Our Marketing Coordinator Olivia Coote threw her essentials into a carry-on for a whirlwind three day trip to Melbourne a few weeks ago. Olivia was there to celebrate La Marzocco’s 90th birthday at their Out of the Box event, attend the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) and see what’s going on in the city.
After a very early start in Auckland, I landed in Melbourne very ready for a morning coffee. It wasn’t long till I was sitting in Everyday Midtown, the second Melbourne address of Everyday Coffee, enjoying a pastry and their batch brew. Midtown’s space is minimal but not cold, the huge pavement to ceiling windows seem to help. The American girl (or was she Canadian? - sheesh, says the Kiwi who gets lightly offended when asked if she’s Australian) is super friendly and engaging, her approachability turned out to be the norm in Melbourne and the coffee, delicious.
Everyday Midtown. Photo - Broadsheet Melbourne.
From there I had to dash to get to La Marzocco’s event, Out of the Box, held in the Abbotsford Convent - Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct, with 11 historic buildings and extensive gardens. On the way I spotted and snapped a bottle of Cold Brew by Brotherhood.
Many more coffees were consumed at La Marzocco’s event. A trip to tour the factory (in Florence) was given away (not to me unfortunately), there were lengthy discussions about what the next 90 years of coffee will look like and presentation by La Marzocco’s Enrico Wurm about how water quality could change everything - we just need to understand it’s relationship with coffee a bit better first. The La Marzocco team also unveiled their new Strada AV with auto brew ratio and like true Italians, feed us till we exploded. Thank you, guys!
Photo - Jess Bicknell.
The next morning was another early rise to make Coffee Supreme’s meet-up at their Abbotsford Roastery before exploring the city with the wonderful Jess from Acme & Co.
Photo - Coffee Supreme, Melbourne.
Burnside, cnr of Gertrude and Smith, Fitzroy.
The tiny Shop Front, Victoria Parade, Collingwood.
After visiting Burnside, Proud Mary’s Aunty Pegs, Shop Front and Allpress - it was a new level of caffeine intake - we headed to lunch at Archie’s. A fresh & friendly spot in Fitzroy whose vegetarian options rivalled those of Kōkako Café.
Photo - Archie’s.
That afternoon I met with Molly Harriss Olson (CEO of Fairtrade ANZ) and Mirjam Groten (Fairtrade ANZ’s Business Development Director). Two incredibly talented, driven and compassionate women (exemplified when Molly relieved me of my hazardous phone cord, replacing it with her own while we chatted). We discussed what’s in store for Fairtrade and Kokako in the year ahead (blog post on that coming soon) at their office inside Lifestyle Working. The impressive 5 Star Green Star commercial strata building won the BPN Sustainable Buildings Major Commercial Building in 2013.
The final day of the whirlwind trip started at tiny Traveller Coffee - observing the Italians across the lane prepping their pasta for the lunchtime rush. And Next was Patricia, because no trip to Melbourne is quite complete without a quick visit to this little gem, before heading out of the city to for a full-on afternoon at MICE.
Traveller Coffee, Crossley Street. Final photo . Broadsheet Melbourne.
Patricia, Little Bourke St & Little William St.
In essence, MICE is a big coffee trade show. Booth upon booth of the latest and greatest machines, equipment, uniforms, cups and allying products eg. chai and milk.
A sneaky snap of World Barista Champion (2015) - Sasa Sestic.
Our friends at Acme & Co.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed and once I was, I jumped in a taxi and boarded the plane back home.
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