BeanScene Magazine

After 26 years in the coffee industry and establishing a strong reputation, it seems a natural progression for Peter Wolff to stamp his surname on the endorsement of quality products.

As such, late last year Peter launched Wolff Coffee Roasters, offering roasters, brewing equipment and accessories specifically for specialty roasters. In further developments this year, however, Probat is now also putting Peter’s reputation to good use, appointing him as their exclusive dealer for their Probatone shop roasters.

These are big developments in the life of a man who started his coffee journey in 1984 with Aromas Tea & Coffee Merchants in Brisbane. It was a time when the average consumer knew very little about coffee, origins or the different methods used to extract, prepare and consume coffee.

Chris Bryant of Aromas became Peter’s mentor for the next 11 years. The experience was filled with trips to coffee and tea producing countries, roasting and blending coffees and tea, cupping and developing his taste memory and becoming skilled in engaging his senses in every aspect of the roasting and brewing process.

In late September 1995, Peter was involved in opening Aromas as part of the new Brisbane International Airport. Through this he met the vibrant Penny Lowe, and they worked together while she trained for the National Barista Championships. In those days, the championships were organised and promoted by the large, multinational coffee companies. Penny went on to win the Australian Championship in 1995 and 1996.

Two years later, Peter left forMelbourne to gain experience in theestablished professional coffee community since there was less than a handful of people roasting coffee in Brisbane. It was time to test himself against the establishedroast houses of Melbourne.

At the turn of the Millennium Peter felt he had a good feel for the coffee/café scene and recognised there were some opportunities in the market. He purchased a 60-kilogram coffee roaster and a new specialty business, Veneziano Caffe, in Abbotsford. Peter worked on creating blends that were different from each other in both roast profiles and the flavour experience of each blend.

Veneziano Caffe then took him back home to Brisbane, where Penny and Peter decided it was time to move into the next phase of their coffee journey. With a passion for quality equipment, he went in search of a brand he was comfortable having his name associated with.

Peter’s German family connections drew him back to that country and he found himself in a relationship with Probat, a leading manufacturer of roasting machines. With German as his second language, he was able to communicate easily with the Probat team.

“Beyond the natural cultural synergy, this language makes exchange between both companies much easier,” explains Peter.

Probat has had a history of operating in Australia, through a relationship with Nupac who distribute the company’s commercial and industry roasters. While Peter Pontikis and his team at Nupac will continue to supply these machines as well as the Probaton 50, in teaming up with Wolff to supply specialty shop roasters, Probat is looking to capture a growing share of the Australian specialty coffee market.

Jens Roelofs, Marketing Manager for Probat, says it was on a visit to Australia in November of last year for the Golden Bean competition, that they met with potential shop roaster agents in Australia. They teamed up with Peter because they wanted someone who “speaks the language of the shop roaster and is well experienced in this line of business”.

“With specialty coffee, there’s lots of emotion in producing this kind of coffee,” Jens says. “Peter has lots of experience in this coffee scene, he really knows the baristas and master roasters.”

Peter has largely developed his relationship with baristas in recent years, having launched Wolff Coffee Education courses. He had been receiving a large number of enquires regarding roaster training and sensory developments and Penny has encouraged him to share his skills and knowledge. With a background in education, she helped Peter formalise a curriculum and hence the second arm of the business was launched. Penny is the co-founder and brains behind Wolff Coffee Education, a service that focuses on educating people in sensory skill development, cupping and roasting development.

Wolff Coffee Education offers an array of courses. Each course covers very specific topics and information, providing little or no overlap between the courses. The courses Peter offers provide training and education for the beginner through to those who are more experienced, including three courses for roasting and three for cupping/sensory skills development.

Traditionally “old school” roasting skills have been passed down through a mentoring process. The roaster shares his knowledge and experience verbally and talks with the learner through the paces of roasting, not unlike Peter’s time with Chris at Aromas. Sadly, this ritualistic approach to learning has faded and many of the industry’s “so called secrets” are not shared.

But, Master Roaster, Peter Wolff is an exception to the rule and is ready to share his knowledge and mentor his pupils through the traditional methods of roasting. Many people ask Peter how he sees the future of coffee  unfolding from 2011 and beyond. “My response usually encapsulates coffee blends, green bean supply and technology playing an important role in the future of the industry,” he says.

“With a move to offer single origin coffee already well established, it will continue for sometime. I believe that it does beg the question of whether, at some point, we will see blending being adopted as a way of combining complementary flavors.

“Baristas are now expanding their brewing skills beyond espresso and are looking at the coffee origin and determining what will be the best brewing method that highlights the specialty of that origin. Café operators are looking to showcase different coffees from different roasters, which will test the existing model of ‘free on loan equipment’ with an exclusive supply contract attached.”

Green coffee supply is going to be tight, Peter says, particularly in the specialty end and the challenge for larger roasters will be about feeding their volumes with specialty grades. “You will see a blurring of the lines between commercial and specialty grades through their blend strategies. To maintain their specialty market position, they will continue to offer small batch, single origin specialty grades, but will need to work hard to operate in this niche as the smaller micro roaster owns the space in the market.” He says  it will be interesting to watch how roasting companies manage these balances. 

“For smaller roasters, it will be a little easier to manage as their costs of operations are generally lower and micro-managed, given the day-to-day involvement of the owners. But, there will be a dilution in their point of difference as most will be sourcing their coffees from similar green coffee providers.

“The success will be in forming strategic buying groups to allow buying at origin without the sting of minimum quantities and stretching cashflows and in allowing consolidation of orders. The micro roasters will still continue to innovate in brewing methods and in the environmental and social issues that will continue to shape consumer behavior trends.”

Peter says that technology is also moving along with brew/pressure profiling in particular being the research and development item. “It has been a curious introduction with massive amounts of surface attention, but little has hit the table with any real hard data on its results apart from anecdotal evidence. We will need to wait and see.

“Coffee roasting equipment research and development departments are looking mainly at environmental impact strategies that offer alternatives to carbon-heavy afterburners, which are all positive for our environment. There will be more refining of process control systems, roast profiling data, logging and data sharing with greater use of web based applications and remote access capabilities.”

In addition to Wolff Coffee Roasters and Wolff Coffee Education, Penny and Peter have opened a new concept café also in Brisbane called Dandelion & Driftwood. The café has been created with the yesteryear in regard to décor and atmosphere and it aims to offer both men and women a comforting and inviting space to enjoy the simple pleasure of what is in the cup.

Dandelion & Driftwood along with Wolff Coffee Roasters and Wolff Coffee Education are simply more feathers in the colorful caps of Peter and Penny and their ever-evolving career in the specialty coffee industry.