Tips and Hints from Bega Foodservice Chef Ambassador Gary Johnson

“The majority of coffees made in Australia are sold with milk, so choosing a really good brand is integral to your success. Coffee and milk are like bacon and eggs, they’re the perfect partners.

“I also believe that you shouldn’t cater down to a price but cater up to a standard. I once changed the milk brand in one of our cafes because we thought we were getting a better deal but customers started complaining and we lost 40 per cent of our business within a week. They knew the flavour and consistency wasn’t the same so I learnt a very valuable lesson from that. My advice is to go with a trusted brand like Dairy Farmers and stick with it – the foundation of your coffee business can be built on that decision, because it’s all about the reliability of your ingredients!

“The consistency of the beans from your coffee supplier is equally important – you don’t want them over-roasted one week and under-roasted the next, they have to be consistent because when it comes to a beverage that your customers might enjoy two or three times a day there’s no margin for error.”

• While there was formerly a widespread perception that arabica beans were superior to robusta beans in flavour, today high end robusta is often added to espresso blends. Unlike the cheaper robusta grades used primarily for instant coffee, high end robusta sourced from India or Africa has a less earthy flavour and when blended with arabica can impart extra flavour depth or ‘cut through’ to your coffee.

• Recent years have seen the rise of boutique roasters and blenders who run small scale operations servicing local cafes. While these can provide you with good coffee at a competitive price, it’s important to find a supplier who can ensure consistency – and that can be harder to come by from a boutique roaster.

• Larger scale coffee suppliers dedicate considerable in-house expertise and technology to inspecting raw coffee beans, testing for moisture content and identifying defective beans prior to cleaning and roasting. They also use sophisticated roasting units that are able to monitor temperature, roasting times and other variables to a degree that smaller operators may not have the equipment to match.