Head Bean – Sean Edwards
In Australia we still love our milk, especially in coffee.
Our last Café Pulse Survey reported that 96% of retail coffee sold in Australia were milk-based and the Flat White has passed the Latte and Cappuccino as the preferred drink.
Milk coffee became popular in Australia in the seventies by way of tradie-trendy cartons of coffee flavoured milk. Today we are seeing cafes offer some of the best milk-based drinks in the world.
The Golden Bean Roasters competition has always seen milk-based coffees entered as the biggest category of the event. Roasters have mastered the art of designing a coffee that will work with the quality milk we have on offer in this country. This year the Golden Bean will have 300 coffees to judge in this category to find the best of the best. Due to this reason, one of the biggest challenges for the Golden Bean team in the lead-up to the event is to find the best milk in the market to pair with world-class-winning coffee.
To select the right milk company the head judges’ sample over 20 different dairy products that are available to cafes nationally, and the number one milk came in from Little Big Dairy from the regional NSW town of Dubbo. The milk paired perfectly with coffee, making it an easy choice to have the brand connected with the world’s largest coffee roasting competition.
Little Big Dairy has made significant moves to service high end cafes and focus on the relationships of the quality driven supply chain for cafe-ready milk. Being a small player in the overall national dairy market has led the business to focus on the cafe sector and provide a product that aligns with a combination of quality beverages. Barista’s have recognised this and have urged cafe owners to source Little Big Dairy quality milks. Another niche offering from the team at Little Big Dairy is Bulk Bladders, to suit the new milk delivery technology on the cafe bar. This system cuts down on plastic waste and also labour and storage cost for a busy cafe.
Little Big Dairy has been a very important sponsorship choice for Golden Bean, knowing that the best coffees in the world are being paired with one of the best dairy businesses in Australia. Coffee is very traceable and knowing the farm where the coffee is grown and produced is one of the biggest aspects of the specialty coffee industry. Little Big Dairy goes one step further and can identify the milk from each cow on the farm through electronic tagging, which supports the health welfare of all the cows in production. This means a happier herd and a healthier herd, giving consumers the confidence that there is a sustainable dairy business that is keeping up with technology to support smart farm production.
We are excited to see who will win the overall Milk-Based coffee at Golden Bean this year and our baristas are ready to present these coffees with the Best Milk in the market.
See you all next week in Port Macquarie.