• About
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • MICE
Monday, June 23, 2025
Newsletter
SUBSCRIBE
  • Coffee News
  • Features
    • Industry issues
    • Interviews
    • Knowledge leader
  • Coffee community
    • Competitions
    • Events
    • Get to know
    • People
    • Sustainability
  • Industry insights
    • Café insights
    • Green bean
    • Manufacturers
    • Milk and alt milks
    • Roasters
  • Skills & education
    • Business advice
    • How to
    • Latte art
    • Recipes
    • Research
    • Tutorials
  • Equipment & tech
    • Automation
    • Coffee machines
    • Grinders
    • Milk steaming
    • Roasting technology
    • Technology
  • Café scene
    • Australian Capital Territory
    • New South Wales
    • Northern Territory
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Victoria
    • Western Australia
    • New Zealand
No Results
View All Results
  • Coffee News
  • Features
    • Industry issues
    • Interviews
    • Knowledge leader
  • Coffee community
    • Competitions
    • Events
    • Get to know
    • People
    • Sustainability
  • Industry insights
    • Café insights
    • Green bean
    • Manufacturers
    • Milk and alt milks
    • Roasters
  • Skills & education
    • Business advice
    • How to
    • Latte art
    • Recipes
    • Research
    • Tutorials
  • Equipment & tech
    • Automation
    • Coffee machines
    • Grinders
    • Milk steaming
    • Roasting technology
    • Technology
  • Café scene
    • Australian Capital Territory
    • New South Wales
    • Northern Territory
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Victoria
    • Western Australia
    • New Zealand
No Results
View All Results
Home Features Celebrity Chef

Guy Grossi: The people’s chef

by Ethan Miller
December 2, 2019
in Celebrity Chef
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Guy Grossi
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Australia’s godfather of Italian cuisine, Guy Grossi, speaks to BeanScene about Melbourne’s early coffee culture, family traditions, and why reinventing the wheel is the key to longevity in the hospitality industry.

In the 1950s, Lygon Street, or “Little Italy” as it’s known in Melbourne, was a bustling street of Italian migrants hanging outside coffee bars, reading the newspaper, and smoking cigars. On a Sunday, Guy Grossi’s father, Pietro Grossi, a Milanese migrant, would take his son to Lygon’s Caffe Sports bar and converse with everyone he passed. 

“Dad knew everyone on the strip. He’d chat and talk to the boys and we’d always get a cappuccino. It was always a delicious experience, and probably my first taste of coffee as we know it today,” Guy recalls.

“Coffee back then in Melbourne was more simple. Coffee was coffee. It was an important part of Melbourne’s culture – and breakfast and morning activities – but it wasn’t given any consideration of how good it could be. Generally it was Italian branded. There wasn’t the myriad of roasters we see today.”

Back at the family home, coffee was made with a Bialetti device. At nighttime or in the afternoons there would always be a pot of coffee on the stovetop. The next morning, the leftover coffee would be put in a pot with some milk and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, warmed up, and given to the kids to drink for breakfast. Guy says it was best soaked up with a leftover piece of cake or bread. 

Guy Grossi
Guy started his chef’s apprenticeship at age 15 and continues to work at Grossi Florentino.

“Interestingly, if we look at what’s happening in the coffee scene now, we’ve got a lot of people embracing old traditions. You can’t beat the Bialetti,” Guy says. “Filter was something people used to frown upon because it was always so terrible. Straight away, they’d get this image of American diners with coffee pots sitting on the counter, trying to keep warm for hours – of course something like that can’t taste good. But now, we’re discovering that filter coffee is one of the best ways to really taste the nuances of a coffee.”

In today’s sophisticated coffee market, Guy says consumers emphasise the importance of quality and won’t accept mediocrity. 

“An espresso needs to be decent with a good crema and great flavour, not just a bitter hit,” he says. “With milk, the coffee has to be creamy and rich with a lovely caramel flavour and nuttiness to it, so that when your teaspoon shakes around in the cup you can hear that thumping hollow sound of the milk that’s emulsified with the coffee that’s in there.”

Guy enjoys an espresso in the morning and another in the afternoon. While he says there’s certainly a scientific and technical side to making a good coffee, the rest comes down to having a good product, preparation, and execution. 

“You wouldn’t buy dodgy meat and expect to have a good dish in the end. If you want great beef you buy great beef, and it’s the same with coffee,” Guy says.

He has enjoyed memorable coffee experiences in New York, San Francisco, and London, largely thanks to the rise of Aussie expats taking their love of coffee to developing coffee cities. However, he says there’s no place like home when it comes to our coffee standards, with Melbourne and Sydney’s esteemed reputations thanks to the cities’ melting point of cultures that have been embraced by the population and their overall fascination with great coffee. 

