Coffee Encounters Book, 2013
Chapter: Mocopan Coffee
One of the first coffee roasters in Australia and a guiding light in the Melbourne coffee scene, Mocopan has remained an integral part of Australia's coffee history for nearly sixty years. The company was founded in Preston during the middle of the 20th century, a time when immigrants from all over Europe were drawn to the area. In fact, the population in Preston is believed to have increased by nearly 40% between 1947 and 1954 and by the 1980's, foreign-born residents comprised almost a third of the population. The founders of Mocopan, Agostino Monici, Sergio Coperchini, and Vic Panettieri were among these newcomers.
Agostino, Sergio and Vic had grown up in Italy between world wars,and by the early 1950's, they experienced a country still recovering from the effects of fascist rule. Born in Parma, Italy, Agostino cam from a family that had worked in the coffee industry for multiple generations. His family had roasted and traded coffee, and he brought his family's skills, traditions, and love of coffee to Australia. It is believed that Agostino immigrated on The Australia, a ship that travelled regularly between Australia and Genoa from 1949 to 1960. Conditions on-board were said to be spartan, filled to maximum capacity to transport as many people as possible. Accommodation ranged from bunk beds to the open deck.
Agostino and Sergio had met prior to arriving in Australia, and in founding Mocopan, they sought financial backing. Vic Panerrieri, a local fruit retailer, joined them. Together, the three created an anagram using their last names, and this is how the name Mocopan was born. The business opened on 147 Plenty Road in 1954, a time when Melbourne’s first espresso bars, such as Don Camillo’s and Pellegrini’s were also opening.
With Vic Panettieri as a silent partner and Sergio taking over the production of dry goods, including cured meats and polenta flour, Agostino focused on coffee. Unlike most coffee companies, Mocopan made th statute decision to use green beans rathter than to important pre-roated beans. This was a cuase for celebration amongst the immigrant communities used to high-quality coffee, and the flavour of Mocopan coffee set it apart from the other Melbourne coffee companies. Mocopan also obtained the right to import Italian La Faema coffee machines during this period...
Mocopan: Sourcing, Roasting, and Cafe Culture
Daily operations at Mocopan commence in exotic countries all over the world and continue all the way to the flavours you find in your cup. Master Roaster, Peter Stathos, is charged with staying at the cutting edge of the global coffee scene, and this means listening carefully to what farmers, cafes, and consumers are saying. If coffee lovers in Melbourne begin to prefer a stronger blend, he wants to provide that blend, and this means knowing where he can reliably source top-quality green beans.
Mocopan works with coffee farmers worldwide, and with nearly 60 years heritage, has access to a wide range of origins and green bean sources. They strive to build long-term relationships with their coffee farmers, and regularly travel to coffee growing regions around the world. Because Mocopan provides coffee for cafes and restaurants Australia, they know how important it is to work with coffee farms that produce consistent quality green beans - year in, year out.
Peter and his team usually handle this tough task, but other employees at Mocopan sometimes get a chance to visit beautiful coffee farms all over the world, too. Recently, National Coffee Training Manager, Habib Maarbani, travelled to Brazil on behalf of Mocopan, and he got to witness how coffee farms, co-operatives, and exporters work together. The locals in the coffee industry were exceptionally proud to share their coffees, and Habib said he was entirely humbled by the experiecce. In fact, the trip caused Habib, a champion latte art master, to say that he will personally take more care with every cup he brews.
In visiting coffee farms, Mocopan tastes hundreds of cups of coffee in search of the next new origin. It takes a skilled palate and Peter, a certified master roaster with twenty-three years of experience at Mocopan, leads the way. Over the years, he has noticed a number of roasting trends; for instance, coffee drinkers who are new to espresso usually prefer a lighter roast with understated-yet-distinct flavours, and later, many move toward a stronger, darker roast. Peter has also observed that coffee drinkers in Melbourne prefer a light roast those in Queensland and New South Wales generally prefer darker roasts. While cupping in foreign regions, he often seeks a particular flavour profile to match a current trend among Australian coffee drinkers...
