IT’S JUST COFFEE!

A queue out the door doesn’t mean there’s money in the bank. Café consultant Erica Escalante joins Rohan and Ben to unpack why busy cafés can still struggle to pay the bills, and what owners can actually do about it. From pricing your menu and selling more retail coffee to getting your team across the numbers, Erica shares lessons from nearly a decade running her own café and bakery business. We also get into burnout, better leadership and why loving coffee isn’t enough to run a healthy business. Somehow, the solutions involve colourful spreadsheets, puppets and taking ourselves a little less seriously. If you’re new here, welcome! We get into the big debates, brilliant people and everyday chaos of the coffee world. There’s plenty to take seriously, but at the end of the day, it’s just coffee! CHAPTERS! 00:00 Busy Doesn’t Always Mean Profitable 01:10 APAX LAB 02:02 Meet Erica Escalante 04:03 From Barista to Café Owner 06:27 Learning Your Costs the Hard Way 08:15 Is Your Café Actually Making Money? 11:25 Why Your Team Should Understand the Numbers 19:05 The Café’s Role in the Coffee Supply Chain 21:52 How Do You Raise Coffee Prices? 24:35 Better Margins Without More Customers 27:42 Getting Over Your Fear of the Books 33:00 Stress Is Not a Badge of Honour 42:47 Building Systems That Work 47:23 Where Café Leadership Goes Wrong 52:22 Why Owners Wait to Ask for Help 54:13 Inside The Cafe Operator 57:15 A Hotline for Café Owners 59:44 Erica’s Advice for Struggling Owners 01:01:49 Hot Take: Loving Coffee Isn’t Enough 01:04:55 Industry Shout-Out 01:06:19 Building a Café in France 01:07:28 Where to Find Erica Find Erica: Consulting, resources and workshops: [ericaescalante.com](https://www.ericaescalante.com/) Want more coffee content? IT’S JUST COFFEE: [Find everything here](https://linktr.ee/itsjustcoffeepod) Want to get in touch? Hit us up at [email protected] with your questions, hot takes or guest suggestions. Proudly sponsored by: APAX LAB: [apaxlab.com](https://apaxlab.com/) Thanks for listening! #EricaEscalante #CafeBusiness #ItsJustCoffee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the secret to a better milk coffee was changing the milk itself? World Barista Champion Anthony Douglas is back to show us how freezing, freeze-drying and blending can turn an everyday ingredient into something that tastes like melted ice cream. We break down three ways to level up your milk: freeze distillation, cryodesiccation and milk blending. Anthony explains what each method brings to the cup, which coffees work best and how to try these techniques at home or put them into café service. We get into sweetness, texture, supermarket milk powder and why more concentrated doesn’t always mean better. Then we taste regular milk and freeze-distilled milk side by side. Think grape bubblegum, butterscotch and a very convincing reason to make some room in your freezer. Plus, Condesa Co.Lab joins us with the weekly green coffee market report. COFFEE BREAK! is your weekly inside scoop into the coffee community. Everything from on-the-fly barista tips and honest café reviews to hospitality stories and gatekept coffee secrets. CHAPTERS! 00:00 Giving Milk Coffee the World Champion Treatment02:41 Three Ways to Level Up Your Milk03:53 Riverina Fresh05:24 How to Freeze Distil Milk08:21 Finding the Right Balance of Coffee and Milk13:17 Could You Just Add Cream?15:48 Making It Work in a Café17:03 Freeze-Dried Milk Explained21:18 Freeze-Dried vs Freeze-Distilled: Taste and Texture23:55 Can You Use Supermarket Milk Powder?26:20 Blending Milks for Better Coffee28:52 Why Lactose-Free Milk Tastes Sweeter31:25 Milk Coffee Deserves More Love33:25 Finding the Right Milk Temperature34:37 Condesa Co.Lab Market Report36:16 The Taste Test: Starting with Regular Milk38:31 Trying the Freeze-Distilled Version40:17 Another Way to Balance Your Espresso41:49 Give It a Go and Tell Us What You Think LINKS Find Anthony and Homebody Union:Anthony Douglas: InstagramHomebody Union: InstagramShop Homebody Union: homebodyunion.com Want more coffee content?IT’S JUST COFFEE: Find everything here Want to get in touch?Hit us up at [email protected] with your questions, milk experiments or favourite coffee combinations. Proudly sponsored by:APAX LAB: apaxlab.comCondesa Co.Lab: condesacolab.com.auRiverina Fresh: riverinafresh.com.au Thanks for listening! #AnthonyDouglas #CoffeeBreak #SpecialtyCoffee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No matcha. No hot chocolate. No signature drinks. So what happens when a World Barista Champion opens a space entirely dedicated to coffee? Anthony Douglas is back, and he’s opening a coffee bar with a very clear rule: coffee comes first. The 2022 World Barista Champion’s new Melbourne space, Homebody Union, takes its cues from wine bars. Think 40 seats, a long menu of coffees, and no matcha, hot chocolate or signature drinks. We get into the espresso techniques behind the concept, how to make specialty coffee feel welcoming, and why Anthony has put buying a house on hold to make it happen. A world title might get people through the door, but can it take the nerves out of opening your first place? Plus, we test his hospitality skills with an order for two strawberry matchas. If you're new here (welcome), our show dives into some of the best coffee conversations on the internet, but we will always remind ourselves at the end of the day - It's Just Coffee! Anthony Douglas: https://www.instagram.com/anthony_jdouglas/ Homebody Union: https://www.instagram.com/homebodyunion/ Shop Homebody Union: https://homebodyunion.com/ CHAPTERS 00:00 What Happens When a World Champion Opens a Coffee Bar? 02:53 Why Anthony Isn’t Calling It a Café 07:54 Choosing a Coffee Bar Over Buying a House 09:07 Home Baristas Are Raising the Bar 10:30 Rethinking Nine-Bar Espresso 12:22 Why Build a Coffee Bar Around Decent Machines? 