Australian and American coffee culture collide in the next episode of ˜Get Something Brewing’ series hosted by KitchenAid
There are distinct differences between when you grab a cup of coffee in Australia versus the United States. Sitting down and enjoying a beverage at a cafe, for example, highlights the roots of Australian cafe culture from Italian immigrants who brought espresso and drank coffee as a break from the day. In America, coffee is often delivered quick and fast, stemming from its use during the Industrial Revolution as an energizing fuel. However, it’s apparent that these two cultures are beginning to intersect ”cafes all over America are embracing a more holistic ˜cafe’ experience by providing food and other gourmet options, and Australian cafes are coming around to the idea of batch brew or filter coffee.
In the second episode of the ˜Get Something Brewing’ series hosted by KitchenAid, Tyler Wells of Blacktop Coffee hosts Mark Dundon of the Paramount Coffee Project in a discussion about the changing landscapes of both American and Australian coffee cultures and how the two are beginning to merge with one another including the evolution of home brewing through innovative craft coffee products from KitchenAid. Mark Dundon began his coffee career humbly before opening up Seven Seeds, one of the leading roasters in Australia. As he says, œbasically, I was a poor artist for a long, long time, and we set up a small café up in a little hood in Melbourne ¦and that’s when the bug bit me. Along with Seven Seeds, Mark is also the co-owner of the Paramount Coffee Project, and with outposts in both Sydney and Los Angeles, highlights the various ways in which one can brew and enjoy coffee. Patrons can just as well hop in for a quick cup of drip coffee, or sit for a moment and enjoy a unique coffee and food service, combining some of the best attributes of both Australian and American coffee traditions.
The lines between distinctly Australian traits and tastes are beginning to blur into American preferences, and not only does that affect service and menu choices, but it also influences the way in which we talk about coffee to consumers. As a coffee retailer, this is something Mark has to think about when a customer buys a bag of coffee and asks how to brew it. œFor us, we see massive increases in brewed coffee as well as retail sales for people doing their own [coffee] at home, Mark shares, which means he has to think about how people are brewing coffee and what tools they have available to them. A product like the Precision Press Coffee Maker from KitchenAid adds technology to the classic French press by integrating a built in scale and timer making it easy to use coffee brewer and removes a lot of the mysteries of filter coffee.
For Mark, products like the Precision Press don’t just make good coffee, but enhance the overall customer service experience for customers. œYou have to make sure you’re looking out for people, he says, and the customer service experience doesn’t end when they walk out the door. œIt’s interesting how you capture guests and lead them on this journey, Tyler mentions, and part of fostering a love of coffee is by making the process easy to understand and approachable. œI want people to go home and do something delicious ¦and the best thing about doing stuff at home is that you get to explore a whole lot of different things, shares Mark.
The Precision Press, through an integrated scale and timer, allows people to make good coffee on their own without complication or guesswork. œIt sets a tone for people to understand, ˜oh this is actually quite simple,’ Tyler points out, and makes coffee brewing akin to other forms of highly skilled craft like baking. œPeople baking a cake ¦they’re meticulous, weighing this, pouring that, making sure everything is ok, Mark says, and the Precision Press makes these steps simple, ensuring not only that people feel that good coffee is accessible, but also that good coffee is the product of precision and measurement. And for us in the specialty market, it all comes down to our customers feeling excited and connected to the coffee they drink and make. As Mark shares, œThat’s the goal, because we need people to be drinking good coffee.
