Coffee has changed my mornings into a romantic process for me. It all starts when I open up a bag of Bay Beans fresh roasted coffee beans and just gets better as I load the beans into the grinder, hearing each bean crisply fall into the bean hopper. Grinding the coffee beans releases an immediate aroma, and hint into the flavours I will soon be enjoying. 

As I watch the coffee extraction and steam my milk, I can already taste the creamy texture in my mouth. Flat white is one of my favorite coffees in the morning, it gives me time to savour the experience and enjoy my coffee time - a special part of my day that I look forward to. 

When I sit down to enjoy my coffee, I seem to forget my surroundings, everything falls silent as I draw my first sip.  yum!

The Advocate newspaper ran a story in May 2010 about Bay Beans Coffee, a local business banking on a fresh approach. 

I'm very proud to announce I have this week picked up a coveted award at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show 2014 and will have Bay Beans Coffee beans on display at this years Sydney Royal Easter Show. A massive accomplishment for me in comercialising a small business that started as a passion.

"The premium products from the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show will be showcased at the Sydney Royal Easter Show from 10th - 23rd April 2014 at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. These products will be located in the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome, the centerpiece of the Show site".

I'm particularly proud of the result, being a small independent business and having entered only one coffee variety in competition to hundreds of other coffee roasting houses, some of who entered multiple coffees.  Bay Beans was awarded a Bronze Medal for Espresso Master variety, a coffee that is ideally suited to flat white and cappuccino and will impress as an espresso shot for the devoted coffee lover.  

Espresso Master is a creation of Bay Beans using predominately 100% Arabica coffee beans from South America and roasted on a 60 kilo Dietrich coffee roaster programmed to accurately follow specific roasting profiles specified by James - a leap ahead of the original coffee roaster James custom built from various parts mostly imported from the USA  that had a maximum roast size of 4 kilos. 

James continues to supply his fresh roasted and now award winning coffee beans online to cafes, offices and homes all over Australia at www.baybeans.com.au along side his other love as Daddy Day Care to his 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter. 

Do you have enough coffee beans for Christmas 2013 and to celebrate New Year 2014? Order your coffee beans before December 20th to ensure your coffee beans are delivered by Christmas and New Year. Any orders placed after December 20th will be automatically scheduled for delivery from Monday January 6th 2014. 

To sumarise, Christmas / New Year: Orders after 20th Dec will be sent on Jan 6th.

You've arrived at the perfect time - James has just launched the brand new website for Bay Beans coffee - the home of fresh roasted coffee beans online in Australia. You can buy coffee beans from a lot of places these days, but you're really taking a risk giving your business to just anyone - when you buy coffee beans online at Bay Beans, you can expect personalised service from a guy that really takes customer service serious - as serious as he does ensuring your coffee beans order is fresh and roasted to perfection, and delivered fast to your door, oh yeah, and delivery is Free, anywhere in Australia. 

If you are buying coffee beans for a cafe or office, benefit from 30% discount that is automatically applied to your purchase. 

If you need any assistance with selecting your perfect coffee bean variety, or how to make a better coffee, James is always ready to be your first port of call. 

I am so proud right now - I've just launched the brand new mobile website for Bay Beans coffee! Its so simple too, browse to baybeans.com.au from your desktop, laptop or tablet and you get the full Bay Beans website, but, if you want to see some magic, browse to baybeans.com.au from an iPhone or Android phone and you get the mobile optimised website, automatically, and its AWESOME! 

You can browse and buy in the blink of an eye, or you can read the latest BLOG posts, or polish up your coffee making skills in the EDUCATE section.

To celebrate, I'm offering a free sample of Bondi Chai - all you need to do is order from your mobile, and I will take care of the rest. (Expires Thursday 25th July)

Take a look now on your mobile and leave a comment below. 

Crema on top of your coffee is produced when you use fresh roasted coffee beans with correct espresso extraction technique. Crema is the golden foam that sits onto of the dark espresso base. A technique to produce maximum crema on your coffee is to pre-heat your coffee machine for around 30 minutes, then dose your coffee into your coffee machines portafilter basket and tamp with consistent and even pressure. A good trick is to tap the coffee basket on the bench half way through your coffee dosing to settle the grinds prior to tamping. 

