The Weekly Review

Barista: Andrew Richards treats new customers like new friends.

DARRIAN TRAYNOR

Café

Mark Ryan’s six-year-old café has evolved with a careful eye on the changing coffee scene around it, but without losing its impressive commitment to Australian-grown coffee. Ryan and his wife, Samantha Edmonds, began Eureka Coffee using beans grown on Edmonds’ parents’ coffee farm in 2000. They were a dominant part of the early farmers’ market scene. Ten years later, they are still one of the only cafés in Melbourne regularly roasting and serving Australian coffee.

The pair has proudly supported coffee growers in the Byron Bay hinterland and other coffee-growing regions in New South Wales and northern Queensland. But Ryan and Edmonds have recognised the growing sophistication within Melbourne’s coffee community, too, and looked further afield to source single-origin and single-estate blends from around the world under their Growers Estate label. The Eureka Coffee blend still consistently takes prizes at coffee-roasting competitions around the country, in Australian and general espresso categories. The next step is the café’s renovation, which will include a new courtyard and emphasise the hard-working coffee roaster that’s “hidden” out the back. Eureka Coffee has retained a dominant farmers’ market presence and has huge appeal for coffee consumers concerned about their food miles.

Barista

Andrew Richards makes each customer feel like new a friend. That’s better than an old friend – no one is taken for granted. If you’re ordering a coffee, he’ll find out just how you like it. If you’re buying beans, he’ll quiz you about your domestic arrangements (the equipment, he’s not that friendly). Richards has worked at Growers Espresso for two years. He began his coffee career at Atomica Caffe in Fitzroy about 12 years ago and refined his skills at Lemon Espresso in Perth five years later. In between, he returned to his background in horticulture. But the lure of people and coffee won out and Richards now enjoys training new baristas, hobbyists – and making friends.

Sip this

Growers Espresso, 332 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North
Phone \ 9486 1886
Barista \ Andrew Richards
Coffee \ Eureka Coffee, Growers Espresso
Barista’s choice \ Double ristretto

Open \ Monday-Saturday 8am-3pm

Growers Espresso is set for a makeover. The dark timber floors, box stools and avocado-green trimmings will be transformed. Sneak in for a “before” peek soon, as everything will be altered over the next few months. This corner café on busy St Georges Road does a steady business in takeaway coffee and a soothing, efficient service for the customers tucked around its big front window. The staff is welcoming and helpful and the coffee menu includes the award-winning Australian-grown Eureka Coffee house blend and a range of single origins, perhaps from Sumatra, East Timor or Ethiopia. Order yours espresso-style, or perhaps from the pour-over bar. The Sumatran coffee makes a rich, earthy espresso and cuts subtly through milk as a flat white, featuring notes of hazelnut.