Latest news with #coffeeculture
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Would you swap your barista made coffee for filter? Al Brown thinks you should
Al Brown Photo: Supplied In the face of rising coffee prices top chef Al Brown is urging people to park the snobbery and make the switch to filter coffee rather barista made espresso. The Auckland chef and owner of several eateries told Checkpoint drip coffee is a cheaper alternative. Bottomless drip coffee is something Brown sells at some of the cafes he owns. He reckons filter has come a long way, since the bad old days. "Drip coffee has just come a long way and the coffee culture in New Zealand is extraordinary. It kind of jumped, from instant straight to becoming, really taken seriously," Brown said. "We have great coffee roasters and great baristas out there, but it just keeps going up and up." He said the difference with drip coffee is the coffee is extracted through water dripping through the coffee grounds, instead of being forced through like an espresso shot. "They both are ground. The barista one is then packed, and the water is forced through for your espresso shot. A drip coffee is again fresh roasted beans, they're ground and then the water drips through and extracts the coffee." Drip coffee is essentially filtered coffee, he said. "I spent a lot of time in the states and their coffee culture over there was pretty hopeless. But we make beautiful, filtered coffee here in New Zealand, there's lots of roasts. Not just me, but Supreme, all the big roasters are doing it as well. "It's an opportunity if you love coffee, most of the people that serve drip coffee, it's bottomless. There's a whole lot of ups to it, you all get your coffee at the same time, it's fast, often it's bottomless, so you can sit there and have a couple of cups. "You're not having to pay a barista, which is a lot of money. Coffee machines are up to $20,000 each. There's quite a bit of wastage with espresso as well with the grind and a lot of milk." The cost of coffee beans hit a record high of $14/kg earlier this year. Buying a coffee a day for $5.50 adds up to $2007.50 a year. Kiwis can tend to be snobby around coffee, Brown said. "If you're paying seven bucks for a flat white or latte somewhere, if it's made by a great barista, I totally get it. It's delicious and it's well made and it's crafted. "But you can stop at a horse float halfway up the country in some little town and pay seven bucks there as well. Made by someone that hasn't really been trained, and the result isn't great at all. "When you travel around the world, there's a whole lot of different ways that coffee is served. It's mellower, if you drink it black, it's not as aggressive. You taste those sort of flavour points a bit more."
SBS Australia
24-05-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
Taking coffee from 'functional beverage' to 'indulgence'
Indonesia, one of the world's largest coffee producers, has just hosted a global event that's turning heads, and turning up the heat, in the specialty coffee world. This is the World of Coffee Jakarta 2025, the first time this prestigious international coffee showcase has been held in a coffee-producing country. And for Indonesia, it's more than just an honour ... it's a statement. From cutting-edge brewing competitions to ethically sourced beans, thousands gathered in Jakarta for a full-bodied celebration of everything coffee. At the heart of it is the Specialty Coffee Association, or SCA, which launched the World of Coffee expo back in 1999. This year, it finally made its way to the farms and forests where so much of the world's finest coffee begins. Yannis Apostolopoulos, the CEO of the Specialty Coffee Association, says the aim is to reframe how we think about coffee. "I think what we're trying to do is to excite consumers in consuming coffee. Coffee is moving away from being a functional beverage to becoming more of an indulgement. And what we want to do is to get consumers through a journey that they find coffee exciting as food or wine, so that people can actually enjoy coffee and maybe understand the value that they bring to the value chain and to the people that are producing coffee all around the world." He's talking about a deeper experience, one where coffee sits alongside wine and fine cuisine, with respect for every hand along the supply chain. One of those hands belongs to Mikael Jasin, the World Barista Champion in 2024. He's a familiar face here, brewing with the same meticulous care farmers use when harvesting cherries. 'At least for me, it's making sure that the approach that I do when I make this coffee is the same standard at least to the approach that the farmers have done to their coffee, the roasters have done to that coffee, and then me as the barista at least maintain the same standard, if not better. So that the customer when they drink it, they can enjoy that coffee to the best potential of that coffee." He says it's about preserving the integrity of the bean, from farm to roast to cup. That sense of duty, he admits, becomes even more intense when he's making coffee for others. 'Coffee, there's still so many people that are involved in the steps and it's very easy to mess it up. So, when I make coffee - and especially when I make coffee for people, when I make coffee for myself, I'm a bit more relaxed - but for people, I want make sure that I'm serving the best of that coffee ." And it all begins with the farmers. On the volcanic slopes of Bandung, West Java, coffee cherries ripen in the sun. This is home to Java Halu Coffee, run by Rani Mayasari. At her booth in Jakarta, she beams with pride. It's taken 15 years to build her farm, empower women, and make it here. And now, she's sharing Indonesia's story with the world. "It's proof that maybe our world is more better. It's our hope in the coffee industry, our hope, our economy, our politics more better in next year. It's like a medicine for us. It's like a painkiller for us, you know? Because a lot of effort that we already doing in 15 years. So it's like a good food, healthy food, or soulful food maybe for us. So our soul happy, our body happy, so we can make it in these three days." She says serving her first harvest to international buyers is more than a sale, it's a celebration of identity, resilience, and the soulful joy of good coffee. Young coffee lovers, too, are finding inspiration here. Among them, 18-year-old Jamie Elijah Yauw. He's just graduated high school but already dreams of joining the industry. 'I think every step of the way at the industry is amazing. It's beautiful, it's inspiring, and to be here, meeting people who've worked with farmers, meeting people who make the tools we use every day, meeting people explain how they roast their coffee and seeing the effort that people put, or see how much they love, how much they put their whole life into coffee, is so inspiring. Where for me to see people like that, it's just making me awestruck, really.' And then, the grand finale, the World Brewers Cup 2025. After three days of intense competition, China's George Jinyang Peng emerged as this year's champion. "I feel so very excited and very happy, and maybe a little bit shocked." With over 50 participants and more on the horizon, the competition mirrors the fast-growing specialty coffee market, especially in producing nations like Indonesia, Brazil, and Vietnam. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the global coffee industry now generates more than $200 billion in annual revenue. In 2024 alone, the price of Arabica surged by 58 per cent. And with growing interest in transparency, sustainability, and quality, events like World of Coffee Jakarta are redefining the bean, not just as a drink, but as a story. For Indonesia, that story is just beginning. And it smells like a fresh brew of national pride and global respect.
