FROM BEAN
Not all coffee is created equal
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One of the main reasons Sam Keck opened Commonfolk, his much-loved Mornington café and coffee roasting business, was because he felt the Mornington Peninsula had such a long history of great food and wine but didn’t approach coffee in the same way. “Coffee was almost an afterthought,” says Sam, who opened Commonfolk’s doors almost 10 years ago. With Commonfolk cafes now also in South Yarra, Beaumaris and Frankston, when it comes to coffee, Sam knows his stuff.
need to roast coffee from green coffee, but what most people don’t realise is there are so many steps before that to even get the coffee into an appropriate form to roast.”
When talking to Sam, it doesn’t take long to learn there’s more to creating the humble cup of coffee than most coffee devotees consider. “I think people don’t realise how many hands it takes to get coffee to the customer,” he says. “A lot of people know about the brewing process and the barista having to grind the beans, extract it and brew it. A few people probably understand you
“I want people to realise not all coffee is created equal. When someone suggests paying slightly more for your coffee might have a massive impact at a farming level, I don’t think it can be understated and why it’s important to understand where your coffee comes from, who is producing it and how is it paid for as opposed to ‘does the packaging look great?’ ”
Coffee is grown on evergreen shrubs at high altitudes in tropical climates in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Uganda and Ethiopia. Coffee ‘cherries’ grow along the branches of the shrub and once they are harvested – often by hand – they are washed, dried, milled, and hulled, then milled again before the beans can be shipped all over the world. As consumers learn more about the ethics behind their daily coffee hit, Sam sees the market responding. “It’s good to see increasingly good communication from coffee roasters like us and other roasters on the Peninsula like Prodigal and Little Rebel. Narratives around farming and ethical sourcing are becoming more prevalent.
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