"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It’s a long journey from instant coffee drinker to being recognised as one of the best baristas in the country, but Jennifer Murray, manager of the 5 Senses Coffee training school — the Western Australian Barista Academy – has enjoyed every step along the way.

Competing against 17 baristas from across the nation, Jen was proud to be awarded third place at the 2008 Australian Barista Championship, held this past weekend (3-4 May) in Melbourne after being crowned the 2008 Western Australian Barista Champion. Jen was awarded an impressive total of 740 point at the national event (out of a possible 1000) and was just half a point behind the second place getter.

“I was more relaxed this time”, explained Jenny, which is no surprise when you learn that she has been living and breathing (even dreaming) coffee for the past few weeks in preparation for the competition. It’s something she thinks comes with experience, this being Jen’s fourth competition appearance.

Jen has given an insight into the world of the competitive barista below, with her reflection over the path she’s taken to get to this point…

Once it was all said and done and I stepped outside the Perth Town Hall a few weeks ago, and I must admit, I was absolutely stoked to have won the 2008 WA Barista Competition. I breathed a massive sigh of relief as I realised that it was all over and that I had somehow managed to execute most of what I had planned. I think it’s safe to say, with four competitions under my belt, I’m well on way to being able to call myself a seasoned competitor. Oddly enough, I’m finding each competition harder than the last, as I search for ways to improve. I often end up creating a whole new set of variables for myself to manage. It reminds me of students who make the change to grinding on demand. All of a sudden instead of click, click, shot, they now have to consider shot speed, correct dosing, tamping and grind level. Anyways, I think you get the idea, the important part for me, is that these competitions keep me on top of my game, forcing me to take a close look at what I do and finding ways to perfect it.

My earliest memories of coffee were black, bitter and strong. Growing up in Montreal, Canada, meant that a drip filter at home was fancy and instant coffee was the norm. We spoke in terms of sweetener and half and half (half milk / half cream) and less about origins and extractions. In fact, I can’t even really ever remember seeing an espresso machine as a kid; yes I’m sure they were around, but it definitely never occurred to me.

Now here is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. My first ever espresso coffee was when I came to Australia in 2002. All of a sudden I had a new word to add to my vocabulary, “Flat White”. Makes sense, it’s flat, and white, I thought it was called a cawfee, but never mind. I can’t really say that I was hooked right away, not really knowing what to expect, I opted to add sugar and be social, still not quite getting all the hype.

It was only years later, working at a café in Byron Bay that I had what I like to call my first real coffee experience!! Hooray! THEN I was hooked. The pale yellow crema that I had become accustomed to was now being replaced by a rich reddish brown liquid oozing out of the portafilter spouts. Which, to my astonishment, tasted good, almost great, possibly delicious, I now wanted to know more. People were starting to talk in terms of extractions, equipment, quality, freshly roasted etc … All of a sudden I found myself slowly gravitating towards the espresso machine, giving some friendly hints and nudges to the main Barista at the time to try and get my hands on a portafilter. Luckily for me, he was passionate about coffee and willing to teach me, YAY, I was excited. I was more than happy to wake up at 5:30am on his days off to replace him, I had to, as I was now second in command, it was my duty of course. It certainly helped that we had a brand spanking new three group LaMarzocco Linea, only later did I really understand the true meaning of good equipment. And so began my coffee journey …

Relocating to Perth was the best thing I ever did. Not just because I love it here, but it was here that I first learned of 5 Senses. I was beginning to realise that I quite possibly wanted to pursue a career in coffee, so getting in with a top local roaster was the next logical step. I started as the tastings girl, going to the supermarkets armed with an Isomac and Mazzer Mini combo pulling the sweet shots for local shoppers. It was great to see consumers paying that little bit more for freshness and quality. The times they are a changing, gone are the days of “a coffee is a coffee”, welcome to the great big world of specialty coffee and local roasting.

From there I found myself lingering around WABA (WA Barista Academy), no one knows for sure how long I pestered Mister Ben Bicknell (coffee nut extraordinaire and 5 Senses employee) to let me in on some of the action. Nice guy, taught me heaps about coffee, equipment, training, cupping, dosing, tamping, the works. I soaked it all up like a steam wand sponge and was ready and raring to go. Hence, Jenny, the new barista trainer! Of course Ben held my hand for the first little while (not literally) but naturally he wanted to make sure I was up to par with the great reputation he had built for quality barista techniques and training in Perth. I’ve learned that passion is the key to success with coffee. I always tell students at the beginning of class that making coffee isn’t difficult, it’s attention to detail and a desire to create something memorable. Being open to new ideas and schools of thought is where I’ve grown the most in coffee. I don’t know everything about coffee and I don’t aspire to, I want to be continually surprised and excited. It’s all about the end result in the cup!

Hmmm … Barista competition, you say? Sounds good to me! I never had a doubt, of course I wanted to compete, this is what I do, this is what I’m passionate about. Although it does not necessarily relate entirely to the everyday grind of café baristas, it certainly is a great way to get to know coffee intimately, as well as your local coffee community. You have to serve four cappuccinos, four espressos and four signature drinks — all in under 15 minutes. The trick is to be engaging, smooth, confident and get your shots spot on every single time. Sounds easy enough, I soon realised there was a bit more to it than that. My first competition was last year and I was overjoyed to have placed second. The first and second (the Australian opens) in my case were all about the experience. Doesn’t matter how many times you watch people do it, once you’ve done it yourself you can clearly understand what needs to be accomplished to succeed. For me, it all comes down to the shots, if you know your coffee well enough, everything else will fall into place. When I say know your coffee I really mean obsess about your coffee. Know exactly when it pours best, has settled enough and gives the right flavour profile, length and shot consistency.

This year I am very proud to say that I placed first in the WA Barista Competitions and followed it up with a very close to runner-up in the nationals. The best part about these achievements (besides the cash winnings and cool grinder), is being able to represent WA. These competitions have really forced me to stay at the top of my game when it comes to techniques and methods, which keeps me relevant in terms of coffee training knowledge.

So now that Melbourne’s over it’s time to get back into the bump and grind (get it … grind) of the day to day life of a barista trainer and start the long road to next year, where I will win. Yes I will.