Can you introduce yourself and what you do here at Ashfield Apothecary?

Hi, my name is Jomali, and I am a full-time barista here at Ashfield Apothecary. I’ve been working in coffee for about four years, moving up in the industry and getting more into specialty coffee. That’s my thing at the moment.

What got you into coffee? How did this journey start for you? 

So, I originally got into coffee when a distant cousin of mine bought the Link & Pin Cafe way up in Woy Woy and I was like, “Hey, I just got my barista certificate, can I learn please?”

It kind of steamrolled from there. After I finished up in Woy Woy, I moved to different cafes in the city until I eventually ended up in a role which started serving specialty coffee.

I didn’t picture myself getting that far into the coffee industry, but now I’m working in specialty coffee. I’m doing it full-time for a living and making a career out of it.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about the local area, the community, and why you chose to work here?  

I originally came here because it is a five-minute walk from my house. So, it is brilliant to be able to just wake up and go to work as if it’s nothing. I also started working here because it’s a lovely little place. I’ve been coming here for years before I started working here. I’ve always known it to be highly reputable for coffee, so I was really interested in working in a more intimate area where I can be more personable, meet new people and create new relationships. Yeah, be closer with the people who I know are making the coffee that I like.

So, was this your local when you were in the area?

This is my local, yes. The people here, the community, it’s people of all sorts of backgrounds in the inner west. So of course, there’s all sorts of office people rushing to get to the train in the morning. But there’s a whole lot of artistic types that I’ve really connected with and they’ve been absolutely lovely people. They’ve invited me out to hang out with them and stuff like that.

What can someone visiting this cafe or this space expect to experience?

They can expect to experience authenticity, I would say. Because we don’t put on layers of facades or anything like that. We’re just like, hey, come and grab a seat and we’ll make you the best coffee you’ve ever had, and we’ll just make you some honest food, you know?

And since it’s like a small area and a small space, we can give customers a really personable experience. I think that really goes a long way for someone – they can experience a quick coffee here. They know that they can be looked after because we are small enough to do so.

 

Ashfield Apothecary has been described like a home. Is that the experience and vibe of the place?

Yeah, exactly. We want to bring people in and make them feel comfortable and in a space that is as relaxing as your lounge room at home. Given our attention to detail with our own coffee roast its top tier and above the rest – we’re perfecting the craft.

We take the time to make sure that every product we make is the best product we’ve ever made and we’re not really concerned with how long something takes. Our customer base are happy to wait a little bit to have the best coffee of the day, you know?

What do you think the future looks like for Ashfield Apothecary?

We have established ourselves in this part of Ashfield as who we are. And there’s no wrong and there’s no harm in just keeping continuing to do what we are already doing. I’d say it’d be nice to, you know, step up our roasting so that other cafes could use our coffee.

At the moment, I think we’re focused on keeping it to ourselves so that we can perfect and try new things because we’ve only been roasting for eight months. This is relatively new and we’re still like trying new things. We’re having a lot of fun and it’s been a really amazing learning experience.

We’ll see what happens in the future.

What’s your experience with The Alternative Oat and Almond using it in the cafe as a head barista?

So, I tend to think of the milk as the vessel for the coffee. Being the vessel, it has to be something that would complement the coffee. What I found with all sorts of the milks that I’ve used in my career, some of them are just too sugary or not taste great. I want to get as much of the coffee qualities as I can when I have a flat white. What I think is great about The Alternative Dairy Co – It’s not invasive.

The way it interacts with our specific style of roasting; it lets the coffee cut through. I still also, really like the qualities because I’m an oat milk drinker.

 

So, what’s your go-to coffee then?

My go-to coffee is a good strong oat latte because I love the taste of coffee. I really, really want to taste all the coffee and I haven’t been too much of a milk drinker in the past. I’ve had other different brands of oat milk but with The Alternative Dairy Co Oat Milk, it really suits our style of roasting our blend coffee because it compliments and it’s really cohesive. It’s not overpowering and it’s not weak. You know, it’s got its own identity and I really, really appreciate what it does for our coffee.

The same goes for The Alternative Almond Milk as well. It works the same way, essentially. I mean, I’m not an almond milk drinker, but I’ve seen the way different customers respond to the almond milk that we use. I’ve been told by a few customers, like you can taste the coffee, and you can taste the unique qualities of our coffee with the almond milk that they haven’t been able to get out of other brands.

Do you have like a memorable story working at the cafe?

Look, I mean not to go on my high horse or anything, but I have a lot of good stories. Like every day.

I have a number of customers who’ve known me from different cafes and they have all come in. They are almond milk and oat milk drinkers. They’ve all told me “This is probably the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life.” That’s not something I take lightly. Absolutely not.

I’ve only been in the industry for about four years. I did not think I’d ever be making someone the best coffee that they’ve ever had in their life. And given what I said earlier about how our oat and almond milk works with our coffee, I think it really goes a long way to say that.

There’s something really unique and special that we produce and people notice, absolutely. When they tell you that they notice it, it’s such an amazing thing. It makes me feel so good to hear someone say “that coffee was amazing.”

 

Do you think that alternative dairy will be taking over traditional dairy? Do you think you’re going through a lot more alternative volume than like normal classic dairy milk?

People are always going to like to have dairy milk, but I feel like there’s a greater appreciation for alternative dairy.

Milk is the vessel for coffee. And if you don’t have a good vessel, then you’re not going to have a good coffee. So you’re not going to have a good experience at least, you know? If you’re going to have an alternative milk that’s too sugary, or if you’re going to have even a dairy milk that’s not fatty enough. It makes a difference. It makes a huge difference.

If you could have a coffee with any person in history, who would it be and why?

Okay, so that would have to be Erykah Badu, the soul queen. She is just amazing. I mean, I’ve got my head wrapped modelled after her. I really look up to her and her music is everything to me. I think she would really appreciate a good cup of my coffee. Yeah. She definitely has the energy for it.