Beyond the Brew
Let’s spill the beans - The baristas and retailers raising the standards of your morning brew. Nicole Yap goes beyond the brew to find out what makes our local baristas and roaster tick.
Coffee beans in the roaster.
Written by Nicole Yap
Let’s spill the beans – when you stop and smell the fresh aroma of coffee permeating the garden city air, you’ll discover the vibrant abundance of cafés and roasteries that keep the heart of Toowoomba beating.
But some of these coffee shops don’t just give you your morning (or anytime) fix; they also support local businesses, communities and baristas-to-be.
SIX OF ONE
Six of One Coffee Roasters can do it all – whether it’s roasting and blending a fresh cup of coffee or setting up an espresso bar at your home or workplace. But one of the things they do best is upskilling baristas in the Toowoomba region, ensuring the art and legacy of coffee-making lives on.
According to owner Jason, making good coffee begins with imparting knowledge of “crop to cup” – understanding the journey and ecosystem of coffee, and developing best-practice skills such as in sourcing, roasting, storing, grinding, and pouring. Six of One offers coffee education courses for the home or office barista, while their experienced commercial baristas introduce to regional what is typically only found in the big smoke: – specialty coffee.
Helping anyone become a barista aligns with Six of One’s mission to “make specialty coffee approachable for everybody,” Jason said. “For us, it’s demystifying it and making it enjoyable – when times are good or hard, people have a coffee.”
TOTAL COFFEE
Adan and the team at Total Coffee have been serving the wholesale coffee needs of Toowoomba locals since 2005. From supplying premium beans to servicing and installing espresso machines to providing a range of other equipment and accessories, Total Coffee has built a business based on helping other small businesses in the region.
A loyal customer, Ben from Travel Mugs Coffee has seen first-hand how Total Coffee has worked to deliver “great results from quality products, and is always on the hunt for new or alternative options,” Ben said.
If “coffee brings humanity together”, as Total Coffee puts it, then humanity begins on home ground. A local coffee culture cannot be fostered without the supply of beans and blends that drive many of Toowoomba’s sit-down and take-away coffee shops.
BANTER COFFEE KITCHEN
Coffee and art are interconnected, and we’re not just talking about latte art raison d'être (other than serving good coffee!) of displaying local art to give back to the community. Stephen is both the owner of Banter and the curator
of the in-store Brouhaha Gallery, a commission-free public gallery exhibiting the work of Toowoomba’s emerging artists.
Banter has hosted exhibitions to fundraise money for local organisations and charity projects, so enjoy your single-origin espresso while admiring the featured art, feeling proud that you’re making a positive impact.
“I see the shop as a vehicle for ‘community’,” Stephen says, knowing how often community starts in the creative comfort of a café. “The most interesting conversations and situations can often occur in a coffee shop.” Banter offers the experiences of art, community and coffee all from their small corner of the CBD.
“Our namesake holds a branding, 'Local Affability', and we intend to live up to that statement.”
Do you have a story we should know about? Please let us know!
