By Michael Doran
An integral part of the Yarra Valley experience is tastings, be they wine, cheese, chocolate, fruits and even ice-cream. With coffee it is more about buying a cup and hoping you like it.
A passionate young Warburton couple, Cleo and Wayne Silva, are changing that by expanding the coffee experience to include tasting and involvement. Cleo Silva said that they opened their Wesburn facility in 2017 to add more processing area and include the tasting space.
“We were growing quickly so we needed more space and we wanted to share our love of coffee with the general public,” she said. “We give them three different coffees to taste and that’s when they know that coffee can taste entirely different.
“Because we are in a tourist region we want to be more than just a coffee retailer, it’s about sharing the experience of how its grown, processed and roasted. It’s really lovely to have this presence in the Yarra Valley to interact with the public.
“More and more people want to know about what they are consuming, be it a wine or their food. There’s a whole world behind the coffee which you usually don’t have access to and that’s why we do it.
The roasting and blending expertise comes from Wayne Silva, who has just returned from visiting one of their bean suppliers in Colombia. He said he went there to learn more about how it is grown, how it is roasted and the processing methods.
“I like to push the boundaries of what the technical process can do and I am all about trying out new flavours,” he said. “Going to the farm in Colombia certainly has opened up my horizons a lot.”
The taste of Silva Coffee must be pretty good because they have been awarded a silver and four bronze awards in the 2018 Australia and New Zealand Golden Bean Awards.
“There were more than 1500 entries and each of the five varieties we entered won an award,” Ms Silva said. “It’s nice to get industry feedback and see how you’re placed with other coffee people.
“We started in 2010 in Warburton because we wanted to place ourselves in the Yarra Valley region. We moved to Wesburn so people can come and see us roasting and then taste it fresh, coffee is in our DNA.”
More about the tasting experience and the Silva story is at www.silvacoffee.com.au