“When you’re in other parts of the world they make jokes saying ‘OK, you’re from Melbourne, better make sure the coffee is good’,” Guy says.

“In Australia, people have always asked themselves how we can we get the coffee better. Now, they don’t accept coffee that was roasted months ago. They’re demanding something fresher and more information on where their beans come from.”

Guy Grossi
“Once upon a time you might have got away with average coffee, but  not any more.”

As such, Guy says consumers have embraced locally roasted coffee, and knowledge that their coffee is not bought below the cost of production. 

“We’re inquisitive. Let’s know we are actually supporting farmers that grow a really decent product by giving them a little more for it and encouraging them to work harder to produce a better quality by processing in a more clean, stable, sustainable environment. I think people have really embraced that philosophy over the years, and that’s pushed the quality up,” Guy says. “Like anything else, once your game goes up, it’s hard to look back.”

The same rule applies for the coffee served at Grossi Florentino in Melbourne. Guy works with Chris and Peter Nikolakopoulos at Kaffeina Coffee to develop a six-bean blend for maximum intensity and complexity in the cup with the right balance of flavour for his Melbourne customers. 

“I wasn’t sure at first why we need so many different beans but they convinced me. They use beans from different provenances around the world and the end result is something we think is pretty special,” Guy says. 

“In a restaurant, the coffee is the last thing people have and if you don’t do it well, it can spoil a great experience. Some people make an emotional investment to come for a three-to-four-hour dining experience, and others will just spend 10 minutes and walk in off the street for a coffee. If you can’t impress them with a coffee, then you’re in trouble. Is there enough competition around? Of course. Once upon a time you might have got away with average coffee, but not any more.”

Guy knows all too well the challenges and competitive nature of Melbourne’s hospitality scene. His father started Café Grossi around 1989 and it has taken the city of Melbourne on an incredible culinary journey over the past 20 years. 

“There was a lot at stake but we’ve been very lucky,” Guy says, sharing a picture of himself and his sister Liz Rodriguez with their dad outside the café. “It’s a oldie but a goodie.”

This article appears in FULL in the October 2019 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.

Tags: Celebrity chefguy grossiitaly italian

Related Posts

TV chef Mike Reid believes it’s a challenging time for hospitality businesses in Australia. Images: Mike Reid

Mike Reid: The Laughing Chef

by Kathryn Lewis
October 15, 2024

With 20 years’ experience and a wealth of projects under his belt, TV chef Mike Reid has ridden the highs...

Image: Kay-Lene Tan.

Kay-Lene Tan on pursuing her dream career

by Kathryn Lewis
August 19, 2024

MasterChef: Dessert Masters semi-finalist Kay-Lene Tan reveals what it was like to compete against her role models and the quarter-life...

Sofia Levin

MasterChef judge Sofia Levin reveals her go-to cafés in Melbourne

by Sarah Baker
June 18, 2024

MasterChef judge and journalist Sofia Levin talks to BeanScene about the café culture that helped kickstart her food career, and...

Join our newsletter

View our privacy policy, collection notice and terms and conditions to understand how we use your personal information.

BeanScene Magazine is committed to promoting, enhancing and growing the coffee industry in Australia as it’s coffee news has captured the attention of coffee roasters, bean and machine importers, café owners, café chain owners and executives, and many of the auxiliary products and services that support the coffee industry in Australia and around the globe.

Subscribe to our newsletter

View our privacy policy, collection notice and terms and conditions to understand how we use your personal information.

About Beanscene

  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Latest magazine
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy collection notice
  • Privacy policy

Popular Topics

  • Coffee news
  • Features
  • Coffee community
  • Industry insights
  • Skills & education
  • Equipment & tech
  • Cafe Scene

© 2025 All Rights Reserved. All content published on this site is the property of Prime Creative Media. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited

No Results
View All Results
NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE
  • Coffee News
  • Features
    • Industry issues
    • Interviews
    • Knowledge leader
  • Coffee community
    • Competitions
    • Events
    • Get to know
    • People
    • Sustainability
  • Industry insights
    • Café insights
    • Green bean
    • Manufacturers
    • Milk and alt milks
    • Roasters
  • Skills & education
    • Business advice
    • How to
    • Latte art
    • Recipes
    • Research
    • Tutorials
  • Equipment & tech
    • Automation
    • Coffee machines
    • Grinders
    • Milk steaming
    • Roasting technology
    • Technology
  • Café scene
    • Australian Capital Territory
    • New South Wales
    • Northern Territory
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Victoria
    • Western Australia
    • New Zealand

© 2025 All Rights Reserved. All content published on this site is the property of Prime Creative Media. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited