On Tuesday at #WordstoGo14 in Adelaide, South Australia, we were invited to a tour of the Adelaide Central Market and following that some of us had been invited to take the Flavours of Campbelltown tour. I’d visited the Adelaide Central Market before but what a marvelous place it is. It’s right in the center of the city and was next door to the Hilton Adelaide hotel where I stayed.
A treat on our market tour was a visit from Callum Hann, Australian Masterchef runner-up and winner of the all-stars competition. This young man knows his food and he was charming to boot. He convinced me to buy some really wonderful honey and I was so pleased with my purchase until I realised I would have to haul that big jar around all day. Not a smart choice but I’m glad I carried it because it is fantastic. I’ll tell you about it ‘in my kitchen’ coming up soon.
Four years ago the Campbelltown City Council created the Flavours of Campbelltown Food Trail to support, highlight and promote local food producers. Until then, many of these marvelous businesses were local secrets. They began with just a few businesses and now they are at their max of 25 with a big waiting list. Businesses have seen tremendous growth from these tours.
Ursula Hickey, Manager for Economic Development is the woman in charge and she was also our guide for the day. The first stop on our tour was to JAVA Lifestyle Coffee and Tea emporium and before we got there Ursula told us that Mario Gabrielli, the owner, was quite shy and ‘would poop himself’ at the thought of talking to all these food writers.
I cracked up and went in to find that Mario and I pretty much see eye to eye. Physically. Both of us are built close to the floor. I gave him a hug and said he shouldn’t be nervous. He smiled and said he wasn’t nervous at all as he’d hired a professional coffee roaster to do the talking. He then introduced us to Dorcen Walters from Kommon Grounds, an artisan coffee roaster who did the public speaking. Artisan coffee like this isn’t done by computer, no sirree, it’s done by listening. And tasting.
Dorcen told us how he’d learned everything about coffee from Mario and they were a great team. He helps Mario out in the shop and between the two of them they roast 20 different blends of coffee every day. While Dorcen was talking, Mario poured a bucket of green coffee beans into the roaster so we could watch the complete roasting process.
Then Mario sat down with Tania from My Kitchen Stories and me and when Dorcen finished, Mario taught us all we’d ever want to know about coffee.
Mario’s father started the business with one espresso machine in 1956 in Glynde, so Mario has grown up with coffee all his life. Here we were, more than fifty years after that first machine was installed listening to Mario tell us why coffee blends are better than single origin coffees. He talked about the qualities of South American coffees (his favourite) compared to coffees from everywhere else. It was fascinating to listen to him.
Have you ever seen green coffee beans? They don’t look nor smell like anything you want. However once roasted, you could dance on the aroma alone.
I didn’t have my camera turned on when the beans went into the tray to cool but I did get one of them swirling around. I don’t have words to tell you how divine it was to hold my nose over those gorgeous buttons of coffee.
While Mario was talking about the coffee I had a quick look around and there are the historic antique coffee grinders and machines to showcase the history of coffee. JAVA also sells domestic coffee machines, plungers, thermometers and any sort of coffee equipment you might want. Coffee toys.
Each of us got a cup of coffee or tea and mine was a standard flat white that needed nothing to make it perfect. Then this dish of homemade Italian donuts appears before me and they are crunchy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside and were the perfect complement to my coffee. I might have ignored Mario while I ate one.
JAVA sells their coffee in bulk or you can step into the shop for coffee and something wonderful to eat. I think I’d prefer to do both.
Don’t like coffee? JAVA has over 40 different types of tea in the shop from traditional black tea to some very unique and exotic ones.
JAVA Lifestyle Coffee and Tea
Shop 2, Centro NewtonNewton, SA 5074
08 8356 4884
Hours, M-F 7am-5:30pm
Saturday 7am-5pm
What an amazing transformation from green beans to ground coffee. I actually had no idea coffee beans could come in anything other than brown! It sounds like a very fun, and informative, tour.
I know the coffee must be wonderful but I can’t get my mind off of that crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside Italian donut. Love hearing about your trip. Take Care, BAM
thanks for the information. know i know about coffee and tea.
What a fun experience! The aroma of fresh coffee is one of the best, ever. I’d have been in sensory overload there!
Well, what did I know! Coffee beans are green? I always thought they came in brown color. Wow!! Fun post Maureen.
