1000 £ Bend: Now serving Will&Co.

Will, from Will&Co...

1000 £ Bend: Now serving Will&Co. 
Melbourne's much loved coffee haunt 1000 £ Bend has taken on a brand new coffee supplier -  Will&Co. - a recently launched Sydney-based coffee company. Will from Will&Co. (pictured, not a founding member, the name is a co-incidence!) is down today dishing out cold brew coffee to customers and introducing the brand to Melbourne. The espresso blend (same blend as used in the cold brew) is the perfect palate-pleasing all-rounder: well balanced acidity, malty undertones and a clean mouthfeel. Free cold brew was for this morning only - but the espresso blend is here to stay!

£1000 Bend located at: 361 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

photos www.rhphoto.com.au

Volume Three - a look inside!

Here it is, your guide to Espresso Tales Magazine VOL 3 which can be bought online right now from here or from any of our lovely stockists - see here.

First up, the cover (above) this is  a well beaten-up stovetop espresso maker I found at Camberwell Markets a few weeks back, photographed on the floor of my new studio. Altogether I'm well happy with the cover this edition!

I love the beautiful and subtle advert place by The St. Kilda Dispensary in opposite the intro :)

Was a pleasure meeting the crew from Sbriga Bar - nice story too...

Sbriga happens to use Allpress, so this is a rather well placed advert by Allpress!

Get the full story behind Coffee Supreme in Melbourne - through Heath Cater, Head of Australian Operations...

I'm loving the new Keepcup Brew, and I value the support KeepCup!

Becky and Mik from Ruby's. Lovely people with a lovely cafe :)

Full story behind Pana Chocolate - loved by vegan, gluten-intolerant rawsters everywhere!!

A little creative thinking from the Prana Chai team with this pull-out advert!

It is all about coffee, At Omar and the Marvellous Coffee Bird, in Gardenvale...

There is always a little space in support of the Wild Timor Coffee guys :)

STREAT dishes up a great coffee, whilst supporting at risk youth....

(Full story in VOL 3)

Thanks to Alistair from Five Boroughs for this piece on his hand made coffee cups....

Tana cafe! Cute - special thanks to Adrian Craddock for this story...

The talented Matt Forbes not only keeps Espresso Tales in a recipe each edition - but this volume includes the story behind the man, the brand and the cafe (Cobb Lane)

Special thanks to writer Candice Guillaumier and photographer Glen Watson for the piece on Brightbird Espresso!

Matt Forbes shares his Custard tart recipe!

I asked Luka if she could come up with a line drawing of a cafe shop-front with tables etc... anyway she did just that. I love this, I have one on my wall!

So there you have it - for full stories, get you hands on the latest edition of Espresso tales here

Espresso Tales Magazine Volume Three to be released at MICE14!

Volume Three of our little magazine will be available from the St Ali  stand next week at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo

After this all our usual stockists will be supplied with stocks including: Happy Vally, Books for Cooks, Clementines, Melbournalia, Readings St Kilda... oh and so many more!

I'll be around on the Thursday morning at MICE - say hi if you spot me setting up!

Espresso Tales meets STREAT

Matt (head roaster) and Rebecca (CEO) or STREAT

STREAT is a small chain of inner Melbourne cafes that takes great pride in it's food and coffee - but is is also a social enterprise. Over the last few years STREAT has had over 180 disadvantaged and 'at risk' young people through it's doors on one or more of a number of schemes they offer ranging from work experience to six month training courses in hospitality.

The full story behind STREAT will feature in Volume Three of Espresso Tales due out in May -
Which I guess means I had better get writing!!

First Shoot for VOLUME THREE!! Sbriga EspressoBar, Melbourne CBD

Mario from Sbriga Espresso Bar, Melbourne CBD

It is the coffee, food and interiors often that attract us to a certain cafe - but it's the staff that keep us coming back, right? The passion behind Melbourne cafe owners inspires me every time I sit down to conduct an interview. True again when I sat down with Mario Simeone in his European inspired Sbriga Bar in the north-west corner of the CBD.  Mario's approach is to provide Melbourne style coffee with a Roman inspired ambiance.

Volume Three of Espresso Tales will include a 6 page photographic feature of the stunning Sbriga Espresso Bar and Mario's personal story of how it came about.

Volume Three will be launched at MICE 2014

Buy volume's 1 & 2 here

Panel Discussion 'Photography in Melbourne' with Lauren Rosewarne on 3RRR

Panel Discussion 'Photography in Melbourne' with Lauren Rosewarne on 3RRR

It was a delight to be invited into the studio by Lauren Rosewarne to discuss photography in Melbourne. I was joined by Michael Blamey and Will Watt to form a discussion panel of photographers.

We discussed everything from what is a Melburnian to what is unique about photography in Melbourne.

Us photographers tend to get our heads down and work away - usually shooting solo and spending many hours in the office alone editing attending to general business matters - so it was great to sit down with other photographers and talk photography!

Get yourself a cuppa 'cause this in a 1 hour segment  ; )

Listen Here  (Start around 2 hours in!)

Cold Drip Coffee with Tess Presso at Brendan Noble's

Brendan Noble's
661-663 North Road 
Ormond 
VIC 3204

It was a great pleasure to spend some time with Tess Presso last week. She has set up a brew bar in the corner of the show room at Brendan Noble's (fine furniture and restoration).
Tess is deeply passionate about the origin of coffee. The brew bar has been set up to offer coffee to customers, which of course leads to discussion about coffee and it's unique flavour profiles. Tess loves to offer different coffee from a range of coffee importers and roasters in order to ensure constant renewal. Tess's speciality is cold drip coffee. I was treated to a tasting of three different coffee's all served cold from the fridge, and poured out over ice. This is not the flat white I am used to! This is more like a liqueur with subtle sweet complexities and no bitterness.

