Australian coffee drinkers are now more sophisticated and educated than ever, and have a deep understanding of what makes a great coffee. Finding a favourite café that makes coffee just the way they like it has become something of a national obsession among Australians.
This passion for indulging in superb coffee is why five passionate Lantern Club baristas volunteered to attend the Hennessey Coffee Academy. They were given world-class barista training to ensure our members and guests enjoy the best café experience possible. No matter what your favourite coffee style is – cappuccino, latté, espresso, long black, macchiato or anything else you can find on our café menu – our baristas can now ensure your choice is better than you’ve had at any of the best cafés in the Roselands area!
Our volunteers were sent on a five-day course, spread out over five weeks, where they were taught the art of quality coffee making. This involved:
- Receiving the correct training
- Having the time to practice and improve
- Instilling in them a passion and dedication to continually develop throughout their career
Subjects covered included:
- Roasting – The art of transforming the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans, into the enormous range of roasted coffee beans available on the market today. The roasting process gives the beans their distinct flavours and characteristics.
- Cupping – Otherwise known as coffee tasting, professional Master Tasters are able to observe and taste a brewed coffee aroma, and expertly understand its properties. This allows them to make decisions on what can and should be done to improve on the blend.
- Espresso trouble shooting – Pouring the perfect espresso is an art form, and it can go wrong for the best baristas. Knowing what is wrong, and understanding how to correct the issue is one factor that separates the good baristas from the great.
- Coffee grinding – Also known as milling, the degree of grinding will strongly influence the brewing process. The fineness of the ground coffee, combined with the perfect exposure time to hot water, will produce a delicious coffee. Getting this combination wrong can result in either bitter and harsh flavours, or a weak taste.
- Coffee origin – Understanding where a coffee comes from and the flavours that are synonymous with that area will enable a barista to produce the best coffee for each customer. Single origin coffee is grown in one area, and is usually named after that place. Conversely, coffee blends are a mix of single-origin coffee beans. Baristas often experiment with blends to give customers what they interpret to be the best coffee available.
Each of our five baristas received training specifically designed for them, based on their goals, interests and career aspirations. At the conclusion of their training, each of our baristas reported back to the Lantern Club team what they had learnt and how they will apply these new skills to their work. And of course our baristas made coffee for the staff using their newfound coffee-making expertise, and needless to say the results were amazing.
Thanks to the expert training received from The Hennessy Coffee Academy, our baristas may enter the 2016 Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Regional Coffee Championships. The best baristas in New South Wales and the ACT will compete for the title of State Barista Champion, with the winning representing NSW/ACT in the national championships. The championships take place from September 3-4, 2016, which gives our baristas plenty of time to practice and refine their techniques. We’ll keep you posted on how they go.
To meet our trained baristas, witness their coffee-making skills and sample their incredible creations, head to MàZi Café, our dedicated café restaurant. Open seven days a week, our baristas will ensure you enjoy a world-class coffee to accompany any light meals, French pastries, assorted treats or amazing gelato that takes your fancy from our café menu. Feel free to ask them what they learnt on their course as our friendly staff will be only too happy to share their insights with you. Perhaps you’ll pick up a new idea or two so the coffee you make at home or work is just that little bit better!
Check out the photo gallery below to see exactly what our baristas got up to on their Master Barista course at The Hennessy Coffee Academy.