How To

fox latte art jibbi little

Fantastic Mr Fox 2 latte art by Jibbi Little

Jibbi Little demonstrates how to take a good design up to world competition standard, with her technically improved Fantastic Mr Fox. Competition pushes you to grow as a barista, latte artist, and person. Not only do you need to progress your skills and mindset, you need to develop and refine your designs. Read More
fresh coffee freezing packaging

Packaging before freezing: How to keep coffee fresh for longer

Dr. Monika Fekete on how to store fresh coffee beans and why correct packaging comes before freezing.  It was wonderful to see Melbourne streets animated again with people enjoying sit-down brunches, albeit shortly lived. However, as cafés re-open around the country, baristas and managers may find themselves evaluating how to maximise their roasted coffee bean supplies. Rapidly changing consumption volumes over the last couple of months has potentially meant that some coffee has been sitting on shelves longer than usual. But is it still fit to serve, and how can we keep coffee fresh for longer? 
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back to business

Back to business

Jared Chapman speaks about the importance of clear communication and how to implement correct safety precautions to give customers full confidence as cafés reopen. With the rollercoaster ride that 2020 has been (and continues to be), many café owners are turning their attention to how to navigate reopening or refocusing. 
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Kangaroo latte art by Jibbi Little

Jibbi Little pulls a kangaroo design out of her pouch that will put a skip in your step and kick into your coffee. Australia is full of unique and interesting animals that are unlike anything else in the world.
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cafés adapt change

How cafés can adapt to change

Jared Chapman on how cafés can adapt to change, the importance of staying relevant and chasing new opportunities – and not just when a pandemic hits. Wow. What a challenging and different year 2020 has been so far. They say the only constant in life is change, and we have seen more than our fair share of change this year already.
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service sphere bean barn

Service Sphere introduces Bean Bottega platform

Maurizio Marcocci of Service Sphere introduces a new online platform to unify Australian roasters and create a whole new experimental world for coffee consumers. Every time I walk into Dan Murphy’s liquor stores – for a responsible bottle of wine or two – I’m amazed by the depth and variety of alcohol on offer, from spirits to champagne, wine to pre-mixed cocktails, and then further divided into chilled and room temp, imported or Australian produced, top dollar or budget.
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reality small business ownership

When reality bites in small business ownership

Espressology’s Instaurator paints a genuine picture of why business ownership is a complex beast that isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. Winston Churchill is quoted as having once said “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”. Certainly, it is hard to maintain enthusiasm when things don’t go your way – take the industry’s current impact of the coronavirus for example, which has forced businesses to close – some temporary, others not – and reduce staff. However, it is important to learn from these lessons so that, hopefully, we can move onto success and leave COVID-19 as all but a distant memory.
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camel latte art jibbi little

Camel latte art by Jibbi Little

Jibbi Little shares a latte art design as tricky as getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
 Like how camels keep emergency supplies in the humps on their backs, I’m glad I had this latte art pattern up my sleeve. My tenure as the current Australian Latte Art Champion has received a temporary extension, giving me the opportunity to share another fun design.
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