QLD Aeropress championship

I went to QLD aeropress championship on Sat 14 Feb – Yes, Valentine’s day. I felt like I was saying I was dateless – true – but I got a selection of nice baristas in my view, and could get some tips on brewing coffee via aeropress.

The venue was The Wooloongabba Social Club/Coffee Suprese/Ex-Cup roaster. I likes this venue far better than the last year as Strauss is a good venue, but a bit too cozy. It got really hot soon, and started at 7PM. I was tired about 8PM, so could not stay until the end.

Less women in the comp always makes me wonder though there are many lady baristas and they are equally good. I asked about why to a lady barista who visited the comp as audience. She said it requires lots of training = time. When lady baristas have a family, they normally don’t have a time to practice.

I also find it very interesting that many baristas are university students/graduates with great degrees such as law, engineering and science. That suggests that barista is not a “coffee maker” any more but a proper job like Garcon at a cafe in Paris.

What I found out as a change is many competitors used a normal brewing method this year. No interesting apparatus such as weight, paper filter, but two guy baristas – Matt and Brian from John Mills Himself – used a flour filter to filter out inconsistency in ground. It was very interesting and doable at home.

The final was between Scott who had won many championships in the past (he is still a university student!!) and currently works at the Woolloongabba Social Club and Strauss, and Chris who is a chief barista from Gramercy and Irving Place. The result was – Chris won.

Congratulations Chris. Look forward to visiting Gramercy/Irving Place soon. Maybe I should ask him to brew me Aeropress and give me some tips!

The atmosphere was really relaxed and great to see some of my favorite baristas whose cafes I haven’t had chances to revisit, namely The Tiller and U&I. They also served free drinks and food. I had never seen a competitor at the final stage were having beer while brewing coffee!!!

Blue Sky Coffee (Newstead)

Blue Sky Coffee is one of my favorite roaster cafes in Brisbane. Some may say their coffee is the second grade, but I really love their level of hospitality, dedication to aesthetic appeal and spaciousness. They are very customer-focused as well. Blue Sky was the first cafe where an owner was keen to educate me on many aspects of coffee making. If you want to get some introduction, but feel a bit awkward to top-notch specialty coffee places as you may feel they are a bit snobbish (but in most cases, they are NOT. They are very keen on talking about what they are really passionate…), Blue Sky is the place of my first choice. It is also easy to find!

I quite enjoyed cold drip. It came in an old milk bottle – very cute – with an ice cube made of sugarcane. It was quite delicious and the serving size was for two glasses. I was really caffeinated…

Blue Sky Coffee

32 Commercial Rd, Newstead QLD 4006
1300 232 575