15:04 Trying Modern Espresso at Home 17:23 Is Competition Keeping Up With Coffee? 19:20 APAX LAB 20:22 Finding the Right Roast, Ratio and Temperature 23:55 What China Gets Right About Signature Drinks 26:25 The Money, Risk and Fear of Opening 34:10 Making Specialty Coffee Less Intimidating 38:53 Unlearning Competition Habits 40:13 Training Baristas Beyond the Numbers 44:05 Telling Coffee Stories Customers Care About 48:13 Putting Anthony’s Hospitality to the Test 51:28 Do Flavour Notes Really Matter? 55:18 Breaking the Usual Café Routine 57:21 Anthony’s Advice for Opening Your Own Place 58:47 Hot Take: Is There Such a Thing as Bad Coffee? 1:02:01 Ben’s Positivity Corner: Shout-Out to Sue 1:02:58 Where to Find Anthony and Homebody Union Want more coffee content? IT’S JUST COFFEE: Find everything here Want to get in touch? Hit us up at [email protected] with your questions, hot takes or guest suggestions. Proudly sponsored by: APAX LAB: apaxlab.com Thanks for listening! #AnthonyDouglas #SpecialtyCoffee #ItsJustCoffee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our latest episode, bartender and beverage innovation specialist Thurman Wise taught us what coffee professionals can learn from the cocktail world. Now we’re putting those lessons to the test. Thurman is back for a competition-style collaboration loosely inspired by the World Coffee in Good Spirits finals. His challenge is to make two drinks using the same bright Kenyan peaberry: a classic Irish coffee and a completely different designer beverage, all while keeping coffee at the centre. There are no rehearsed routines, and we’re following the competition rules very loosely. Thurman adjusts the whiskey by taste, sweetens the cream and changes his signature drink halfway through making it. The result is a lighter specialty-coffee Irish coffee, followed by a stripped-back Manhattan riff made with rum, cherry syrup and black pepper, with coffee taking the place of sweet vermouth. We explore how to balance coffee with spirits, why temperature and dilution matter, how these ideas could become non-alcoholic café drinks and why the best signature beverages are often the simplest. Then Thurman shares his favourite martinis from around the world and explains what coffee can learn from bars obsessed with getting every little detail right. It’s Coffee in Good Spirits, IJC style. Plus, Condesa Co.Lab joins us with the weekly green coffee market report. COFFEE BREAK! is your weekly inside scoop into the coffee community. Everything from on-the-fly barista tips and honest café reviews to hospitality stories and gatekept coffee secrets. CHAPTERS! 00:00 The Coffee Cocktail Challenge 00:58 How Coffee in Good Spirits Works 02:52 Making a Specialty Irish Coffee 05:15 Finding the Right Coffee-to-Whiskey Balance 07:10 How to Float the Cream 07:49 Tasting the Irish Coffee 10:41 Coffee Cocktails Beyond the Espresso Martini 12:56 Riverina Fresh 13:35 Challenge Two: The Signature Drink 13:57 Turning Coffee Into Vermouth 15:01 Changing the Recipe Mid-Drink 18:02 Tasting the Coffee Manhattan 19:45 Does a Coffee Cocktail Need to Taste Like Coffee? 21:37 Making Coffee Cocktails Without Alcohol 23:35 Why Signature Drinks Go Wrong 25:21 Thurman’s Favourite Martinis 28:37 What Coffee Can Learn From Martinis 29:40 Condesa Co.Lab Market Report 31:41 Should Thurman Enter the Competition? LINKS Find Thurman and MEASURED Guide: Thurman Wise: https://www.instagram.com/thurmanwise/ MEASURED Guide: https://www.measured.guide/ Want more coffee content? IT’S JUST COFFEE: https://linktr.ee/itsjustcoffeepod Want to get in touch? Hit us up at [email protected] with your questions, hot takes or favourite coffee cocktails. Proudly sponsored by: APAX LAB: https://apaxlab.com/ Condesa Co.Lab: https://condesacolab.com.au/ Riverina Fresh: https://www.riverinafresh.com.au/ Thanks for listening! #CoffeeCocktails #CoffeeInGoodSpirits #SpecialtyCoffee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Signature coffee drinks are everywhere. But are they actually balanced, or are cafés piling on syrups, foams, layers and garnishes until the coffee disappears? Thurman Wise is a bartender, beverage innovation specialist and Product Director at MEASURED Guide. He’s also gone viral travelling the world in search of its coldest martini. Today, Thurman becomes our spirit guide, in every sense of the word, as he teaches Rohan Cooke and Ben Bicknell what coffee professionals can learn from the cocktail world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices