Barista and General Manager of Locale Coffee Roasters Josh Jackson tells BeanScene about his experience serving coffee to some of Australia’s top athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Australia is one of the only countries in the world to send a dedicated team of baristas to the Olympics to ensure its athletes have access to the kind of quality coffee they drink at home. Alongside two other baristas from Perth and Sydney, Josh Jackson of Locale was one of the lucky few to accompany the Australian team to Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
“I got there before everything kicked off and set up the outdoor café from scratch. I jumped in and helped the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) get everything organised,” says Josh.
“It was all hands on deck and a massive operation. The fun part was when the athletes started to arrive. They had been training for months and were excited to see the set up and get an Australian barista-made coffee. It was a familiar comfort from home.”
Since 2020, the AOC has provided a coffee cart for its athletes at the games. This year, Josh manned an outside station alongside the additional baristas, chef de mission, and former track cyclist Anna Meares. Over the course of four weeks, the team made approximately 23,0000 coffees on two Synesso S200 machines and served over 500 litres of cold brew.
“We served a lot of coffee and that was important, but we also had music on and were chatting and dancing with athletes. We wanted them to relax, chat, and feel like they were at a café back home,” says Josh.
“The coffee was one part of it, but we also created a vibe for people to come and enjoy themselves and socialise. It was almost like a different style of high performance but with coffee. We had the machines custom sprayed to match the Australian uniforms. It was all about the extra little details to create a great atmosphere.”
On the menu for the athletes was a wide selection, including the classic long black and flat white, with an array of milk options.
“We had full cream, skinny, oat, almond, and soy. We wanted to make sure we had everything that athletes were used to drinking back home,” says Josh.
In terms of coffee, Josh came equipped with Locale’s G.O.A.T blend which was developed for the games. He described it as chocolatey with tasting notes of hazelnuts, caramel, and fruit.
“We wanted to give a representation of what Australian specialty coffee was like. Our G.O.A.T blend was received well by everyone at the games. The athletes were used to drinking European style coffee [in Paris] which tends to be a lot darker, so it was nice for them to have a coffee from home that paired well with milk,” says Josh.
After a long day spent in the Olympic village, Josh took the time to explore the city and soak up the atmosphere of the games.
“Even though the days were long, I spent most of the nights hanging out in the village watching the competitions. It was truly an amazing experience, and I was delighted to be able to cheer on our teams and athletes in person.”
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