Canberra’s ONA Coffee has again claimed national success taking out four of the top six spots including the best barista award at the 2019 Australian Barista Championships.
The Canberra based roastery placed first, second, fourth and sixth in the Australian Barista Championships held over the weekend in Melbourne and also picked up first, second and fourth place in the Australian Brewers Cup Championships.
Barista champion Matthew Lewin will now represent Australia in April at the World Coffee Championships in Boston alongside Project Origin’s Yanina Ferreyra in the Brewers Cup Championships.
ONA Coffee founder and 2015 World Barista Champion, Sasa Sestic was overwhelmed at the results, announced at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) on Saturday night (9 February).
“To represent Canberra in global competitions is an honour that I was lucky enough to achieve, and now we have more representatives from our city that will do Canberra proud.”
Barista championship placings were:
- Matthew Lewin (ONA Coffee)
- Hugh Kelly (ONA Coffee)
- Anthony Douglas (Axil Coffee Roasters)
- Angus Mackie (ONA Coffee)
- Tilly Sproule (Tim Adams)
- Joao Carlos (ONA Coffee)
In her presentation for the Brewers Cup, Yanina spoke about her experience as a green bean buyer and how experimentation in processing can be a risky, yet successful venture for producers. ONA’s Devin Loong and Isaac Kim placed and second and fourth respectively.
Members of the Canberra coffee crew have taken out the World Barista title in 2015 (Sasa Sestic), while Hugh Kelly was the Australian Barista Champion in both 2016 and 2017.
ONA Coffee was founded in 2008 and now has four cafes in Canberra (Highroad, The Cupping Room, ONA Manuka, ONA Coffee House) and one in Sydney (ONA Marrickville) and supplies more than 100 cafes with its coffee.