Coffee events

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:

Latte Art Smackdown Comps

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If you want a look-in at behind the scenes of a Latte Art smackdown (or throwdown), this clip gives an overview of this exciting and fast paced competition where competitors compete for time and presentation of their coffees. This style of competition is extremely popular at our First Pour cafes; we are always inundated with competitors and spectators alike. Judges look for good contrast, perfect symmetry (or best attempt at symmetry) and level of difficulty with the design.

Check out the video:

Otto Demonstration Evening

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Creator of the fabulous OTTO stovetop ESPRESSO maker Craig Hiron will be at the First Pour Melbourne on Dec 6, from 18.00 to give us a full working demo.

This stainless steel internationally recognised, modern design based on the classic
Italian ‘Atomic’, offers a lifetime of coffee enjoyment for in the home. It produces professional quality espresso and includes a steam wand for creating beautifully textured milk.

OTTO comes with an OTTO tamper, the OTTO experience DVD providing a barista training session, two Italian designed latte glasses and a stainless milk jug, packaged in a robust premium travel case.

Special purchase price on the night $689 (RRP $795).

Latte Art Smackdown at Melbourne’s First Pour

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For more photos, visit our facebook page.

Over 100 people attended our action packed Latte Art Smackdown on November 1, with 32 competitors!!

Our comp RULES were:

Each pair of competitors will go head to head on the machine
Handles will be loaded for you to avoid competitors crossing each other
Shots will need to be poured into

PURA backs Craig Simon’s training seminars

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A huge thanks to the ever-dependable folk at PURA milk for their unwavering support of the Australian coffee industry, including their most recent backing of Craig Simon’s training roadshow for Veneziano Coffee Roasters. Their contribution is always appreciated! PURA provide milk that’s permeate free and just ideal for the perfect milk-based coffee.

Read more about it

Meet the Judges of First Pour Melb’s Latte Art Smackdown!

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First Pour Melbourne is hosting a Latte Art Smackdown Thursday November 1, at 6pm in Bond Street, Abbotsfored. We are excited to have some VIP judges, who will be briefed in on the judging criteria by Craig Dickson, Veneziano Coffee Roasters managing director and president of the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association (AASCA). Meet our esteemed judges:

Brita Water Filters on the Road with Craig Simon

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Brita water filters are lending their support to Craig Simon’s training roadshow. Water is nearly all of the preparation of water based coffee beverages and water quality impacts aroma, flavour, crema stability and even appearance.

The folk at Brita say that mineral-rich water is required to make a good coffee, however water hardness is detrimental to aroma. Brita offer a water filtration system designed specifically for coffee machines with reduced carbonate hardness yet retention of the all important minerals required for flavour potential.

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Disave Latest Sponsor for Craig Simon Training Series

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The participants of Craig Simon’s training seminars will be able to road test a Compak coffee grinder, kindly being supplied by our latest sponsor, Disave.

Compak grinders pride themselves on producing equipment designed to achieve the perfect grind for whatever coffee the barista is preparing, without altering the properties of the coffee ensure it ends up in the cup as intended.

For more information about Disave and the Compak grinders they supply, visit