Page 69 - Tropic Magazine Issue 20

TROPIC • LIFESTYLE

TATTOOED SAILOR
Oliver James

BACKGROUND BRIEF
A well-travelled coffee competition
judge and former owner of
Caffiend, Oliver was inspired
to start roasting after a trip to
Ethiopia. With business partner
Ian, they opened Tattooed Sailor
on Newell St in 2016, combining a
cafe with their roasting operation.

What is the difference between
freshly roasted coffee and coffee place that it is! Coffee growers on the
that is sold in supermarkets? Tablelands grow nearly 70% of the
There are two main differences. The coffee grown in Australia. It’s right on
first is carbon dioxide, a roasting our doorstep and we’re not telling all
by-product gas that is trapped our customers! The flavours we’ve been
within the physical honeycomb- creating with new and experimental
like internal structure of roasted processing methods at Skybury is RANSOM COFFEE
coffee and provides the silky texture super exciting - our roaster James Kirby Koopman
to the crema (foamy and oily bit will be competing in the Brewers Cup
on top) of espresso coffee. It takes competition in Brisbane with it! BACKGROUND BRIEF
between 1 and 3 months for coffee Coffee lovers from way back, Ransom
to fully de-gas, depending on how Your top advice for coffee lovers? started in 2013 with the owners
it was roasted, packed and stored, wanting to do something in life that
and the one-way valve in the coffee 1 Shop around, buy from different was enjoyable and challenging - coffee
bag (some release carbon dioxide roasters, drink different origins roasting provided both.
quickly, some slowly). The second and blends. Each roaster is like a
difference is the oxidation and cuisine - sometimes I feel like Thai What’s the difference between freshly
degeneration of the oils in the or Italian or Japanese or Korean or roasted coffee and coffee that has been
roasted coffee. These oils, over time, sometimes a BBQ. As each roaster roasted months or years ago, like you’ll
migrate to the outside of the roasted uses a different machine and find in supermarkets?
coffee bean and slowly go rancid. different origins, you’ll get a unique There is literally no comparison.
This leads to bitterness like an old, perspective on coffee and what they Everything sold in a supermarket is
rancid oil flavour in the coffee. It want to showcase. stale and quite frankly revolting. We
takes about four weeks for this to Drink all the coffee, from filters and conduct barista training and buy a
start to happen, again depending 2 espresso to milky varieties. supermarket bag so people can literally
on roasting, packing and storing smell the difference. Coffee should be
variables. 3 Engage with your barista, ask them used within six weeks of roasting.
about the origin of the coffee and
What does the future coffee scene in what fun flavours you might find in Where do you source your green beans
Cairns look like? the coffee. from?
I think it’s exciting, particularly We use 4 importers as they all have
with the planned 2020 Cairns Coffee MORE: tattooedsailor.com.au their specialty regions, then have it
Festival. I think we will see more shipped by the pallet. We use high
collaboration between growers, altitude specialty grade coffee from
roasters and cafes to really promote Colombia, Ethiopia, Papua New
our region for the unique coffee Guinea, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Mexico, Brazil and Honduras.

What is your most sage piece of advice
for coffee lovers?
Great coffee doesn’t need sugar - we’ve
personally managed to get a lot of
people off sugar. However, coffee is
subjective so have it the way you like it
but be open to suggestions. And no: a
caramel hazelnut café latte isn’t coffee,
it’s a warm milkshake.

MORE: ransomcoffee.com

69 • tropicnow.com.au