Chapter: Suspended Coffee
In a world where many of us want to help the less fortunate but aren't sure how, the suspended coffee movement offers a simple answer—one that combines Italian tradition, charity, and warm coffee. The process begins when one courteous customer purchases an extra coffee in addition to their own order at a coffee shop. Then, the cafe holds onto this coffee, a suspended coffee, until a person who can't afford to buy a coffee visits and asks for it. The cafe serves it up piping hot, making all the difference for someone down on their luck.
Thought to have begun in Naples where the movement goes by "caffe sospeso," suspended coffee is a way of paying it forward. After Italy, approximately 150 cafes in Bulgaria took up the cause, serving the comforting flavours of coffee to thousands of impoverished people. In January 2013, a Facebook page was developed for suspended coffee, and within three months, it received over 37,000 likes. Actor Nathan Fillian has since tweeted about suspended coffees to his 1.7 million Twitter followers, and cafes around the world, from Sydney to Seattle, have adopted the cause. Its success can in part be attributed to the fact that the movement doesn't require a pledge of financial support from a major donor to get off the ground. With suspended coffee, one person can make a real and immediate impact.
Social media is indeed playing the role of messenger again, and it appears that it will continue to do so. Social media has proven itself one of the best ways for people who embrace suspended coffees to communicate, and the movement requires significant communication. Firstly, cafes have to tell their customers that they're onboard, and additionally, customers will want to see how they've made an impact. To share the effects that suspended coffee has made in thousands of people's lives, cafes have begun to use Facebook and Twitter to share pictures of smiling people enjoying suspended coffees. Other sites are compiling lists of participating cafes, city by city.
But what about sharing the movement with those less fortunate? After all, it's unlikely those in need will have access to the internet. Cafe owners and baristas from London to San Paulo have asked this question, and many agree that a simple sticker in a window does the trick. In Melbourne, Declan Jacobs, who set up the Suspended Coffee Society Melbourne Facebook page, printed 200 window stickers with the message "Suspended Coffee Supporter" for cafes, and others are following suit.
Another question has been how to keep track of the number of suspended coffees purchased by customers, and many cafes have found an easy solution in keeping a jar full of tokens, whether bottle caps or sugar sachets. Additionally, others have asked what will happened ifthe number of people purchasing suspended coffees outgrows the demand. In response, cafes have said that they will donate any excess funds to charity at the end of each month.
These solutions, mostly conceived by cafes, reveal one of the greatest aspects of the suspended coffee movement: It is a grassroots movement, and by working together, the coffee world can help those less fortunate. Quite simply, the movement turns a simple cup ofcoffee into a random act of kindness.
Since gaining momentum, Suspended Coffee has inspired others in other industries to start their own suspended campaigns. For example, The Local Grocer grocery store in Perth has initiated the Suspended Food Box campaign. Customers can purchase a suspended food box for a flat fee, and the store fills it with healthy groceries at cost and then donates the boxes to Foodbank Western Australia. The grocery store makes no profit. The idea of suspended giving seems to have no boundaries, and it may be applicable to everything from clothing to housing-even education.
The real importance of suspended coffee can only be fully experienced when you see the look on the face of a person receiving a warm, free coffee. A story from Toronto in Canada gives a glimpse into the magnitude of the campaign. On a frosty morning, a young girl saw a man who looked almost frozen lying on a cardboard box. She had seen the Suspended Coffee Facebook page, and she asked him if he would like a hot beverage. The man accepted, and·they walked together to the nearest cafe. There, the shop owner said that the cafe didn't have a suspended coffee available but that it did have a suspended meal. The man's face lit up, and the girl felt that, for one moment, nothing separated the two of them. A picture of the man eating the meal has since circulated widely online, sharing the cause with others.
Chapter: Mocopan Coffee
One of the first coffee roasters in Australia and a guiding light in the Melbourne coffee scene, Mocopan has remained an integral part of Australia's coffee history for nearly sixty years. The company was founded in Preston during the middle of the 20th century, a time when immigrants from all over Europe were drawn to the area. In fact, the population in Preston is believed to have increased by nearly 40% between 1947 and 1954 and by the 1980's, foreign-born residents comprised almost a third of the population. The founders of Mocopan, Agostino Monici, Sergio Coperchini, and Vic Panettieri were among these newcomers.
Agostino, Sergio and Vic had grown up in Italy between world wars,and by the early 1950's, they experienced a country still recovering from the effects of fascist rule. Born in Parma, Italy, Agostino cam from a family that had worked in the coffee industry for multiple generations. His family had roasted and traded coffee, and he brought his family's skills, traditions, and love of coffee to Australia. It is believed that Agostino immigrated on The Australia, a ship that travelled regularly between Australia and Genoa from 1949 to 1960. Conditions on-board were said to be spartan, filled to maximum capacity to transport as many people as possible. Accommodation ranged from bunk beds to the open deck.
Agostino and Sergio had met prior to arriving in Australia, and in founding Mocopan, they sought financial backing. Vic Panerrieri, a local fruit retailer, joined them. Together, the three created an anagram using their last names, and this is how the name Mocopan was born. The business opened on 147 Plenty Road in 1954, a time when Melbourne’s first espresso bars, such as Don Camillo’s and Pellegrini’s were also opening.
With Vic Panettieri as a silent partner and Sergio taking over the production of dry goods, including cured meats and polenta flour, Agostino focused on coffee. Unlike most coffee companies, Mocopan made th statute decision to use green beans rathter than to important pre-roated beans. This was a cuase for celebration amongst the immigrant communities used to high-quality coffee, and the flavour of Mocopan coffee set it apart from the other Melbourne coffee companies. Mocopan also obtained the right to import Italian La Faema coffee machines during this period...
Mocopan: Sourcing, Roasting, and Cafe Culture
Daily operations at Mocopan commence in exotic countries all over the world and continue all the way to the flavours you find in your cup. Master Roaster, Peter Stathos, is charged with staying at the cutting edge of the global coffee scene, and this means listening carefully to what farmers, cafes, and consumers are saying. If coffee lovers in Melbourne begin to prefer a stronger blend, he wants to provide that blend, and this means knowing where he can reliably source top-quality green beans.
Mocopan works with coffee farmers worldwide, and with nearly 60 years heritage, has access to a wide range of origins and green bean sources. They strive to build long-term relationships with their coffee farmers, and regularly travel to coffee growing regions around the world. Because Mocopan provides coffee for cafes and restaurants Australia, they know how important it is to work with coffee farms that produce consistent quality green beans - year in, year out.
Peter and his team usually handle this tough task, but other employees at Mocopan sometimes get a chance to visit beautiful coffee farms all over the world, too. Recently, National Coffee Training Manager, Habib Maarbani, travelled to Brazil on behalf of Mocopan, and he got to witness how coffee farms, co-operatives, and exporters work together. The locals in the coffee industry were exceptionally proud to share their coffees, and Habib said he was entirely humbled by the experiecce. In fact, the trip caused Habib, a champion latte art master, to say that he will personally take more care with every cup he brews.
In visiting coffee farms, Mocopan tastes hundreds of cups of coffee in search of the next new origin. It takes a skilled palate and Peter, a certified master roaster with twenty-three years of experience at Mocopan, leads the way. Over the years, he has noticed a number of roasting trends; for instance, coffee drinkers who are new to espresso usually prefer a lighter roast with understated-yet-distinct flavours, and later, many move toward a stronger, darker roast. Peter has also observed that coffee drinkers in Melbourne prefer a light roast those in Queensland and New South Wales generally prefer darker roasts. While cupping in foreign regions, he often seeks a particular flavour profile to match a current trend among Australian coffee drinkers...
