Small Batch - North Melbourne
“Most Australians grew up drinking coffee that was oily, bitter and espresso brewed, because that’s how coffee was “supposed” to taste. At home, they might have a plunger and a jar of months-old ground coffee to drag out on special occasions.
Who knew how long ago their coffee was roasted or ground — let alone where it came from? Since coffee was drunk with copious amounts of milk and sugar, who even knew what it really tasted like?
Then some curious souls started asking questions about how and where coffee was harvested; how it was processed and roasted and whether it could taste better. Andrew Kelly was one of them, starting with some intrepid backyard experiments using a heat gun and colander.
Soon, Andrew dreamed of sharing his discoveries by opening a cafe and roastery. That dream became Auction Rooms: a big open space where everything was on display, a menu that raised the bar for cafe food, and an obsession with creating delicious coffee. Since 2008, Melbournians have been flocking to North Melbourne, answering the siren call of what The Age Good Cafe Guide has twice called Melbourne’s best cafe.
As our roasting operations grew, we opened a dedicated roastery down the road. Auction Rooms was our flagship cafe; Small Batch is the coffee that made it famous.
We want to spread the word that with carefully sourced and roasted coffee beans, a bit of knowledge, and openness to a world beyond espresso, anyone can make coffee at home that’s as good as any cafe’s (even ours!), and better than most. We also supply wholesale to a small number of cafe operators who care as much as we do.
Understanding that the best cup of coffee starts with the raw product, we are dedicated to working consciously and meaningfully in a select group of countries, collaborating with producers closely to achieve the holy trinity: coffee that is exceptional, that has a positive social impact and that supports sustainable agriculture."
"Candyman is our flagship espresso blend, launched in 2010. It’s our daily labour of love, a constant work-in-progress: making superlative tastiness from the raw components that we insist on buying well, ourselves (ie not just from the importer as is common practice). All this to create sweet, balanced espresso, with or without milk."
Components
- Amigos del Huila (Colombia)
- Ader Recinos (El Paraiso, Huehuetenango, Guatemala)
- Ahmed Abatemam - natural, landraces (Jimma, Ethiopia)
Roast date - 23/09/2024
Process - Washed / Washed / Washed
Flavour notes - Malted milk, Macadamia butter
"With this micro-lot, five small-scale coffee producers - Polo Calderon, Rubio Bolanos, Nelson Fabio Cordoba, Luis Octavio Titimbo, and Jose Gil Perafan - provide another great example of the famous adage, that the 'whole is greater than the sum of the parts'.
It helps when the 'parts' are pink buorbon variety lots, hailing from members of our favourite producer group, Los Guácharos (whose members are transitioning away from synthetic chemical inputs in their farming in favour of taking on a more wholistic, regenerative, soil-up approach).
Once thought to be a naturally occurring cross-pollination between red and yellow borbon varieties, DNA testing has recently demonstrated that the “pink bourbon” variety is in fact another Ethiopian Landrace.
These lots are minimally fermented in cherry, then after pulping, without water."
Producer - Small Scale Producers of Los Guácharos
Origin - Los Guácharos, Southern Huila, Colombia
Roast date - 23/09/2024
Variety - Pink Bourbon
Process - Minimally Fermented
Flavour notes - "Perfect balance of brightness, sweetness & character. Orange juice, musk & cherry notes."
"Tadeo founded the family farm, working alongside his sons - agronomically trained Benjamin (a name you will know from our menu in the past), and Cornelius (who also produces pacamara).
The farm is happily biodiverse; the coffee grows on lush soils full of organic matter and teaming with ample ground cover, and is interplanted with a great array of native shade and orchard trees (avocado, peach and banana to name a few). Tadeo de-pulps the coffee the same day that it’s picked then performs a careful dry fermentation for about twenty-five hours. From there, it’s left for a reposo —a period of time where it’s left under cold water — before Tadeo washes it. Then, the coffee is brought down to the newly-built raised beds outside of the house, where it’s left to dry under mesh coverings over ten to fifteen days."
Producer - Tadeo Lopez
Origin - Farm El Aguacate, San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Roast date - 23/09/2024
Variety - Borbon, Caturra
Process - Washed
Flavour notes - "Nougat and caramel, with highlights of pineapple and basil."
"Ines grew up in a coffee growing family, as one of ten siblings helping their family to tend to the coffee plots.
Today, she and her 20 year-old daughter Sandra work on the farm together, tag-teaming between household chores, cooking for the family and for pickers, and processing coffee. Their coffee has been recognized for high quality — they placed in the Cup of Excellence in 2011, and are proud of their success. Their farm is in the township of Puerto Lleras, and they de-pulp and ferment the coffee on the farm, before bringing wet coffee down to their home closer to town.
This coffee is from Ines’ 4.5 year old Pink Bourbon trees (seed cultivated by another Guacharos member, Ildefonso Cordoba). Ines picks ripe cherries, floats in water to remove the over- and under-ripe cherries and commences a cherry ferment in plastic bags (for 12-24 hours, depending on the weather). From there, she depulps the coffee, and then ferments it for an additional 36-40 hours in a tank before washing it. From there, her coffee is sun-dried for around 15 days, and then dried under shade cloth for 10 more days."
Producer - Inés Perafan
Origin - 2 hectare farm Finca Los Olivos, Puerto Lleras, Huila, Colombia
Roast date - 23/09/2024
Variety - Pink Bourbon
Process - Washed
Flavour notes - "Ripe tropical fruit, an explosive pink grapefruit acidity, blackberry jam in the residual."
Recipes
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Espresso - 9 bar Brew ratio - 1:2.5 (dry coffee : espresso liquid) Temp - 94 Deg C Time - 25-30 seconds. *Adjust grind size to achieve the desired time
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Espresso - 6 bar Brew ratio - 1:2.8 (dry coffee : espresso liquid) Temp - 94 Deg C Time - 25-30 seconds. *Adjust grind size to achieve the desired time
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Pourover Temp - off the boil Ratio - 1:15.5 (dry coffee:water) Bloom - 30 seconds Flow rate - fast *Adjust grind size to achieve desired flow rate |
Aeropress Temp - off the boil Ratio - 1:14.5 (dry coffee : water) Bloom - 30 seconds Brew time - 90 seconds (including bloom) Press consistently over 15-20 seconds. |
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Stove top Ratio - 1-14 (dry coffee : water) |
