March 2013
Coffee culture gets a roasting in Melbourne this May
The crema of the world’s café industry will descend on Melbourne in May for the International Coffee Expo, bringing together the World Barista Championships, the World Brewers Cup and the inaugural Global Coffee Review Symposium at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds.
Wellingtonian Nick Clark from Flight Coffee will be representing New Zealand at the World Barista Championships after winning the 2013 Huhtamaki NZ Barista Championship.
Over the course of one weekend, 23-26 May, the world’s best baristas and Melbourne’s leading coffee vendors will gather to educate, inform and share ideas.
The event is open to the public on 25-26 May and is complemented by peripheral roasting workshops, café tours and opportunities to interact with the brewing masters.
Melbourne’s Love Affair with the Bean
Melbourne is a city obsessed with coffee. It is almost impossible to walk around a corner in Melbourne without the familiar scent of a perfectly brewed espresso wafting down a laneway. Indulge in your own caffeine infatuation with these tours and iconic Melbourne cafes.
My Aching Head – Melbourne Coffee Tours
Few things are more Melburnian than a bicycle coffee tour. My Aching Head offers the chance to get off the beaten track and discover some of the city’s top cafes. Given Melbourne’s largely flat layout, it’s a leisurely two-hour ride that incorporates roasting houses and laneway cafes where coffee lovers can sample beans originating from different estates around the world and learn about the myriad of brewing methods.
Melbourne’s Historic Coffee Tour
Barista judge and coffee connoisseur Maria Paoli runs Melbourne’s popular Evolving Success Historical Coffee Trek. Paoli’s tour hones in on the history of coffee in Melbourne and the techniques used by pre-war immigrants in the “espresso revolution” of the mid 1950s, bringing the tour up-to-date by showcasing the city’s thriving café culture and the success that local baristas enjoy in international barista competitions.
Tour participants sample a wide variety of blends and learn about what makes a perfect cup. Coffee connoisseurs will appreciate the finer details of brewing methods, bean roasting and the history of coffee beans and domestic coffee making machines.
Quintessentially Melbourne Cafes
East Brunswick Project & The League of Honest Coffee
Manchester Press – 8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne
Pellegrinis Espresso Bar – 66 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Cup of Truth
For more of Melbourne’s coffee culture:
check out this youtube clip