That looks fun! I love finding new little coffee shops, and that looks like a great one. That pastry looks sooo delicious, wish I had one right now. 🙂
What a great start to the event. I know what you mean about having to cart around a purchase, I do it all the time, but it’s totally worth it. I thought about getting a home roaster and roasting my own beans but then I smartened up and decided to let the experts do it. We have a coffee shop in the village that roasts their own beans on site…it’s very cool. And it doesn’t taste burnt like some major chain coffee does!
Sounds like you had a great time. I’d love to have joined you for a cup of that coffee and a donut or two.
I wish the Java coffee shop I’d been to in Brussels today was half as good as that. The coffee wasn’t even warm!
Aw, I would have loved to come along to this with you guys! Fabulous.
What a fun experience!!! This sounds like the perfect spot to get a fresh cup of coffee 🙂
I was right with you, carrying that big jar of honey. Well if I was really right with you, I could have helped you carry the jar. Smiles. Even though I have a tea site, I love coffee.
In my day job, I have a couple clients who have coffee roasting businesses. In addition I have developed a keen interest in another coffee roasting company a couple of hours away—including a 30 min ferry ride, who are making a worldly difference with their business. For the last couple of months coffee roasting and coffee have been on my mind, thus I most particularly enjoyed your post. Thank you!
It does sound like you had a wonderful time in Adelaide. I love how you say you’re built ‘close to the floor’ – I say that about my dogs! Callum is such a talent. I remember him well from MasterChef and he seemed not only talented but genuinely nice. I love the smell of freshly roasted coffee xx
I don’t drink a lot of coffee (although I do have a soft spot for iced coffee) but I love cooking with it. It’s a fascinating process indeed! 🙂
You have some of the best food adventures! This seems like a great place. I wish I could smell the coffee.
what do I know! Coffee greens are green? I never knew. I always thought coffe was always brown. while I don’t know Callum, he does look to be interesting. You get to meet such interesting people!
G’day and so glad you enjoyed the Flavours of Campbelltown Food Trail Maureen as it truly is unique; I knew you would as it is a fun food day out with lots of smiles and eating!
Mario is a very nostalgic, passionate man who loves his coffee and sharing the process!
Always a great place to visit!
Cheers! Joanne
We were out ALL day. The tour didn’t end until after 3:15pm! Talk about full-on. 🙂
Hi Maureen, what an interesting tour you went on, I would love to do something like this, how interesting!
Hahaha…I can imagine you’d ignore everyone while eating those donuts – they look amazing! I love the thought that you’ve been hanging out with my beloved Tania (note the possessive :)), it sounds like you all had a blast over there. Coffee is interesting stuff! And you’ve promised an IMK post now – can’t wait to see the honey! xxx
I can almost smell the aroma of the place! 🙂 ela
What a great food adventure, and this shop sounds like a spot I would adore. Don’t you just love the smell of roasting coffee? It is really sublime. Um, speaking of sublime, those donuts are certainly tempting. Now I want donuts and coffee! Have a wonderful Sunday!
i can imagine how wonderful the coffee smelt while it was roasting. and i love adelaide market. the last time we were there i was amazed by the number of boutique olive oils, and the fresh wild rabbit meat for sale etc etc. how lucky are they!
Thank you for such amazing review. I’m huge fan of coffee and my dream holidays are in Australia – our family has relatives there. It was tasty to read with my afternoon coffee 🙂
If I were there seeing those green beans and smelling that aroma, I may not have taken excellent shots of the grinding process. Thanks for the interesting feature :).
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Dear Maureen,
It’s great to see local government supporting the businesses of their communities. I attended an event organised by a local council last weekend and they appear to have a few events lined up to lend more prominence to local food businesses.
This place sounds awesome – as much coffee as I drink, I had never seen green beans – and those donuts sound like an amazing accompaniment!
Maureen, I have heard of being “vertically challenged” but hearing of being “built close to the floor” is a new one for me! Love it – I guess that’s what I am gonna say the next time someone calls me a hobbit! 🙂
Sounds like such a fun event, I loved reading about it! And picturing you carrying that honey made me smile, totally something I would do 🙂
I love coffee and drink it by the gallon, I love a coffee shop that sells a good variety and has a lot of choice. I bet the roasting process was very interesting to listen to and those doughnuts look so good 🙂
What a fun spot to visit. I’m not a coffee drinker, but Starbucks has a few fruity refresher drinks with green coffee, and you can’t even taste the coffee!
What a fun day! Even though I don’t drink coffee any more (except with LOTS of cream and sugar), I still like going into coffee shops just for the smell. There is nothing like fresh roasted coffee. Fun post Maureen!