BeanScene Magazine

It all began in 2001 at Melbourne bayside coffee institution, il fornaio, in St. Kilda. Pete Van Haandel and Michael Benko, ran it and had also overseen Mr. Tulk in Melbourne’s CBD.

This, Tim says, is where he was introduced to the energy and focus required behind a super busy bar - pulling shots non stop for 8 hours a day. Not a moment to relax. At this point in our coffee history, espresso was just part of a milk drink, rather than a drink in it’s own right. “Heavy, bitter and at best sweet – far from what I enjoy in an espresso nowadays,” Tim says.

He spent three years at il fornaio, learning the ropes and the importance of a tight team behind a bar. “Coffee hadn’t really become a focus for me, as Melbourne hides behind the vale of the milky beverage. Travel was calling, and like every other Australian, London seemed like a good base to explore the rest of Europe.”

Landing a job at Mint, a high end London Indian restaurant, as head waiter was a formative experience. “I couldn’t stand it. I missed being behind the espresso machine and the relaxed atmosphere of a café was sorely missing. I had my first impressions of coffee in London, and in 2003 it was terrible. It was a wasteland, not a decent flat white in sight, let alone an espresso.”

The coffee then being used at the restaurant was Illy and a quality auditor – a fellow Australian – paid a visit. Illy needed another quality auditor, and Tim stepped up for the job. “I met with the London Area Manager for Illy in shorts and flip flops. How I made any kind of good impression is beyond me.” However, at this point in history, Australians who worked with coffee seemed to automatically be decent baristas. “The role of quality auditor, by far the worst job title I have ever had, was too look after around 100 Illy accounts across London, and help them to improve the product and train their baristas. I was fighting a losing battle, trying to manage 100 accounts and to help improve quality was an impossible task. Just as you made some progress on improving things, staff would move on, and you would be back to square one. It was tough,” Tim says.

But, it was another valuable learning curve. “Illy taught me a great deal, and the late Dr Ernesto Illy was an inspiration. ‘The Science of Espresso’, was the first coffee-related book I read. It was here that I started to realise some of the science behind espresso, the Italian passion and the input Illy has made on espresso across the globe”.

One of Illy’s biggest accounts was one of London’s most visited tourist attractions, the Tate Modern gallery. Tim was finding the hospitality bug biting him again and he took on the job of manager of the Tate Members’ Room. “The Tate Modern was an incredible place to be. So much inspiration from an art perspective and to be able to work with an array of people from artists and curators to an amazing events team and catering department.”

It proved to be a steep learning curve.  “I explored food and wine in more detail, being involved in the Level 7 Restaurant and helping to create an environment fit for the ever-opinionated Tate Members. Here I developed my palate, and it had nothing to do with coffee yet. It was wine, beer and food that I was exploring. I have very fond memories of the Tate and the experience gained was invaluable.”

London’s café scene was also starting to evolve and “some cracking cafes” such as Flat White and Monmouth kept Tim enthused. “I started to discover there was more to offer than just espresso. I started reading blogs, watching videos on the web and reading more. I knew nothing about coffee, really. And, as my reading increased I realised how little I knew. I needed to explore coffee further than what was being offered in London and Melbourne at the time.”

Tim’s Norwegian girlfriend had suggested a move to her homeland, but he was reluctant to go without having a job lined up. “Her cousin, is a wine buyer in Oslo, and she knew Tim Wendelboe was opening a café and roastery soon. The timing was perfect. I jumped at the chance.”

“Little did I know, that latte in Oslo, is basically served in a bowl. Tim explained it and I went for a cappuccino instead.”

After a string of emails, Tim was able to meet Tim Wendelboe. “We met at Kaffebreneriet, just down the road from the site of his café and roastery. At that point it was pretty much a shell.” But, he was determined to open it in a month.

Needless to say, the two of them met over coffee. “My knowledge of coffee offerings was limited to London and Melbourne. What to order was an unbearable choice. I decided on what I thought would be the safe bet, a latte. Little did I know, that latte in Oslo, is basically served in a bowl. Tim explained it and I went for a cappuccino instead.”

A week later, Tim was the bar manager at Tim Wendelboe (TW). And, two and a half years later, he says he has learned more in that time about the entire coffee industry than he had in the previous eight years or so. “I am in the unique position, that other smaller roasters share -  to be able to a have an input into all the parts of a roastery.” Tim roasts three times a week, works at the bar a couple of times a week, has contact with wholesale customers and works very closely with Tim to improve the product. Tim Wendelboe, he says, is “the picture of true dedication and meticulous focus on quality.”

“Very quickly, some of my bad habits, were thrown out the door. So many places chase their tail with coffee, taking up the challenge of offering quality from the point of opening the bag of roasted coffee. Roasting trumps brew parameters, and green quality then trumps the roast profile. Now I am working from the absolute start. Green buying is by far the most important part of running any kind of roastery, then putting the same amount of focus into every point from the roasting, storage, rest time, brew profile, etc.”

After a year, Tim was doing the roasting and is now the sole roaster. “I feel like my learning curve has been very steep and it will take time to get to the level of TW’s knowledge and experience.  Translating what he wants out of the roast can be a wonderful challenge. He is designed for coffee. He is an excellent cupper, and can transfer this expertise to others with the ability to educate staff and customers alike. Roasting is obviously an integral part of the chain. We take more time than most in developing the profiles for our coffees, taking the time to cup every single roast, and then improving on it. I am normally cupping every second day, production cuppings, sample cuppings, customer cupping – immersing myself into the coffee.”

“It has paid off for us, as this year we won the Nordic Roasters Cup, with one of the best Kenyans this year, ‘Tekangu’. The 10 competitors could roast a coffee of their choice, and have it judged by the attendees of the Nordic Barista Cup.  We also won in 2008.”

Tim says he is a big believer in the Scandinavian style of roasting. “For me, there shouldn’t be any roast characteristics in the coffee at all. This leaves you vulnerable, if the quality of your green coffee is no good, it will shine through in the light roast. I struggle with the Australian and American style of roasting. I don’t want to have to search out the terroir flavours among the smoke of the roast. It should be shining, with crisp acidity and clean fruit flavours. After all, coffee is a fruit, not tobacco.

“We are very spoilt in Oslo with four world class roasters. Kaffa, Solberg & Hansen, Supreme Roastworks and Tim Wendelboe. They have all spawned WBC winners, are frequent buyers of CoE coffees and huge believers in the direct trade model when buying coffee. The coffee community here is very healthy and we all work together well, and socialise well too!”

Many people, Tim says, struggle to communicate their passion for coffee to customers and new enthusiasts. “It has been so important for me to be able to offer the absolute best service for our customers. I want to be a point of reference for them, not to create an intimidating atmosphere that can sometimes be attributed to the world of wine. Being humble and open to the perspectives of others is imperative. Approachable and beyond expectations is what I strive for from a service perspective.”

This year, Tim is again travelling to origin, hopefully to some CoE auctions and the WBC in London. He and Tim Wendelboe will be bringing the World Aeropress Championships to London during the WBC. Tim will be competing in the Norwegian Cupping Competition – aiming for a better placing than his fourth last year – and helping to develop a colleague’s Norwegian Barista Competition presentation. The Nordic Barista Cup this year is hosted in Oslo, making it a big year for TW’s. “Hopefully, we’ll be taking a staff member to the WBC, going for a hat trick in the Nordic Roasters Cup and beyond all of that, helping to push coffee ethics and quality.”