Best results will come from using a coffee bean specifically blended to create maximum crema in your coffee, such as my Super Crema coffee using a base of coffee beans from the Monsoon Malabar. 

If you would like help with your coffee preparation or technique, get in touch anytime for free advice.  

The original Bay Beans logo and coffee bag designs were my own creation. With Bay Beans become more and more popular in cafes and businesses around Australia, it was time to freshen up the image and create a classy and unique full printed coffee bag. I think we've done it! If you run a cafe, restaurant or coffee van and want to be serving quality coffee packaged in professional packaging, buy your coffee online now or get in touch to discuss your requirements.  

The Graphic Designer I partnered with to develop a new coffee bag design is a genius.. absolute GENIUS! (if you need a superstar designer for your own project, let me know and I will send you hook you up). 

I am getting into the festive season early, and want to give you a gift. Up for grabs is one kilo of coffee, any variety you like, delivered to your door - all completely free. You will love the Premium Reserve, and what better time to treat yourself? 

To get this free kilo of Bay Beans coffee delivered to your home free, all you need to do is leave a comment below, with your answer to the following;

In the spirit of the old fashioned Jelly Bean Guessing competition, how many coffee beans are in 1kg of Bay Beans Premium Reserve coffee?
(Leave your answer below, in the comments).

Clue: a 250g bag contains on average 1700-1900 coffee beans.

The winner, with the first correct answer, will be announced December 10th. One entry per person, but family members and friends can enter as well, so forward the email on if you want to share the love!

International Coffee Day (also known as Coffee Day or National Coffee Day) is an annual event observed on September 29 in a handful of countries for the celebration and enjoyment of the popular beverage coffee. This day is also used to promote fair trade coffee and to raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers. On this day, many businesses around the world offer free or discounted cups of coffee. Some businesses share coupons and special deals with their loyal followers via social networking. Some greeting card companies sell National Coffee Day greeting cards, as well as free e-cards to help celebrate the occasion.

I love questions from customers about coffee, and here is one that I would like to share with you from Steve.

Steve asked the question about the impact of a pressurised coffee basket in his new coffee machine, and if he should change it to a after-market non-pressurised basket, improve his coffee.

Here is my reply.

Hi Steve.

Thanks for your email.

You have nailed it - the point that is letting you down is the pressurised basket. Let me first explain why some coffee machine manufacturers use presurised baskets in the first place, and the difference between non-pressurised coffee baskets.

A pressurised basket is different to a non pressurised basket by having only one single hole in the bottom of the basket, vs many holes in a normal basket. The idea is to force the coffee through the one tiny hole, and in the process, creating a fake crema. Thats perfect for the machine manufacturer, becasue even with stale supermarket beans, they can say "look how good the crema is from our machine", but it will lack taste - its just micro-foamed coffee.

Using fresh roasted beans will improve the flavour of your coffee, but the basket being pressurised means that you dont get any good feedback on what is really happening with your coffee extraction.

Breville make non pressurised baskets for their Cafe Roma boiler machine - the machine retails for about $80, but the spare bpart can be ordered seerately for under $10. if it fits your machine, thats what I reccomend as a solution.

When you pay more for a machine, really all you are getting other than facy looks, is a more stable and consistent tempreture and pressure, and better heatup times, which while important, is not absolutely necessary. You will get a much better benefit by changing your basket to a non pressurised basket, and using a coffee tamp. then you can experiment with technique to perfect your coffee.

your aiming for 30ml of coffee in the cup, over 25seconds. If you get more than 30ml, your grind is too coarse, or your tamp too light. I like to try and keep as many things consistent, ie;

30 ml of coffee (per shot)
7grams of coffee (per shot)
25 seconds extraction
15kg of tamp pressure (try using bathroom scales to get an idea of what 15kg of pressure feels like.
I also like to always use a double basket, per coffee extraction, into one cup (so 14g of coffee and 60ml).

Let me know how you get on.

Regards,

James Axisa
Chief Espresso Officer 
www.baybeans.com.au
Mobile: 0428 555 535
Voicemail callback: 02 8208 3477 
[I answer your emails, just hit reply]