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Jen Marks, Australian Latte Art Champion 2013 – Headline Barista at MICE

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See Jen at the Veneziano Coffee Roasters stand (no. 60) at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo on Thursday May 23:
-Chemex brew bar in the morning
-Espresso bar in the afternoon

Melbourne, Australia, May 2013 – Jen Marks, Australian Latte Art Champion 2013 and one of Melbourne’s favourite baristas, will pour up some Chemex filter brews in the morning and appear behind the espresso machine in the afternoon MICE visitors may be lucky enough to see some of her beautiful latte art creations, on Thursday May 23 on Veneziano’s stand.

Also a roaster, Jen is currently preparing to compete as Australia’s representative in Nice, France, at the World Latte Art Championships next month. Any spare time she has is put towards practicing on the Dalla Corte competition specified machine, kindly on loan to Jen by Zarraffas, in a gesture that demonstrates the true spirit of Australia’s coffee community supporting their own.

Jen’s personal preference in latte art is the classic, simple look of a free pour pattern. However, she has been known to do some etchings for her friends from time to time, although more for the fun and enjoyment of it. If combining the two methods, Jen’s says it’s best to complement the free pour art with etching.

Veneziano’s Chemex brew bar and espresso bar at MICE: featured microlots

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Hightlight on:
-Ethiopia Nekisse from Ninety Plus
-Craig Simon’s competition blend, Ethiopia Hachira from Ninety Plus
-Costa Rica COE 2012 microlot ‘El Roble’, and
-El Salvador El Manzano 2013 crop.

Veneziano Coffee Roasters aim to impress visitors to Melbourne’s International Coffee Expo (MICE) with the chance to try out some exclusive single origins sourced from Ethiopia, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Here’s what you can expect:

Inker Crockery

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Inker cups and saucers are the choice of specialty cafes and roasters around the world. They hold the coffee temperature stable with their thick, high grade porcelain walls and vibrant colours stand up to scratches and knocks time and again, whilst having a beautifully smooth hand-feel.

Veneziano Coffee Roasters are pleased to stock the New Mocha range of cups and saucers, available in sets of half a dozen, in a colour range of black, white, grey, blue, green, orange and red, in espresso (80ml), flat white (150ml), cappuccino (210ml) and mug (280ml, available only in grey and white). Conveniently, sets of half a dozen saucers are also available separately.

Latte Art Smackdown and Cupping US Roasted Microlot Coffees

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First Pour will hold a Latte Art Smackdown, preceded by a Cupping event hosted by Cafe Imports and featuring some exciting microlot coffees from respected US roasters such as Mad Cap, Stumptown, Verve, Sight Glass, Halfwit, Coava, Joe NY and more.

The Smackdown event will have some great prizes up for grabs, such as $1000 cash (sponsored by Pura Milk), Otto Stovetop Espresso machine, $500 cash (sponsored by Silverchef), Compak K3 Push Grinder (courtesy of 9Bar Espresso Services) and the winner will also receive a year’s subscription to Barista Magazine.

In attendance will be the Barista Magazine team, the guys from Cafe Imports and being close to the MICE event you can expect to see some national barista champions as well as some recognised Australian barista names also present.

Veneziano’s Craig Dickson Certified Coffee Judge in Three Categories

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Veneziano Coffee Roasters managing director Craig Dickson is the only Australian currently certified as a World Coffee Judge, qualified to judge in all three categories of Barista, Brewers Cup and Latte Art at international level.

World Coffee Events (WCE) conduct Judge Certification Workshops around the globe for the specialty coffee community, with workshops held in March 2013 in Long Beach, USA; Melbourne, Australia; Singapore; and Tolentino, Italy.

World judges must have a minimum of two years’ experience judging at their national competition level before they can try for the qualification. Craig has over ten years’ experience, including head judging duty (the head judge oversees all of the seven other judges, being sensory and technical) as well as having judged at New Zealand’s national competition in 2012…

Veneziano’s Brazilian Microlots Program Continues

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Brazil coffees provide the base of some of our espresso blends. Recently our general manager Ben Romeril and roaster Jack Allisey visited farms in Brazil, touring the regions of Pocos de Caldas and Carmo De Minas. As a result of this trip are excited to share the news about our Brazilian coffee shipments.

Our Brazilian coffee program for our signature blends will draw from five main estates with lots that have scored 84 – 85 points: Fazenda Laranjal, Fazenda Sertaozinho, Fazenda Cachoeira, Fazenda Rainha and Fazenda Recreio. In addition we’re committed to some unique microlots that have achieved 85+ points.

The first container we have received is a Yellow Bourbon from Fazenda Laranajal which we are roasting as a single origin as well as experimenting with as part of our ever changing seasonal blend. Our second shipment will contain coffee sourced from Fazenda Cachoeira followed by Fazenda Recreio.

Here’s an overview of the profiles of these Brazilian beauties:

Otto Stove Top Espresso Maker

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What happens when Craig Hiron, founder of Otto Espresso drops in at the First Pour Melbourne to give us a bit of a demo? Experimental coffee making sessions is what!

The Otto is featured in our Home Espresso Studio, where our baristas will take you through a hands-on experience with any of the machines in there (read more)…

Home Espresso Coffee Machine Studio

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A question we get asked all the time is “what is a good coffee machine for home”? We are happy to announce that we now have a Home Espresso Studio based at our First Pour premises in Abbotsford, Victoria.

The great thing for customers is that they can come in and actually have a play around with the machine, have a go at making coffee (provided by us) and frothing milk so they can determine which is the right machine for them.

Customers can also take advantage of having our experienced baristas guide them on the workings of the machines and they’ll be able to answer any questions in relation to the machines’ performance. Beats having a department store sales rep trying to ‘sell’ you one, especially without a road test!

Veneziano Produces 2013 Australian Latte Art Champion and Barista Champion Runner Up

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In an exciting, jam packed weekend that was the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association’s (AASCA) 2013 national coffee event, Veneziano Coffee Roasters are extremely proud of barista-roaster Jen Marks finishing in first place as the newly crowned 2013 Australian Pura Latte Art Champion whilst barista-trainer-production manager Craig Simon almost took out the Australian Barista Championship title back to back.

Well done Jen and Craig, it was an extremely close competition with the difference between first and second being only a matter of points in both categories.

A nail biting finish saw Craig Simon narrowly miss out on (… read more…)

Veneziano Coffee Roasters through to its ninth national coffee competition

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The weekend’s AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Assocation (AASCA) Victorian coffee championships, held at Code Black Brunswick, resulted in two category wins and a third place for Veneziano Coffee Roasters, that will see the specialty roaster represented at the national competition for the ninth consecutive year, in March this year.

Held across two days Veneziano fielded competitors in each Victorian competition category of: Latte Art (sponsored by Pura), Brewers Cup, Cup Tasting and the highly anticipated Barista Championship (sponsored by Detpak).

Veneziano VIC Results: