Manny Abela, from Traralgon, and Damon Schmetzer, from Melbourne, both work with Zest Specialty Coffee and were making coffees all day for their fellow baristas. In their careers as café owners, baristas and now coffee sales managers focused on sourcing quality beans and building relationships. Manny and Damon have travelled extensively to visit coffee farms and meet the farmers and processors. Manny has travelled to Peru and Ecuador and Damon has travelled to Columbia.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
The dairy farmers who spoke about their industry at the on-farm barista day, including Gippsland Jersey suppliers (from left) Gippsland Jersey co-founder Steve Ronalds, Luke Wallace, Travor Stammers, Kevin Le Brocq, Mel Wallace, Brenton Ziero, Gippsland Jersey co-founder Sallie Jones, Mark Wilms and Joe Meggetto.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
The annual barista day hosted by Gippsland Jersey was held on a dairy farm at Jindivick this year on May 6.
The cows were milked and washed down before a horde of baristas, chefs, sous chefs, roasters, cheesemakers, dairy farmers, café and restaurant owners, and other people, descended on the farm of Steve and Bec Ronalds.
Steve is one of the founders of Gippsland Jersey.
The aim of the day was to learn about Jersey milk, with its high fat content, and the benefits of using it in coffee and food.
“The coffee beans are only half the story of coffee,” Steve said.
“Today is for learning about the other half of the story — milk, particularly Jersey milk.”
The day began with a welcome over coffee and scones with jam and cream, then went on to meet and greet with a herd of Jersey cows, hearing dairy farmers’ stories and the story of Gippsland Jersey.
Baristas participated in milking cows by hand and coffee making competitions, a gumboot throwing contest, before a shared lunch.
A tulip, highlighting the art of coffee making by a barista.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Brad Lark, hospitality trainer at CRC Sydenham, in western Melbourne, teaches subjects in the Certificate II Hospitality course to Year 11 and 12 students. He was attending the barista day with Andrew Hay from Cheltenham, a retired educator and lifelong coffee enthusiast.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Shaunie Brauch and Karrie Firth, from Yarra Valley Dairy, Yerung, a cheese processing and retail business celebrating 30 years in business this year.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
The crew from The Stokehouse, St Kilda Beach — chefs, baristas, cheesemakers, and front of house — attended the barista day. They are (back, from left) Larni Mitchell, Abdul Qudor, Javier Beltran, (front) Matteo Gallo, Josh Lewis, Julia Will with Sallie Jones and Steve Ronalds, co-founders of Gippsland Jersey and hosts of the barista day. Julia Will said The Stokehouse, as a restaurant, was very produce driven, and the team liked to get to know the farmers and producers they buy their food from, and re-tell the provenance stories to their customers.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Nick Stewart, Angus Gibbs, Laura Ferguson and Kate Harvey are baristas and coffee roasters working at Blume Coffee, Abbotsford. Angus said they used Gippsland Jersey milk and closed the café for the day to attend the on-farm event.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Josiah Irons, from Arthurs Creek Coffee Company, was at the on-farm barista day with his family, including nine-month-old Milo, who was interested in the Jersey calves.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Scones, jam and Gippsland Jersey cream were on offer for morning tea at the on-farm barista day hosted by Gippsland Jersey. Luke Wilson and Chris Ramanui from Paylos, nearby Shady Creek, run a youth organisation that teaches hospitality and life skills to youth at risk.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Enjoying Gippsland Jersey milk in milkshakes were Antonious Saad, who owns the Daily Drip, a coffee cart, and sisters, Gabby and Flick Mifsud, owners of The Snappy Grump, at Hampton. Gabby and Flick participated in The Amazing Race two years ago, as The Barista Sisters, and they use TikTok to showcase coffee orders and relatable hospitality jokes.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Attending the on-farm barista day from Rockpool Bar and Grill Melbourne, were Frida and Rafael Carrera. Rafael is the senior sous chef at Rockpool, and said the restaurant staff uses Gippsland Jersey milk to make cheese, because of its creamy richness.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Christian and Amy Lipscomb, from Melbourne, at the on-farm barista day. Christian, a barista, said during the pandemic the couple went on a journey to find out where their food came from, and have been long-term users of Gippsland Jersey products.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Emily Newbound and Kayne Allan from the Mornington Peninsula and partners in Caravan Chai, with Brendan Katich, chef at Reine & La Rue restaurant, Melbourne. Brendan said the team at Nomad Group, of which Reine Brasserie is one venue, liked to know the producers they sourced their food from, in their quest to source the best ingredients for their menus.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Coffee roaster Serene Yu, from Sydney, with Mirboo North chef Jaci Hicken at the on-farm barista day.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Amy Lipscombe, from Melbourne, with a Jersey cow at the barista day to talk about milk and farming.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Gippsland Jersey co-founders Steve Ronalds and Sallie Jones (right) welcome baristas from Victoria and NSW to the on-farm day to talk about milk and dairy farming.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Frida Carrera, from Melbourne, attended the on-farm day with her son.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Billie Pearson, from Warragul, patting a well-behaved Jersey cow.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
