"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

A few of the boys recently travelled to the US for the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) annual conference. They’ve come back beaming from seeing the industry’s newest products on display, and from the knowledge they gained in the various lectures and tutorials.

The SCAA is the trade association for the specialty coffee industry, one of the fastest-growing food industries in the world. The most recent tradeshow was held in Long Beach, California.

Given the level of busyness at the roastery over the past few months, a work trip was an exciting prospect for Rich, one of the roasters. Yes, a chance to travel to California, the home of beach babes, crazy traffic, smog, the Govinator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and, of course, the 2007 SCAA conference.

Rich met up with Ben Bicknell from the WA Barista Academy and WA Barista champion, Nolan Hirte (the whitest homie G alive!) Nolan had the guys grooving to his funky beats twenty-four hours “a day” (pronounced the way Eric Bana says it in the iconic Australian movie, The Castle).

Dean was kind enough to organise a great American muscle car for the guys, and they pictured rolling up to a red convertible Mustang in the car park. Rich imagined a Three Amigos moment, with the three of them standing in a perfect line, hands on hips, engaged in a pause of appreciation for Dean. Turning to each other, they would nod in silence as they all had their own special thought about how Dean is such a great guy… but for some reason the little Hyundai Excel didn’t quite generate the scenario they’d pictured. With limited legroom for the backseat passenger, calling “shotgun” became highly important.

The SCAA conference was held over a four-day weekend. The boys attended several tutorials including Altitude Cupping, Advanced Cupping Techniques and Craft Roasting. They spent several hours each day exploring the massive showroom floor – the variety and size of the floor meant it was impossible to see everything in just one day. The showroom was also the home of the American Barista Championships and offered great entertainment during lunch and any down time not attending classes.

“The trip gave us a great insight into the US coffee scene,” said Rich. “They certainly don’t do things the same over there. There’s a much larger trend towards filtered coffee. I think the Australian espresso culture is far more advanced.”

© All photos taken by resident Five Senses photography — Richard Austin.