Australia
Anthony Papas is devoted to quality and flavor. Those attributes have led the business partner of coffee roaster Allpress to culinary glory, founding Sydney’s iconic Bayswater Brasserie, working as its executive chef as well as establishing a bakery of the same name that produces sourdough bread sought after across town.
Papas opened the Brasserie more than 25 years ago, long before Sydney had made itself a name on the global restaurant landscape. Cook books and a second restaurant in Sydney followed.
As Papas knows, quality and flavor don’t simply appear, they need to be understood, checked and improved. And he did just that working and learning in Michelin-starred kitchens in the Netherlands and the US.
The same standard applies at Allpress, co-owned by Papas and fellow native New Zealander Michael Allpress since 1999. The company supplies cafes, restaurants and companies in Australia and New Zealand from two roasteries in Sydney and Auckland. Two more are set to follow in Melbourne and Dunedin in New Zealand.
Since late 2008 a Neuhaus Neotec hot air roaster delivers uniformly browned, unburnt coffee beans, foremost the popular Allpress Carmelo Blend espresso mix.
The machine allows the roastmaster a breadth of roasting techniques to get the best from a bean, allowing slow, careful roasting and unique settings that account for the special body and aroma of the coffee.
Cooling is done so quickly that futile aromas are enclosed in the bean. So the coffee is consistent, exactly as the roastmaster specified.
But Papas’ quest for quality goes a step further. He trains the baristas of his clients how to get a good shot of espresso. Because the roasted coffee in the sealed bag can be of the best quality, it’s a wasted effort when preparation and the espresso machine are poor.
In Auckland and Sydney, the baristas are trained ‘live,’ working in a café that serves Allpress and Brasserie bread sandwiches.
And it’s working. The café in Sydney’s Rosebery suburb received best café four consecutive times from the Australian Restaurant & Catering Association.
Rosebery is a semi-industrial suburb south west of the centre along a wide road lined with car dealerships and warehouses. It is not a focal point for Sydney’s coffeerati.
But the place is brimming with activity, serving flat whites and skinny caps in the foreground, in full view of the Neuhaus Neotec roaster behind a glass window in the back of the shop.
The stainless steel funnel reaches about eight meters to the ceiling, different pipes drive hot air to the beans, or suck it away.
The coffee drinkers in the café seem to like the proximity to the machine and the product.
Allpress’ strategy to deliver a consistently good product and provide training is working in a country where Starbucks has had to shut most of its outlets and coffee chains continue to be the exception.
Allpress is now planning to introduce the concept of coffee roasting with barista training to London this year.
The passion for quality has produced several awards for Papas, including a place in the Sydney Morning Herald Food Hall of Fame and the SMH Award for Professional Excellence".
The annual restaurant bible The Good Food Guide awarded "Tony Papas, for giving us the iconic Bayswater Brasserie and the iconic Sydney view restaurant at the Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, and for following it up with the tremendous Allpress Coffee and Brasserie Bread."
