9 minute read
ONE OF A KIND
Cameron McDonald is the Business Development Manager at Bombora Coffee + Water Supplies.
Bombora Coffee + Water Supplies Business Development Manager Cameron McDonald explains how BRITA’s range of filters can treat and block even the toughest of water conditions.
In March, torrential rain impacted communities across the east coast of Australia, resulting in severe flooding, mass town evacuations and thousands of damaged homes.
After what had already been a wet summer with above-average rainfall, the saturated, close-to-capacity water catchment areas cannot cope.
The intensity of the floodwaters caused significant erosion of dirt, sand, and clay. As a result, local water agencies estimate that the turbidity or cloudiness of the raw water in flood-affected regions has risen at least 100 times above acceptable levels.
Turbidity is caused by solid particulates within a water source, which can include soil, sand, as well as clay. These particulates can cause significant damage to municipal water that water authorities distribute to communities.
This particularly affects municipal water sources that rely on large-scale sand filters, which can clog under the sheer volume of contaminants, or ultraviolet disinfection systems. This requires water turbidity to be below one NTU (nephelometric turbidity units), water containing one milligram of finely divided silica per litre. This is so the transfer of the disinfecting light can reach and neutralise bacterial coliforms.
So, what does this mean for local small businesses, including cafés? The chances are high that the incoming water supply has suffered sediment and particulate matter ingress.
The key here, is to address this issue before recommissioning your machine, including disconnecting the machine feed line, and running water into a bucket until it is clear of particulate matter.
The next crucial step is changing the water filter as any contamination to the line will also be trapped within the water filter.
Thankfully, this is where BRITA water filters can shine. Its filters are designed to mechanically remove, absorb, and exchange the three most common contaminants found in Australia: chlorine, particulate matter, and of course scale.
Filters are designed to mechanically block or absorb incoming contaminants, including sediment, chlorine, scale, and bacteria.
When a filter is left unused, these contaminants can begin to cause the filter to resemble a stagnant pond internally. They may also affect the structure and overall integrity of the filter, which can lead to the filter dumping contaminants into a coffee machine.
It is for this reason that a filter change
BRITA water filter technology provides businesses with quality water on demand.
should be a part of the recommissioning process of any coffee machine or water dispensing device.
When a coffee machine is left to stand for some time, contaminants tend to settle and form a barrier within solenoids, flow meters, group heads, and boilers. The recommissioning of a machine is best carried out by a qualified technician to ensure that the correct process steps are followed. However, during this process, water filters are over-looked.
When it comes to ideal time to change a water filter, most cafés and service technicians work off time in use, such as three, six or 12-month intervals.
This method potentially risks your machine being supplied by a filter with depleted media, allowing harmful scale and gypsum to block solenoids and destroy boilers.
The best way to ensure that your machine is protected is to change the filter based on the machine’s capacity. This figure can be measured by installing an inline flow meter or using a simple calculation, as shown in the breakout box.
BRITA’s 4 in 1 media composition will protect your machine from critical contaminants that can cause a premature expiry of expensive components.
At Bombora, we work with BRITA for our water filtration needs, and are committed to providing education about the importance of water quality and how it can affect the taste profile of coffee. COVID-19 made it difficult to facilitate the usual onsite training. However, our team produce regular articles on the water testing, performance, usage benefits and handy tips regarding water filtration, which can be found on our website.
To ensure our customers always receive top quality water, we stock Australia’s number one filter brand. This ensures that we have a vast array of filtration products to choose from when providing solutions for our customer’s applications.
We also offer free inhouse water testing to ensure that we fully understand each customer’s unique application requirements and provide the correct solution, which ultimately results in great water.
The Purity C range is a staple of Bombora’s product offering. It guarantees optimum water quality for every application of the coffee machine within the Australian market.
Its quick-change, multi-purposed head allows anyone to easily do a filter interchange between the Purity C Finest and Quell offerings, depending on machine boiler types. This removes the need for a technician to change your filter and provides a cost-effective solution. Namely, we recommend the Quell filter range for copper boilers and the finest filter offerings for stainless steel boilers that require PH buffering to help prevent low PH corrosion.
BRITA continues to be a leading manufacturer of softening-based water filtration solutions for roasters or café owners. Bombora has shared a working partnership with BRITA since 2008.
We believe a good business relationship requires trust, respect, inclusion, and open communication. All these attributes exist within our working relationship with BRITA, and this is the key reason why they are considered a valued partner of ours.
