Barista of the Week… Sean Ballenden
Barista at Real Coffee, 1/25 Belmore Road, Lorne
The Coffee Guide (TCG): What coffee do you use at work?
Sean: We use a range of blends and single origins, but my favourite is the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.
TCG: If you weren’t a barista what would you be?
Sean: Full time musician/engineer/producer.
TCG: How do you have your coffee at home? How do you make it and how do you take it?
Sean: I don’t do coffee at home. My preferred method is espresso and I can’t afford a decent machine… yet… so I drink out.
TCG: What is your favourite music? (For work or for play).
Sean: Right now I’m listening to Queens of the Stone Age at home and lot’s of 60s music at work.
TCG: What’s your favourite food?
Sean: South East Asian. I’m hooked on spices and the flavours. I could eat this food forever.
TCG: If you’re not drinking coffee, what is your drink of choice?
Sean: Water. I like to keep it simple.
TCG: What food do you think is the best compliment to a really great coffee?
Sean: None. Because I like to enjoy a coffee for what it is.
TCG: How many coffees would you make in the average day?
Sean: 100.
TCG: What’s the largest amount of coffees you have made in a day?
Sean: About 160.
TCG: What is the most exciting thing happening in coffee right now for you?
Sean: Diversity, appreciation, quality and culture.
TCG: If you could make coffee for one other person of your choice (anyone- past or present), who would it be and what coffee would you make them?
Sean: Jimmy Page, and I’d make him whatever he wanted.
TCG: As a barista, what’s your next big plan?
Sean: Travel – back to South East Asia.
TCG: What did you do on your last day off?
Sean: I engineered a recording session for a project I’m working on. It was an acoustic blues song.
TCG: Is decaf a dirty word?
Sean: Yes
TCG: What is your favourite kind of tea?
Sean: Green Tea.