I asked to see the workshop out back too, to fully understand Tess's business. Here I meet Brendan Noble, furniture restorer and was treated to delights of a different kind. Brendan is a master craftsman that turns his hand to anything from hand carving, to bespoke cabinetry to hand-painting restored singer sewing machines. It was a delight to see what Brendan has been working on and to know that there is still demand for quality craftsmanship. His customers range from the Melbourne Museum to locals requiring repair of antiques to commercial clients commissioning bespoke pieces.

Tess is the latest stockest of Espresso Tales, if in the area, pop in on them!

Meet the makers: Prana Chai

Mario, Koray and Vincent, of Prana Chai

The guys behind Prana Chai are good mates. Mario and Vincent have been 'besties' for over 30 years and based the chai recipe on the chai they drank on their 4 year stint travelling throughout Asia and beyond. Koray came on board more recently, as both a friend and a business partner but is the catalyst to the branding behind this recognised product we spot Melbourne wide. 

As always - I'm not giving away much more than this for now, but the full story and a photographic documentation of the beautiful, hands-on process that produces Prana Chai will be seen in full in Vol 2 of Espresso Tales - Due out in November.

Prana Chai

www.pranachai.com

info@pranachai.com

FEATURED STOCKIST: St Ali (South)

Today St Ali is my feature stockist. St Ali is perhaps the most famous of Melbourne's cafes. This place is not just busy weekday lunch times or busy for brunch over the weekend. It is busy full stop. This cafe first put coffee on the South Melbourne map. Back when the area was associated with brothels not coffee. Now the area is blossoming with great coffee houses including Dead Man Espresso, Clements and Padre.

I love the interiors of St Ali The light is amazing. I go often just for the look of the place! But there needs to be more than just looks, right? I would describe the buzz as pub-ish. Tables of people chatting and eating in all corners. Plenty of local workers pop in for coffee or food, but it doesn't at all feel corporate for that - perhaps because south Melbourne attracts so many creative business with every second building seemingly housing an architect, production company or talent agency.

Most would associate St Ali with great coffee. There is always a choice of house blend and single origins to choose from and the coffee is always excellent.

At Ali is the first of my featured stockists, look out for more from time to time!

 

St Ali

12-18 Yarra Pl, 

South Melbourne 

VIC 3205

Preview: KeepCup

Abigail Forsyth, KeepCup

KeepCup

156 Westgarth Street
Fitzroy, Australia 3065

KeepCup. We all know it. All the more hard to believe that this company is only a few years old.

These days it is all carbon neutral this and recyclable that (which is an awesome thing, obviously) but with KeepCup this is not just box ticking. KeepCup came about through a genuine desire to make a difference.

After hanging out with Abigail and the team at KeepCup for the afternoon I believe that their re-use mantra is indeed the motivation behind all they do.

The first few years was the fun part, Abigail says. Meeting people, selling the idea and growing the business. Now as KeepCup has catapulted into it's own self propelling orbit it is becoming more about 'real' business; about operations.

KeepCup's Fitzroy premises is HQ, showroom and warehouse. The warehouse is where the cups are made-to-order and sent off to their new homes. The actual manufacturing is done off site, all in Victoria, except the rubbery bands which are made in China. Assembly is done by a team of real people and brightly coloured cup-towers adorn most work surfaces. Despite being a global business, with premises also in the UK and the US there was a very hands on 'cottage industry' feel in the warehouse.

Read more about KeepCup in out next edition of Espresso Tales Magazine (Volume 2) due out in November 2013

RH

Launch Party!

LAUNCH PARTY!


After the buzz of printing and MICE (Melbourne International Coffee Expo) it was time to have a knees up and celebrate the birth of Espresso Tales magazine.

I just wanted it to be a simple, fun affair with coffee, cakes and something to drink.

I attended one of Coffee Supremes brew classes at The Abbotsford Club so as not to totally screw up the coffee (which would be kind of ironic, I guess!) and I knew the cakes would be perfect as they were from Servery and Spoon owned by my friend (who also happens to be awesomely inspiring) Elaine.

I had got myself an outfit for under $100 (shoes and dress!) from Quick Brown Fox in the CBD, earlier in the week and braved a ridiculous hair up (60's inspired...) on the day. A little prep at my friends Prahran studio (where, usually, all things spiritual take place - from Reiki to hypnotherapy) and all that was left to do was show up.

It was the perfect Melbourne winters evening (i.e could wet and miserable!) but inside was warm, coffee infused and inviting.

Magazines galore on display...

The cakes were amazing - from Servery and Spoon...

Me and the mag!

Coffee Supreme kindly loaned an array of coffee making equipment for the evening...

My VIP's for the evening! Chris and Charlotte from Cheerio who days later earn't the title 'Best Small Cafe'
in the Age Good Cafe Guide! (deservedly!)

Chris and Charlotte checking out the mag!

Cheerio folk again with Elaine from Servery, and friend.

My beautiful mummy friends Sonja, Nicki and Alison...

Aaron and Kylie of Life in My Hands and Nicky

Me! and friends Jo and Jeannette...

Some blokes. Including Martin, Kieran (hubby) and Charlie doing his serious face.

Me doing my weirdo face...

The end of the night when things got a little blurry.... Rachel and Sam.

Others were there but were not photographed on account of the fact that I forgot that I become the worst photographer on the world after a few wines (ie it didn't occur to me to take any more photos.....)

So that was it. The Magazine has had it's christening and business starts now!