Beyond being a great company to do business with, take great reassurance in the fact that its filters provide the best solution for all water qualities and conditions nationwide, even in the most extreme situations such as floodwaters.
Our thoughts are with those businesses impacted up north. We wish them well on their path to recovery.
For more information, visit www.bomborasupplies.com.au or www.brita.com.au
• Base the café on 40 kilograms per week. • Base the café on Sydney metro with hardness levels of 70 parts per million (ppm) • The assumption of 10 grams of coffee per shot • The use of 50 ml per shot (This includes pre-rinse) 1 shot = 10 grams of coffee. 10 shots = 100 grams of coffee x 10 = 1 kg 100 shots per kg x 40kg per week usage = 4000 shots. 4000 shots times the 50 ml of water per shot = 200 litres. The C150 has a capacity of 4766 at 70 ppm. 4766 divided by 100 litres = 23.83 weeks.
Specialty coffee is all about partnerships, whether that’s between roasters and producers or cafés and their suppliers.
Since launching in 2018, partnerships in the coffee industry have also been at the core of The Alternative Dairy Co. and have contributed to the success of its Barista Oat, Soy, and Almond Milks.
Some of these partnerships are with the most prominent names in the coffee industry, including Sydney’s Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters which began using and recommending The Alternative Dairy Co. Barista Almond Milk in 2021.
“There’s definitely been an upward trend with alternative milks and a shift away from dairy over the last few years,” says Josh Haidinger, Assistant Head Roaster at Toby’s Estate.
“We tested a range of alternative milk suppliers and Alternative Dairy Co.’s almond milk was our number one choice when paired with our coffee.”
After tasting several almond milks, Josh says Toby’s Estate found The Alternative Dairy Co. open to feedback and collaboration, which confirmed their choice to partner with the Australian owned company.
“We love working with and supporting local brands. They also have an extensive knowledge of the local markets and trends,” Josh says.
“Our focus is always around taste and how the milk pairs with our coffee. The Alternative was a standout when it came to almond. It’s also great to know that they’re a brand with a focus on baristas.”
“I’M NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING WHEN I SAY IT’S ONE OF THE BEST ALTERNATIVE MILKS THAT I’VE USED IN MY CAREER.” Brodie Roberts Café Manager at Proud Mary Coffee
Since partnering with The Alternative Dairy Co., Josh says they have been an engaged partner in supporting initiatives and events like Swirl Club.
“We’ve had a great response within our network which can be attributed to the unique flavour profile that The Alternative Dairy Co. has and how it pairs with our coffee,” he says.
“We are definitely seeing an upward trend of alternative milks that is only going to get stronger over time. We are likely to see an increase in alternative milk options/offerings and looking forward to seeing our relationship with The Alternative Dairy Co. continue to strengthen.”
Another esteemed specialty coffee roaster embracing The Alternative Dairy Co.’s Barista Almond Milk is Melbourne’s Proud Mary Coffee. across The Alternative Dairy Co.,” says Brodie Roberts, Café Manager at Proud Mary Coffee.
“Coincidentally, their office is just down the road from us and they were actually already regulars the café. I’ve been able to build really great relationships with the rep and the rest of the team.”
Brodie adds the biggest adjustment when switching to The Alternative Dairy Co. was Proud Mary’s customers getting used to the higher quality almond milk.
“Our old almond milk had quite an unusual texture and strong almond flavour, whereas The Alternative Dairy Co.’s has a texture very similar to dairy milk and a neutral flavour,” she says.
“After giving samples to a few of our regulars, some of them couldn’t even tell it was almond milk.”
Proud Mary’s also aligned with The Alternative Dairy Co.’s on several values, such as quality, sustainability, and supporting local.
“It’s pretty important for us to be able to support other businesses that are in similar industries and circumstances, particularly when their product is light years above others offering a similar product. They’re an Australian owned company who focus a lot on sustainable practices and do everything to ensure that they are providing the best possible product,” Brodie says.
“They’re also pretty transparent in the way they share their sustainable practices with us, like ensuring that the water and other waste from their almond production is processed, recycled, and put back into the farms. They also don’t use any harsh like chemicals or pesticides and to me that’s a very important thing.”
With health and sustainability becoming more and more important to customers, Brodie says demand for plant-based milks will continue to rise.
“We have a few projects on the horizon together and hopefully will continue to grow our relationship,” she says. “I’m not even exaggerating when I say it’s one of the best alternative milks that I’ve used in my career.”
