COVER STORY
What a barista wants From the automatic Ubermilk nanofoamer to the boilerless Tone brewer, Barista Group has made a name for itself in the Australian coffee industry for innovating café workflow efficiency.
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ith every innovative product that Barista Group imports to Australia, General Manager Joe Chalhoub asks one simple question, ‘would I use it in my own café?’ “Our focus is on providing equipment that is engineered with precision, improves workflow, and ultimately saves precious time,” Joe says. “It all comes down to workflow efficiency. Every product we bring in improves the way baristas work or increases productivity in the café. If I can’t see how a piece of equipment would do that, then I wouldn’t use it in a café of my own and wouldn’t expect others to either.” While Joe has more than two decades of experience in coffee roasting, Barista Group has a much shorter legacy, celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2022. “I started Socratic Coffee as a hobby in 2015 to test and delve deeper into the coffee machines and equipment we were working with as coffee roasters and wholesalers. Up until that point, the equipment has been an afterthought to me when it came to coffee, but Socratic Coffee gave me a love for it,” Joe says. “Socratic Coffee’s experiments began getting some attention and gave me a platform to speak with various suppliers and manufacturers. They would introduce us to their latest gadgets and ask us to test them. There were these phenomenal products that didn’t have Australian importers or resellers, so that became our natural next step.” Some of the longstanding products in Barista Group’s portfolio include a range of flat burrs from SSP Grinding Solutions, the Syncfo 4 in 1 coffee analyser, and the adjustable pressure punch Force Tamper. Joe says Barista Group saw slow and steady growth in its first few years, which rocketed towards the end of 2018 after its now flagship product, the Ubermilk automatic nanofoamer, reached Australian shores. “The first shipment of Ubermilk
The Tone brewer can produce filter coffee without the use of a boiler.
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