Hi Guys and Gals,

The Espresso School will be introducing 1 hour practice sessions on Saturdays between 9 am and 1 pm for students of The Espresso School who have completed a barista course and have no access to a machine and grinder but need to practice their newly developed barista skills.

Cost: $40
Duration: 1 hour (60 minutes) - includes clean up time
Includes: Unlimited coffee and milk

To book and pay please call us on 8644 2820 or email us via our contact page

Sunkissed Broadbeach, Gold Coast was again the setting for the 2011 Specialty Coffee Championships over the weekend. 4 competitions have been run and won with the winners representing Australia in June at Bogota, Colombia for the World Barista Championship and Holland for Coffee in Good Spirits, Latte Art and Cup Tasting. Congratulations to the following people:
Coffee in Good Spirits

• 1: Mitch Falkner
• 2: Emily Ch’ng

• 1: Kirby Berlin
• 2: Fiefy
• 3: Scott Luengen

• 1: Luca Costanzo
• 2: Ben Bicknell
• 3: Sam Sgambellone

• 1: Matt Perger
• 2: Erin Sampson
• 3: Will Priestley
• 4: Jean-Paul Sutton
• 5: Craig Simon
• 6: Ron Ngo

Introducing the Blacwine Grindripper. The Blackwine Grindripper is a unique coffee hand grinder drip brewer designed as one compact unit.

Grindripper has an Australian distributor and their website can be found at - http://www.grindripper.com.au/

Here are a few of the features of the Grindripper

Ceramic Burrs

The Grindripper grinder houses a conical ceramic burr set that is spring loaded and stepped. This is important for two reasons:

1) Grind adjustments are 100% accurate from unit to unit. Sharing grind settings with other users is as simple as winding down the burr carrier until the burrs touch (zero position) and then counting how many clicks to your ideal grind setting. We recommend 3-4 clicks from the zero position.

2) The spring loaded burr set means that you will achieve a more consistent grind setting whether you're grinding espresso fine or french press coarse. The spring will inhibit any burr wobble leading to inconsistent grinds

Environmentally Friendly Tritan Dripper

The dripper itself is made from a "Tritan" copolyester material developed by Eastman Chemical, a new bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalate-free material. This means a healthier you and you can be sure that there's nothing but coffee in your cup of coffee!

Stainless Steel Components

The steel used on the Grindripper is stainless for longevity and stength.

Grindripper is avaialable for pre-orders.

A professional barista is usually a highly trained and skilled professional in the art of making coffee. A professional barista understands how to work with the coffee to achieve the best extraction of flavour the coffee bean can offer. In today's hospitality industry, a barista is someone who not only crafts espresso based coffee beverages, but is also expected serve customers, wash dishes, bus tables and mop the floor. A TAFE certificate or similar qualification will only get your foot in the door - a certificate will not guarantee you a job - anyone who tells you otherwise (I'm calling out right now) is a liar! It's the same with any industry - I come from an engineering background where employers must spend anywhere between 12 and 24 months training new university graduates who study 4 or more years to attain their degrees! Here are a few tips for my students and anyone looking to find a job in the coffee industry with little or no experience.

1 Cafes are not necessarily looking for experience! They're looking for the right attitude. What is the right attitude you may ask? Start with a strong customer service background, maybe some food service experience, an outgoing personality and most of all, someone who loves coffee! If you have an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) or some food handling experience, that's a bonus.

2 Find the right cafe - look for a cafe or coffee business you want to work for and that is willing to teach you and invest time in you. Remember a certificate may get your foot in the door, but won't secure you a job - the right attitude will. Coffee Jobs is a new website dedicated to the coffee industry. Use it and bookmark it.

3 Respect your customers. Again this has got to do with the right attitude (I think we're going somewhere here)! It doesn't matter if the order is for a skinny weak soy decaf mocha. Customers pay your wages and keep the cafe business alive. If there is a mistake or misunderstanding with an order, simply make it again and apologise. It takes only a little bit of extra time and helps build rapport with your customers, it's what keeps them coming back, along with your totally bad ass cafe lattes.

4 Become a professional - not just in coffee making but in all aspects of your career. Do everything with pride and passion. Take more barista courses. Coffee training is not a once off thing, it's the continual pursuit of excellence; a never ending path.

Remember - having no experience is not the end of the world - having the wrong attitude is.