

So of our two ordered drinks we weren't impressed. We were however happy with the body and flavour of the drinks.

Live Demonstrations at FHA

One thing you can be sure of at Asia's biggest food & hospitality convention is a display of big hats and excellent cooking skills. Many of the halls are scattered with live cooking displays.

The live performance is an excellent medium for equipment manufacturers to have an expert use their wares, show the ease of use and speak in the language of the target audience - food service professionals.

This oven demonstration was in Mandarin but the audience certainly looked interested.

First day in Asia

LITTLE INDIA, SINGAPORE: I arrived into Singapore last night after an uneventful Qantas flight. Meals were nothing to speak or write about. I was seated next to a man whom I thought was a very nervous passenger, constantly referring to his notebook of biblical verses. Turned out he was actually a minister or religion in Singapore for some spiritual preaching.

My hotel is at full capacity for the expo and has turned out to be quite nice given the package deal price I negotiated. Good location in Little India, nice facilities. Breakfast buffet is expansive ranging from Western - Singapore - Indian. This is a snap of the art deco furniture in the hotel foyer while I'm waiting to catch the expo bus.

The 2008 Food&HotelAsia got underway today. Seemed to be a few glitches with registration entry. Exhibitors were all happy working away on their stands. The show, the transport and the people all seem to be very organised.

First Coffee

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: What an exceptional day. After a cramped morning putting the final touches to my travel plans, my first coffee of the day was finally enjoyed at 12:45pm at Brisbane airport. I wasn't too concerned about the presentation nor the atmosphere....just as long as it had at some stage been extracted from the humble coffee bean.

Airport coffee has undergone a major revamp over the past four years. Two factors have driven this change. The consumer expectation of better quality coffee and the stringent security regime now in force for entering the airport. The extra security means more people arrive at the airport earlier with more time on their hands, more time to drink coffee and buy duty free.

Speaking of duty free the new limitations on carrying liquids through security have done onders for that business. A nice pay back for the effects of lowering duties and internet shopping which both reduced the attractiveness of 'duty free'.

Oh well...next coffee will be the standard Qantas economy offering.

Fine Foods ready to launch

Just a quick note to let you know that the Brisbane Fine Foods Exhibition gets under way tomorrow morning (Sunday 9th March) at 10am at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Aimed at the professional market it is well worth commerical food operators visiting.

Gilkatho is exhibiting with our new Popcake automatic pancake machine. Stand Q20.(http://www.gilkatho.com.au/shop/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=237)

I walked the show while dodging the forklifts and managed to count over a dozen coffee exhibitors including Coffee Mio, Red Star, Nespresso, Byron Bay Coffee Company, Cafe Deluxe, Cafetto, Cappuccine, Dimattina, Nuova Pine Tea & Coffee, RP Vending, Spilsbury, Zeroz. It will be a tough job selling the coffee story at the event..every person interested one product is also going to be bombared with at least 12 other offers!

If you need a free pass, please call by the Gilkatho office (after 9) on Monday as we have a few remaining from a recent customer promotion.

Sales Workshop

The entire Gilkatho crew headed to Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast for a serious weekend of business. 

 

The workshop focused on new businenss developments with the impendng release of some new products. 

 

New skills were canvassed which included telephone and fae-to-face communicaitons skills.

 

We were also joined at the  workshop by Judy & Gaelene from Coffee Plus Cairns.

 

I know I'm looking forward to the next workshop in August.  Now, where is a good place for that one?

2008 Training Program

Part of our ongoing budgeting has made available ongoing funds for the training of our staff.  We do this in order to continue the personal development of each staff member in order for them to reach their full potential while acquiring skills that will continue to develop Gilkatho's business.  We believe that this budget commitment is well above what is normal for a company of our size.  Formal training activities taking place this year:

 

• In the past year we have had one trainee complete a Cert IV in business.  This year we are adding another two traineeships to our training budget.
• In mid-February we are engaging all staff and contractors in a one day skills workshop.  A follow-up workshop is in August.
• Management will continue to develop skills through our association with the Australian Institute of Management.

 

With all of the news heralding Australia's skills crisis I was surprised at how difficult it is to put in place the various parties to access the federal government's traineeship funding.  In the last two weeks we decided that it was simply too hard to access the funding and decided to go ahead with our own training plans.  As it turned out, we were able to get all of the parties together and formalise the arrangement to the satisfaction of the boffins.

 

2008 looks like being the year of the workshop retreat.

Asian Barista Championship the first time

Singapore, 1 February 2008 - For the first time in Asia, a competition between Asia's best coffee barista professionals will be held at an Asian level from 22^nd to 24^th April this year at the Singapore Expo. In conjunction with FHA2008 (Food&HotelAsia2008) the "Asia Barista Championship" will host professional baristas from all over the Asia-Pacific region to come and pit their skills against each other.

Asia Barista Championship 2008

The Asia Barista Championship is a regional event that seeks to develop the growth, quality and recognition of the Barista profession in Asia, as well as to cultivate a stronger appreciation and awareness of specialty coffee and the role of a barista in the specialty coffee industry. Participants from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will congregate on one competition ground to compete for the title of "Asia Barista Champion".

This group of national champions will be judged by an esteemed panel of experienced international judges, including Mr. Christopher Short from Cafetto Australia; Mr. Meechai Amornpathanakul from the Barista Association of Thailand; Ms. Tuti H. Mochtar from the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia; Mr. Joe Hsu from Taiwan; Mr. Andrew Hetzel from CafeMakers; Mr. Jeffrey Dutton from Da Vinci Gourmet Australia; Mr. Richard Barkauskas from Hamilton Beach. The judges are grouped into the following teams: Four Sensory Judges, Two Technical Judges and One Head Judge.

During the Championship, each competitor will be required to serve each of the Four Sensory Judges, a single expresso, a single cappuccino and a single blended signature beverage of his/her choice, for a total of 12 drinks during the period of 15 minutes or less.  Although four drinks of each category must be identical and served simultaneously, the competitor is not restricted to produce different latte art for the drinks prepared. The quality of the latte art will be taken into consideration for the "Best Latte Art Competition". Competitors will be judged based on the following criteria – Competition Area, Taste Evaluation, Beverage Presentation, Technical Skills and Judges Total Impression. Other awards in the Championship include the "Best Espresso Trophy" and "Best Blended Signature Beverage Trophy".

The Asia Barista Championship is jointly organised by Singapore Exhibition Services, organiser of FHA2008; Kerry Ingredients Asia, one of the largest and most technologically advanced ingredients companies in the world producing application specific ingredients for the world's leading food manufacturers and foodservice companies; and the Singapore Coffee Association, established to represent all sectors of the coffee industry.

La Marzocco is the exclusive sponsor of the Championship for its Expresso Coffee Machines. Other sponsors include Da Vinci Gourmet, Greenfields, Hamilton Beach Commerical, Coffex Coffee, Mahlkonig, Cafetto, and Purence. The Championship is endorsed by several international associations, such as the Barista Association of Thailand, China Coffee Association Beijing, Taiwanese Association of Specialty Coffee (T.A.S.C.), The AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association (AASCA), The Indonesian Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia, and the Singapore Coffee Association.

"The F&B industry in Asia has witnessed a rising interest in the Barista profession, fuelled by the growth in consumer understanding and appreciation for specialty coffee. Through the Asia Barista Championship, we hope to raise the bar of the Barista professional knowledge and expertise, cultivate closer ties within the Barista profession in Asia, and meet the market's growing demands for higher quality and greater range of specialty coffee," said Ms. Ting Siew Mui, Singapore Exhibition Services' Project Director of FHA2008.