Chris Jarmer was practically born to be in the kitchen. A third-generation cook, Chris learnt his trade from his father, celebrated Chef Peter Jarmer.
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Skull and Bones Espresso Boutique
Located just 100 metres from beautiful Mermaid Beach in the heart of the Gold Coast is Skull and Bones Espresso Boutique. Owner Jesse Garlick has worked in the coffee industry since he was 18, and he still has a passion for making quality coffee.
After many years of embracing Melbourne’s café scene, Jesse was keen for a seachange. He moved to the sunny Gold Coast, but there was one thing lacking. “I felt there was a gap in the local market for good specialty coffee. I knew the residents enjoyed coffee as much as I did, they just needed someone to step up, so I did, and opened Skull and Bones Espresso Boutique in 2012,” he says.
The café is located next to a precinct of art galleries, bars and restaurants, which Jesse says attracts a great mix of tourists and local residents. “The thing that stands out about our venue is our focus – we love what we do and we do it well,” he says.
Jesse has taken the interior design into his own hands and built the café’s furniture, using plywood and steel piping materials, in a style he describes as “simple yet comfortable”. The café serves Toby’s Estate’s Woolloomooloo blend for its house offering on a Kees van der Westen Mirage Triplette. “Our house blend is a different coffee profile to what the Gold Coast is used to, but that’s why we love it. It consists of seven different origins, which creates a great flavour profile with acidity, nuttiness and fruit flavours. It’s a good all rounder blend from lattes to piccolos,” says Jesse.
The Woolloomooloo blend is used for Skull and Bones Espresso Boutique’s bottled cold press coffee. The café also serves Toby’s Estate’s selection of single origin coffees that change weekly. “They have an amazing selection of coffees with favourites including the Brazil Carnival, La Trinadad, and a range of Geishas which have been great on chemex and V60 pour over,” says Jesse.
The café hosts coffee cuppings and chemex tastings each month. “With serving specialty coffee comes the responsibility of education. People want to know about the origins of beans and how they’re produced. Toby’s Estate gives us that education with training,” says Jesse.
A full menu is also on offer with a range of New York-inspired foods including bagels, berry waffles and traditional eggs. “We invite everyone to come take a seat, enjoy our coffee and food, then go for a surf,” says Jesse.
BeanScene wins Best Trade Cover at The Maggies 2014
BeanScene is proud to announce that it’s April 2014 cover has won the best Business and Trade category at The Maggies Magazine Cover of the Year Awards night on 15 October in Sydney.
“I am thrilled and extremely proud to accept this award on behalf of a dedicated team who work tirelessly to create a magazine that not only engages our core readership with relevant and quality content, but also with artistic and visual mediums such as our covers,” says BeanScene Editor Sarah Baker.
Welcome Eatery
To show local residents that the Grafton Road café was under new management, Welcome Eatery General Manager Ralph Jenner found the most obvious way to tell people.
“We thought, why not put a big welcome sign on the door in a big light box? You can’t be more obvious than that,” says Ralph. “The former business that was once here wasn’t too accessible to the public, but we wanted to show that we are.”
Located in an Orion Health building, Ralph spent a few months refitting and designing the space with Perth-based architect Adam Alexander until it was ready for opening in March. “We went for a modern, clean and crisp fitout to tie in with the corporate building. It’s a spacious venue with plenty of room to hold a quiet meeting in a corner and lots of seating for couples and singles too,” he says.
The ‘welcome’ message quickly took effect, as the venue is filled daily with corporate visitors, local residents, and coffee lovers who are thrilled a specialty coffee shop has found its way to the outskirts of Auckland’s CBD.
The café uses Coffee Supreme for its house blend. “It has a nice caramel flavour with citrus notes and works well with milk-based and black coffees,” says Ralph.
Welcome Eatery also serves Coffee Supreme’s batch-brewed single origins using a Moccamaster. Ralph says standout single origins have included beans from Ethiopia and Yemen.
Ralph says the a la cart menu is driven by his love of fresh seasonal produce, in addition to his cabinet selection of sandwiches and salads for those eating on‑the‑go.
