the day to day operations are really interesting things to observe. We are there tasting coffees, brewing and writing tasting notes and doing all of our lab work - it’s something that a lot of people don’t realise goes on behind the scenes with coffee. “They don’t often get to see the roasting process, so to put it on display in front of people is quite unique in Tasmania. “There are maybe some other spots where you can see it happening but not to this sort of scale, not with this level of intent. We’re pretty excited. This is our long-term home, it feels a lot like the culmination of a lot of years of work have come together in this space. I’m super proud of what we’ve created here.” Schramm also sees the expansion as a way for Villino to remain relevant in the ever-revolving nature of speciality coffee. He still remembers what it was like in the early days in Criterion St trying to make headway in Tasmania, and won’t rest on his laurels despite the following and success the company has garnered in remaining at the forefront of the industry. “15 years ago, to find somewhere with single origins or free pouring latte art, it just wasn’t a thing. Fresh roasted coffee was big and we were one of the first places focused on these things. We had to do a lot of education, we had signs on the back of the menus that explained what Latte Art was, the difference between a ristretto or an espresso, what is single origin or a single estate coffee. It was really a big part of driving that education in consumers. “What we were doing was different and progressive. There were a couple of places absolutely, we weren’t the first and we weren’t the only one, but I feel like we were definitely one of the early players in that movement and we’ve played a role in progressing that side of the industry and educating the consumers. We had to do a lot of explaining in the early days just trying to sell “I was the guy working in IT with a folder on my computer called ‘My Business Ideas’. At that stage I was more passionate about being entre- preneurial rather than specifically looking to open a specialty coffee business, that wasn’t the agenda to begin with,” - Richard Schramm
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