Melbourne may be Australia’s coffee capital, but competition is heating up in Perth.
Beans from far flung parts of the world can bring different flavours and qualities to your coffee offering. But when it comes to roasts, the experts say it’s best to look local.
Htet Myint Aung is Business Development Manager at Blacklist Coffee Roasters, an award-winning specialty coffee roastery and wholesale coffee supplier in Perth.
He says sourcing from local roasters means coffee delivered weekly.
“One thing most people don’t know about coffee is that it’s better when it’s aged for a few weeks to let it sit and go through a degassing stage,” he says. “Weekly delivery means you have better control of the age of the coffee you’ll be serving.”
Fellow WA-based roaster, Leftfield Coffee Roasters co-founder Kamran Nowduschani says the benefit of sourcing locally is magnified in a location such as Perth.
“By my standards, if someone here in Perth buys roasted coffee from the eastern states, they’re getting damaged goods due to the transport logistics and heat damage,” he says. “It’s a long way across the Nullarbor.”
The carbon footprint is another point, as well as the economic consequences.
“By supporting local roasters, cafes and consumers will get a fresher product and have a more intimate working relationship with their roaster,” Mr Nowduschani says. “Plus, due to our isolation, whatever they spend here will do the rounds locally and come back to them in some form.”
West coast tastes
When it comes to drinking coffee, does the WA palate differ from other parts of Australia?
“Coffee is very subjective,” Mr Myint Aung says. “Some like it stronger than usual. And I would say WA coffee drinkers love their coffee strong.”
Apart from “the famous Perth Long Mac” (what’s known as a ‘double shot latte’ is commonly ordered as a ‘Long Mac Topped Up’ in WA), Mr Nowduschani says local coffee tastes are not that different.
Mr Myint Aung says differences in roasting style had previously been “more exaggerated due to things like water quality or milk quality”.
“Roasters and cafes would adjust what they do to get the best with what they have, even if it was subconscious,” he says. “Now things are much more standardised with advances in technology and access to it. I think today the coffee in Perth is as good as anywhere.”
Roaster guidance
Both roasters advise WA cafes and convenience stores to stock locally roasted coffee and keep stock fresh to give the best possible quality to the customers.
“Buy from a local roaster that’s 100 per cent WA owned and operated,” Mr Nowduschani advised.
“Whether it’s us or any of the other local roasters, it doesn’t matter. Find someone you get on with that shares your values and understands what you’re trying to achieve with your business.”
Read more about West coast roasters in the latest issue of Convenience World.
