Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Cafe & Deli

The Primo Caffe brand was founded in 1987 by the Di Stefano family.  In 2004, a huge roasting facility was built in Wetherill Park for roasting beans for national wide wholesale.  In 2011, the Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Café & Deli was opened to reach out to the public.

In fact, this is usually one of the cafés in my schedule for taking overseas coffee friends for a look.  There you will probably be able to find at least one thing to amuse them: coffee, gelato, pizza and various authentic Italian food, etc.  In addition to the café and restaurant areas, there are shelves for you to pick Italian groceries, coffee accessories and different tea and coffee blends.  Round the corner you can also buy their gelato, cheese and ham before you go.

Today I brought my friends from Canada to here.  It’s a shame that we missed their weekend tour to the roasting room.  The nice dessert lady Christina knew that I’m a supporter of their shop and introduced us to the Executive Chef Christopher who brought us for a private tour (just for us!!).  Awesome!  Occupying about 1/4 of the premises, the roasting facility, including the huge drums for raw beans, roaster, cooling and transportation systems, was made in Italy and computer-programmed for production and remote access for maintenance/repair.  As said, the cost was AUD $1.5 million with an hourly production of 60kg beans.  The whole production intelligence is smart and amazing!

Being the Executive Chef, Chris is responsible for supervising the food production.  Almost all the attractive desserts are home-made with authentic Italian recipes.  Chris also makes the gelatos.  He gave me a free treat in the visit and I picked lemon sorbet.  Wow!! Like the sour and refreshing flavor.  Some gelato shops make lemon sorbet too sweet.  To me, it doesn’t make sense as lemon should taste a bit sour and refreshing.  If I’m looking for sweet things, I should pick other flavors!  Chris used to supervise the food of Sydney Olympics 2000 and manage fine-dining restaurants.  But he really loves the job here, with a team of high quality staff members who are also passionate about food and coffee.

Today’s coffee pick:

home-blend cappuccino: caramel/honey flavor, balanced bitterness and acidity.  Wonderful art on my cappuccino and my friend’s Chai latte

Remarks:

They also have barista training and a tour to the roaster chamber at 1000 every Saturday and Sunday.

17-35 Parramatta Road, Homebush (GPS: Powell Street, Homebush, Strathfield)
Mon-Sun: 0700-late
http://www.cwcd.com.au/index.html

1987年，Di Stafano家族創立Primo Caffe這品牌。於2004年，他們在Wetherill Park建立大型烘焙廠房，出品至全澳洲各地。於2011年，他們更走入人群，建立這Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Café & Deli，銷售咖啡及食品。

有愛啡人自外國來，我都愛帶他們來這一遊；至少我相信在店內眾多有趣東西中(咖啡、雪糕、簿餅及各傳統意式食品)，總會至少有一東西是吸引他們的！除了咖啡及餐膳範圍外，你還可以選擇意式雜貨、煮咖啡工具及各種口味的茶與咖啡。轉角更有售自家出品的雪糕、芝士及醃火腿。

今天特意帶來自加拿大的朋友，本想參與他們週末的烘焙參觀講解，可惜我們趕不及時間。然而，隨和的甜品姑娘Christina知道我是他們店的支時者，把我介紹給他們的行政總廚Christopher，就這樣，我們有幸得到了一個私人講解參觀！

整套烘焙設備佔地約是店的1/4, 包括巨型生豆處理器­、烘焙組、冷卻及運輸輸送系統，所有都是在意大利製造，並由電腦操作生產，及遙控監控/維修，造價為150萬澳元，每小時能烘焙60公斤的豆子，整個生產過程實在內含很大智慧！

作為行政總廚，Chris負責監督店內的生產過程，差不多所有甜品都是自家出品，他也負責製造gelatos，今天他給我品嚐他的gelato , 我選了檸檬雪葩－那酸酸醒胃的味道令人難忘；很多雪糕店都把檸檬雪葩造得太甜，對我來說，這絕不合邏輯，因為若我要嚐甜的話，大可選別的口味，而不是檸檬！

Chris曾在2000年悉尼奧運時監督大會食品，亦曾在其他餐廳作食品監督工作，但他說很熱愛店內這份工作，因為整個高質素的團隊也跟他一樣，熱愛咖啡與食品！

今天所選：

Cappuccino: 焦糖與蜂蜜味，苦/酸都做得均勻；我的咖啡及朋友的Chai latte 上的拉花做得很美！

此外，他們亦提供咖啡師培訓，於每周六及周日上午10時，開放他們的烘焙室及講解生產過程。

 

 

 

Homemade dessert

 

Thanks for Dessert Lady Christina, this one was delicious! :P

 

 

The Executive Chef Christopher makes the gelatos. I can't forget the refreshing and awesome lemon sorbet! :D

 

 The huge roasting facility

 

 Beans can be transported directly out for packaging or consumption in the cafe



Thanks for Christopher who brought us for the wonderful tour!!

 

Gourmet pizza

 

Wagyu Warehouse Burger

 

Coffee education: differences among different espresso based coffee types

 

 

Cheers for my friends Georgina and Kenny.  Hope that we will have coffee at Vancouver one day!!