​Check out the life of a coffee bean as the fresh roasted coffee is extracted from the holding vat, up a tube, into a weighing gate, to then be dosed into a new foil lined coffee bag to seal in the freshness! From roasting to packaging in under 1 hour ensure ultimate freshness to the customer. These coffee bags are being sent out by courier to the coffee customer same day - you really cant get any fresher than the exceptional service from Bay Beans coffee Australia. 

​Come along this virtual tour of the Bay Beans coffee factory and watch 70 kilos of fresh roasted coffee drop into our industrial cooling tray - you can hear the coffee crackling as it drops out of the roaster - the coffee is cooled  down to room temperature using this method in a matter of seconds! 

Come on a virtual tour with me and watch green beans ready to be roasted in this Dietrich 70KG roaster at the Bay Beans coffee factory. The green beans are first expertly blended to our special recipe before being deposited in the green beans holding vat, where they are then sucked up into the spout, ready to be dumped in to the pre-heated roasting drum. The green beans are roasted based on the pre-determined roasting profile for that coffee batch and then released and cooled in industrial cooling trays. the next step in the process is off to the packaging machines!  

​Want to come on a virtual tour of the #coffee roasting facility with me? What do you want to see? This is a sneak peek of part of the packaging machine which weighs the coffee beans, expands the coffee bag, drops in the correct quantity of coffee beans, settles the beans, heat seals the bag and sends it up the line!

Almond milk has increased in popularity in the last few years. In 2015, cafes in Australia would have been making white coffees in a ratio of something like;

70% full cream Cows milk
10% Light milk
10% Soy Milk
5% Skim milk
5% Almond milk.

In 2018, that has changed, with Almond Milk stealing share from both Soy milk and light milk as well as converting some cow milk drinkers;

65% full cream Cows milk
10% Light milk
5% Soy Milk
5% Skim milk
15% Almond milk.


So while it’s not dramatic by numbers when compared to the alternatives, Almond Milk usage has more than doubled.


The benefit of almond milk compared to soy milk when being used in coffee is that it can be heated slightly higher. Actually, it can be heated to the same 65c that is ideal for cows milk, whereas Soy Milk should not be heated beyond 55c.

Just like steaming cows milk for the office or at home, start with a cold jug and cold milk - it allows for the milk to be exposed to the steam wand for longer time, which means a creamier texture as the bubbles are split more.

In stretching your almond milk, allow a whirlpool effect to form and feel for the temperature with your hand on the outside of the jug, or use a thermometer if your not too confident. Where Soy milk can seperate in the later stages of milk steaming, almond milk doesn’t have that same problem.


You will however have a bit more trouble in creating latte art using Almond Milk, since there is a high percentage of water in Almond Milk, it won’t tie in with the coffee as effectively as cows milk. You should still be able to create a nice rosetta or tulip pattern though, with a little practice.


If you like to savour your coffee, as the temperature drops, or your coffee has been sitting for a while, the different PH levels of almond milk and the chemical reactions with the coffee, your almond milk will seperate from the coffee, which can look a little strange. Give it a stir and everything will be back to normal.

A training aid that I use to perfect my milk steaming. the thing with Milk Steaming is you want to produce a nice velvety milk rather than a milk that has bubbles and ends up being watery. If you were to practice with milk, obviously that's a lot of milk that you are going to go through. A trick is however is to use regular water and simply add one or two drops of DISH SOAP. Practice creating great steamed milk in your spare time and benefit.

I want to talk to you today about a technique I use to perfect my coffee steaming process, the thing is with milk steaming is that if you don't steam it correctly, it will come out watery and bubbly and flavour is quite thin. When you steam it correctly, you will get a nice thick creamy texture which is important when you are making a flat white, cappuccino, latte or even a piccolo. Practice, practice, practice - it does pay off. The problem however is that your going to go through a lot of milk practising. What I have found to be an excellent training aid is to use regular dish soap instead of milk. So, this is how I do it. Just grab some plain tap water and add one or two drops of regular dish soap. 

the benefit here is that the dish soap will behave like milk will in texturing. You want to produce a nice creamy velvety texture to our milk. To do that we are going to plunge the ilk jug into the steam wand and we want to think of the process as being each time the bubble passes the steam want it is split in two, again and again and again - that's what produces that nice micro foam. 

Give the steam wand a bit of a purge, start off with the steam wand buried right on the bottom and then just a bot off the bottom. so its only a centimetre or two off the bottom of the milk jug. Then, drop the jug off the steam wand so its just breaking the surface. 

Keep on doing that until it gets to about 35 degrees Celsius, which is close enough to body temperature. we dont have to use a thermometer, but it helps. But I can feel, 35c is body temperature, and once it starts to get warm, I know I've gone beyond that. That's the point where I'll bury the steam wand into the milk just to continue the heating process. It's no longer splitting the milk and then turn the steam wand off.

Now with my babbling, i didn't get it as good as I'd like, you can see there is still some bubbles in there and with regular milk, a couple of taps would tap that out. <tap tap> ha! Interesting, but anyway. You can see there, it is a nice thick creamy texture. 

Of course there is the wrong way to do it.. and I'll show you that now. So if I add water, and a couple of drops of dish soap rather than using milk. Come back over to the machine. Now you can see like they do it in the movies, lots of noise, lots of up and down action. It looks impressive - looks like you're making a coffee but what will happen is you end up with a bubbly mess - its thin and watery. I've exaggerated it a lot here, but you can see its not quite the consistency you're after. So when you pour that, you're going to get bubbles. So if you compare the two; one has thin watery texture, the other one is a much more smooth, velvety creamy texture.

So that's my technique, my little training aid - just regular dish soap with water and go to work and practice, practice, practice. that's going to to be the difference between a nice creamy velvety milk and a thin and watery milk. 

For me, coffee is one part science, one part romance, one part aroma, and one part flavour.

When I say romance, I’m talking more about the ritual that preparing my coffee has become. I could do it on autopilot, because I’ve made so many coffees, but to be honest it is what makes my day MY day.

Lately I have been turning more towards siphon coffee which is a cleaner and crisper version of coffee, when compared to espresso prepared as a long black. The grinding doesn’t need to be as precise and the process is a lot quieter which for some reason brings me closer to the process.

If you want to give it a try, you don’t need to invest in a Coffee siphon, you can achieve similar results using a French press or coffee plunger.

its official. I love Sunday’s!

Sunday can only be made better with coffee, sitting in a comfy chair, warm coffee in hand, warming not only my skin, but my soul. It’s the romance of the ritual for me - taking the time to reflect on the week past and the adventure of the week ahead.

In this busy world, it’s a moment of me time.

The classic Italian Espresso Bar - Milan, over 100 years ago. The typical transaction would have gone something like;


Bar: “buongiorno"
Customer: “un caffe" (at this point put one coin on the counter)
Bar:“grazie!"
Customer: "ciao!"