When Adrian DiGirolamo tried a particularly eye-opening espresso while working in an Adelaide café, he knew instantly that one day he’d run his own café.
The espresso, an Ethiopian single origin he described as tasting like blueberries, had a huge impact on him, and prompted him to buy a Sunbeam coffee machine to experiment with making coffee at home.
“It was this lightning bolt moment that made me realise I wanted to do a deep dive into the coffee industry, and things just snowballed from there,” says Adrian.
A few years later, in November 2021, Adrian finally scratched his itch and established Giro Espresso in Mawson Lakes, Adelaide.
“I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to get it done. Come hell or high water, it just needed to happen,” he says.
Finding a coffee roaster to work with was easy: Adrian called up his friend Ben Rosenthal, Co-Founder of BLK MRKT Coffee, a local small-batch coffee roaster located just outside of Adelaide CBD.
“We originally met over a trade of Nintendo items, and then we got chatting. It turned out he was a coffee roaster; this was when BLK MRKT Coffee was in its really early stages. One day, he gave me a bag of coffee and I loved it,” says Adrian.
Friendship aside, BLK MRKT Coffee being a local roaster was also a huge consideration for Adrian, who supports local brands as much as possible.
Adrian describes Giro Espresso’s decor as both “rustic and retro”, and one of his favourite parts of the space is the feature shelf filled with vintage coffee grinders. While making good coffee is the core focus, the Giro team also emphasise the importance of having something delicious alongside coffee.
“The truffle and mushroom toastie is probably my favourite thing on the menu, because nobody else really does anything like it around here. It’s got mushrooms, truffle oil, herbs, and just a bit of mozzarella,” says Adrian.
There’s also a range of sweet treats, which make the perfect pairing to the locally roasted coffee. The house-baked gluten-free muffins are wickedly indulgent, as are the s’more cookie cups.
Giro Espresso
26 Metro Parade, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, 5095
Open Monday 7.30am to 12.30pm, Tuesday to Friday 6.30am to 2pm, and Saturday 7.30am to 12pm
This article appears in the August/September 2024 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