Chapter: Suspended Coffee
In a world where many of us want to help the less fortunate but aren't sure how, the suspended coffee movement offers a simple answer—one that combines Italian tradition, charity, and warm coffee. The process begins when one courteous customer purchases an extra coffee in addition to their own order at a coffee shop. Then, the cafe holds onto this coffee, a suspended coffee, until a person who can't afford to buy a coffee visits and asks for it. The cafe serves it up piping hot, making all the difference for someone down on their luck.
Thought to have begun in Naples where the movement goes by "caffe sospeso," suspended coffee is a way of paying it forward. After Italy, approximately 150 cafes in Bulgaria took up the cause, serving the comforting flavours of coffee to thousands of impoverished people. In January 2013, a Facebook page was developed for suspended coffee, and within three months, it received over 37,000 likes. Actor Nathan Fillian has since tweeted about suspended coffees to his 1.7 million Twitter followers, and cafes around the world, from Sydney to Seattle, have adopted the cause. Its success can in part be attributed to the fact that the movement doesn't require a pledge of financial support from a major donor to get off the ground. With suspended coffee, one person can make a real and immediate impact.
Social media is indeed playing the role of messenger again, and it appears that it will continue to do so. Social media has proven itself one of the best ways for people who embrace suspended coffees to communicate, and the movement requires significant communication. Firstly, cafes have to tell their customers that they're onboard, and additionally, customers will want to see how they've made an impact. To share the effects that suspended coffee has made in thousands of people's lives, cafes have begun to use Facebook and Twitter to share pictures of smiling people enjoying suspended coffees. Other sites are compiling lists of participating cafes, city by city.
But what about sharing the movement with those less fortunate? After all, it's unlikely those in need will have access to the internet. Cafe owners and baristas from London to San Paulo have asked this question, and many agree that a simple sticker in a window does the trick. In Melbourne, Declan Jacobs, who set up the Suspended Coffee Society Melbourne Facebook page, printed 200 window stickers with the message "Suspended Coffee Supporter" for cafes, and others are following suit.
Another question has been how to keep track of the number of suspended coffees purchased by customers, and many cafes have found an easy solution in keeping a jar full of tokens, whether bottle caps or sugar sachets. Additionally, others have asked what will happened ifthe number of people purchasing suspended coffees outgrows the demand. In response, cafes have said that they will donate any excess funds to charity at the end of each month.
These solutions, mostly conceived by cafes, reveal one of the greatest aspects of the suspended coffee movement: It is a grassroots movement, and by working together, the coffee world can help those less fortunate. Quite simply, the movement turns a simple cup ofcoffee into a random act of kindness.
Since gaining momentum, Suspended Coffee has inspired others in other industries to start their own suspended campaigns. For example, The Local Grocer grocery store in Perth has initiated the Suspended Food Box campaign. Customers can purchase a suspended food box for a flat fee, and the store fills it with healthy groceries at cost and then donates the boxes to Foodbank Western Australia. The grocery store makes no profit. The idea of suspended giving seems to have no boundaries, and it may be applicable to everything from clothing to housing-even education.
The real importance of suspended coffee can only be fully experienced when you see the look on the face of a person receiving a warm, free coffee. A story from Toronto in Canada gives a glimpse into the magnitude of the campaign. On a frosty morning, a young girl saw a man who looked almost frozen lying on a cardboard box. She had seen the Suspended Coffee Facebook page, and she asked him if he would like a hot beverage. The man accepted, and·they walked together to the nearest cafe. There, the shop owner said that the cafe didn't have a suspended coffee available but that it did have a suspended meal. The man's face lit up, and the girl felt that, for one moment, nothing separated the two of them. A picture of the man eating the meal has since circulated widely online, sharing the cause with others.