“Our motto is fast, fresh, and friendly. Our focus is on serving quality fresh food items made on site daily, in addition to our coffee,” says Ralph.
Ralph has worked in the hospitality industry since he was 16 years old. He’s worked in various New Zealand and Melbourne cafés, but jumped at the chance to start his own café venture with business partner Johnny Hartnett.
Besides dabbling in barista jobs, Ralph also enjoys critiquing barista’s techniques when he worked for three years as a sensory judge for the New Zealand Barista Championship.
“I’m passionate about judging and I enjoy the work I do each day,” he says. “I have a ‘feed the people attitude’, when I see empty plates and smiling faces, I can’t help but smile along too.”
Single Origin Roasters Botany
The Mothership has landed in Botany, New South Wales.
Single Origin Roasters’ new coffee bar opened its doors on 25 July at its Roast Works roastery.
“The residents of Botany are blown away at having a new dedicated specialty coffee shop in the area,” says Owner Emma Cohen. “We felt this was a great way for people to see our roast works and the bigger picture of our technical operations, in addition to enjoying one of our deliciously prepared brews.”
It is the second site from Single Origin Roasters; their flagship coffee shop is the 10-year established Reservoir Street Surry Hills café. The new coffee bar has a view into the Roast Works, connecting customers to the roasting process with a view to the restored 1965 UG22 Probat named Eugene. “Our Botany space is centred around coffee theatre along an eight-metre concrete bar, slender seating and an all day food menu prepared at the bar,” says Head Barista Sean McManus.
The new venue is dubbed The Mothership, as it’s the company’s headquarters where regular training sessions, tastings and educational classes are held for clients and industry members.
The cupping lab is Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) certified to host Q Grader courses. Single Origin Roasters also hosts Cup of Excellence cuppings and offers brewing advice, demonstrations and tastings for the home coffee enthusiasts. “The Mothership embraces all things coffee about our business, from the green beans coming in from the port, to our roasters who produce the blends, to our baristas who serve our customers, and the barista training and coffee tastings we offer at this site,” says Emma.
True to its name, the company serves a wide variety of single origin coffees through its three-group La Marzocco PB, served as espresso, as well as specialty filter methods including clever coffee dripper, cold drip, and pour over.
“We offer access to all the best coffees at your fingertips. We’ve received lots of beautiful Kenyan and Burundi coffees of late. We’re big on featuring lots of superior micro lots and showcasing the work of small growers,” says Sean.
The popular Reservoir Blend that also features at the Surry Hills location will remain the house offering for milk-based coffees. “It really embodies our love for structured, bright, sophisticated coffees,” says Sean.
A feature blend of the month, which highlights the other three blends in Single Origins’ array of coffees, is also available. This venue has a home coffee focus with a wide range of fresh-roasted packs, tastings and brewing equipment available to encourage residents to try their own coffee brewing at home.
“We want to show everyone that it’s possible to make better tasting coffee at home,” says Sean. “There are so many options to do that, whether it’s through trying a filter or taking our Reservoir Blend home and experimenting with that on a machine.”
It’s also pretty handy to know the new coffee bar is just seven minutes from the domestic terminal at Sydney airport.
For the busy travellers, Single Origin Roasters has developed The Tarmac Pack, comprising of a coffee and the house-cured bacon and egg roll to go. An all-day menu is prepared in front of customers at the bar with the opportunity to engage with the staff. Botany’s Head Chef Gaspar Tse prepares a great banana bread with espresso butter, the signature Mothership breakfast featuring house-made lamb merguez sausages, and slow-cooked eggs at 62.5°C. There’s also the Roast Works Burger with grain fed beef, iceberg lettuce, smoked chili mayo and spiced pineapple chutney.
“Trust me, pineapple haters will be converted,” says Emma. “The mastery we have for our coffee is also brought into our food.”
With so much to offer Emma invites everyone to come visit the new venue so the team can offer a “big hello – Single O style”.
October 2014 Covershoot
The BeanScene October 2014 covershoot was taken at the Victoria Arduino stand at The Coffee Experience in Sydney, and highlights the VA388 Black Eagle espresso machine.