Maillard Atelier, a communal roasting and education space for coffee professionals has opened in Melbourne.
The brainchild of Tony Strickett and Celina Lazarus, Maillard Atelier is a “satellite roastery” for cafés wanting to roast themselves, and for businesses and enthusiasts wanting to learn how to roast.
Tony and Celina have worked in and around the coffee industry locally and internationally for more than 15 years.
In the past four years they operated First Crop Coffee, a specialised green coffee company that provides 100 per cent transparent green trading that is ethnically focused and charity driven. They noticed a lot of their customers growing in volume and in most cases, outgrowing their facilities.
Celina says this was the inspiration behind Maillard Atelier.
“The idea was developed from talking with these clients and hearing about the challenges of growth and space within a cafe/roastery style business,” she says.
As such, The Maillard was designed with the idea of accommodating businesses so they could maintain their ‘cafe/roastery image’ while increasing wholesale volume comfortably.
From there, Celina and Tony discovered a desire for interstate brands to have a satellite roastery in Melbourne.
Tony and Celina would like to take this model around Australia and beyond.
Since it’s opening Celina says they’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response from the industry. “The Maillard is not limited to roasters but all coffee professionals, such as trainers or consultants that are able to utilise the space as their own to hold meetings, classes and workshops,” she says.
As for the name, Celina says the Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction which occurs in coffee roasting although is not unique to coffee. The Maillard reaction occurs in many food types and is the chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars which gives browned food it’s desirable flavour. Atelier is the French word for an artist’s workshop.
“We wanted to have a name that related to coffee but also outlined what the space is,” Celina says. “Coffee roasting is an art and a science, so having the name be both art and science, embodies coffee roasting. If you don’t know what the words relate to it creates intrigue, so their hope was to push people to discover something new and dig deeper.”
Maillard Atelier will host the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Regional Coffee Championships from 17 – 18 September, located at 6 Allenby st, Coburg North, Victoria.
