07 December 2010

In a coup for South Australia and the Limestone Coast region, Mahalia Layzell, of Mahalia Coffee, in Robe, South Australia, scooped the top gong at the 2010 CSR Sugar Golden Bean Roaster Competition and Conference held this weekend in Port Macquarie (NSW), roasting the opposition in the one of the biggest coffee roasting competitions in the world. This year’s competition saw 1000 entries from across Australia, the largest in the event’s history.

Thrilled with Mahalia Coffee’s achievement after roasting coffee for over ten years, top roaster Mahalia Layzell stated that she wanted “to help educate the customer that you can have good coffee at home as well as in a café. Coffee is so important in everyone’s lives and when people drink it, they’re having their little moment, and I want to be a part of that.

Coffee is a lifetime thing for me and I want to make it accessible to everyone.”

“I am honoured to have won this prestigious award judged by my peers in the industry. I want to thank my business partners and family for their continued support, and especially John Russel Storey from Lavazza who had been a great personal mentor and started me on my journey” she said.

Mahalia said “Winning this award is also a coup for South Australia’s food industry and the Limestone Coast. Awards such as these recognise that we have a world class food industry right here in SA and in the Limestone Coast, and Mahalia Coffee is thrilled to be part of it.”

The competition is now in it’s fifth year, and attracts the best in Australian competitors as well as visitors hailing from New Zealand, America and Asia who attended the conference.

“The industry is getting more exciting and intense and you can see that reflected in the quality of entries this year. The passion comes from the roaster to the barista and then translates to tastes of the consumer” said Nick Milat, CSR Sugar’s Food Service Channel Manager in a media release issued today.

The competition puts the spotlight on coffee roasters, an integral part of the 8.5 billion dollar coffee industry in Australia. The winners receive gold, silver and bronze medals across eight categories with the overall winners of the CSR Sugar Golden Bean Roaster Competition derived from the highest score between the ‘Milk-based’ and ‘Espresso’ categories.

Judging this year was overseen by Justin Metcalf, Head Judge for the World Barista Championships and Head Roaster for Daily Roast Coffee in Melbourne. To assist in delivering the coffee to the judges, eight champion baristas such as David Makin (five time Victorian Barista of the year, one time Australian Barista of the year and runner up in the 2008 World Barista Championships), Zoe Delany (head of Coffee Hit and trainer for Michel’s Espresso and Sunbeam) and Habib Maarbaniand (co-owner of Morgan’s Kitchen, NSW, all-round coffee enthusiast and a barista of six years).