News
4 June, 2010 (top of page)
World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies talks about the Pullman Barista
Australia has the privelige of seeing Gwilym Davies, the current reigning World Barista Champion, at 'The Coffee Experience', part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Fair. Gwilym was a hit with the crowd as he shared his passion for coffee and used a Pullman Barista to show them some of the moves which won him the crown.
It was an honour to meet Gwilym at the event and get his opinion on the tamper. "It's a really comfortable and ergonomic tamper, Greg", Gwilym noted. "I love the rings around the base, that's a great idea, and its perfect balance and weight make it a pleasure to use."
It was encouraging to hear such a glowing report from someone who's used many tampers and perhaps knows better than most what really is important in a tamper. It's great news too for coffee lovers everywhere, who can enjoy the same tamper that has received the tick of approval from the holder of the world's most distinguished title in specialty coffee.
20 May, 2010 (top of page)
Foodco Group chooses Pullman Tampers for Barista Competition
The Foodco Group (including Jamaica Blue, Muffin Break and Dreamy Donuts) have continued to actively encourage their baristas in the production of great coffee with an internal barista competition. The prize? A custom-engraved Pullman Barista tamper, enough to make any aspiring barista put on their best performance!
Congratulations to all those who competed, and a special congratulations to the winners - we hope your new tamper will assist you in achieving that perfect tamp to help make that perfect cup of coffee!
15 January, 2010 (top of page)
Pullman sponsors AASCA National Barista Championships
Pullman Tampers have long worked hand in hand with professional baristas to bring products that consistently perform in the toughest environment. So it seemed a natural extension of this synergy to sponsor the 2010 AASCA National Barista Championships, which send the national winner to the World Barista Championships (WBC) in London.
The first, second and third placed competitor in the barista competition and latte art competition received respectively a gold, silver or bronze Pullman Barista tamper for their achievements. Naturally some of these already used a Pullman Tamper but were excited to receive a second.
We wish all the finalists our best wishes in their continuing barista development, and the winners for the national competition in January, 2010, and the world!
18 December, 2009 (top of page)
Pullman Tampers featured in BeanScene Magazine
BeanScene Magazine is one of Australia's premier coffee magazines, regularly featuring premium products and personalities in the Australian coffee industry. Its December 2009 issue ran a feature on Pullman Tampers and the process by which they're made.
4 November, 2009 (top of page)
SA Barista Champion talks about the Pullman Barista
Fiefy Anuwatanaphorn knows a thing or two about coffee as all her customers at Bracegirdle's in the Adelaide suburb of Burnside will testify. She particularly knows what it takes to perform at the top, as winner of the 2009 and 2010 SA Barista Championship. She recently acquired a Pullman Barista tamper and had this to say about her new toy:
Thank you, Greg Pullman for the beautiful Amaranth Pink Barista Tamper! I fell in love with it from the first glance.
As winner of the 2009 and 2010 Australian Barista Championship SA State Heat, I know the importance of consistency. Any variable, no matter how slight, can change what I'm wanting in the cup and spell the difference between success and failure. That's why the Pullman Barista is my tamper of choice at home, at work and in competition.
Perfectly balanced and weighted, with comfortable curves, it's easy to get a level tamp; something that's crucial for an even extraction and the best flavours in the cup. The True Tamp guide rings make this much easier to achieve. The same applies in everyday use - I found your Barista Tamper was perfect at work, even over long, busy shifts, and never made my hand ache. With all the Barista Pullman features, I believe your tamper can help produce more consistent extractions - whether during rush hour in the store, or when facing intense pressure of competition - and pump out the best possible cups of coffee...love it!
31 October, 2008 (top of page)
The Pullman Barista Tamper Announced
One of Australia's worst-kept secrets, the Pullman Barista tamper, has officially hit the shelves! After about three years of ongoing research, development, prototyping and headaches, the new Pullman Tamper is finally available!
The Deluxe Tamper has been and continues to be a very successful product, and its main acceptance has been in the challenging top-end home market where some of the closest scrutiny of quality and craftsmanship takes place. However it had limited acceptance in the commercial world, and after many requests from commercial operators for a Pullman Tamper designed for commercial use we set about to design something from the ground up. The key focus was on ergonomics and creating the tamper people wanted to use, and many prototype tampers were created and sent away to some of Australia's most discerning espresso bars for testing, including Epic Espresso in WA, and St Ali and Maling Room in VIC. The feedback we received was very valuable and enabled us to determine a set of core requirements on which to build the tamper.
The benefits of all that work have paid off, with 2008 SA Barista Champion Ian Callahan describing the tamper as 'the extension of my hand', and Epic Espresso head barista Corey Diamond describing it as 'the best man made tamper ever!'. You can now be a part of the action and purchase your own Pullman Barista tamper - the new standard in coffee tampers as judged by Australia's best!
Take a tour around the Barista or learn more about the Barista Tamper
20 August, 2008 (top of page)
Epic Espresso take delivery of Barista tampers - "...the best man made tamper ever!"
Epic Espresso have long been at the bleeding edge of espresso evolution in Western Australia, and indeed Australia-wide. Headed up by SCAA Accredited Judge Corey Diamond, Epic has forged itself a name in Australian espresso culture as a progressive espresso shop that is constantly raising the bar on espresso quality and barista performance. They were the first commercial bar in Western Australia to install hand-made Synesso espresso machines, and they've just taken delivery of two custom-engraved Pullman Barista tampers to become the first commercial espresso bar in Australia to use the new tamper.
As a team of experts taking a no-compromise view of espresso, Epic were heavily involved in a critical development stage of the Barista tamper during early 2007 where three months of intensive prototyping took place instore. During this time the Barista tamper evolved from a series of different concept tampers into the substantial form that led to the production units. People like Corey Diamond himself, 2006 WA Barista Champion Jeremy Hulsdunk and 2006 WA Latte Art Champion Megan Aguero provided extensive on-the-job expert feedback about the various components of each tamper, all of which were combined to produce a specification to which the Barista tamper has been made.
Described by Head Barista Corey Diamond as "the best man made tamper ever"Epic were thrilled to retire their old Canadian tampers and start using the Barista and instantly got into the groove of the new tamper. We checked back after a week and they had this to say about their experiences:
- Corey: "The Barista is the best man made tamper ever! The troops love it! And can't wait to get one of their own!"
- Megan: "This is undoubtedly the most comfortable tamper for everyday use I have ever used. For a long shift the balance is perfect and I far prefer it to the heavier unbalanced units we were using before"
- Natalie: "A very comfortable soft feel tamper and extremely easy to control."
- Dan: "If it was legal I would marry this tamper!"
- Vanessa: "Extremely comfortable! The TrueTamp rings add that little bit of assistance in getting the tamp flat though it's easy to do just by feel - and aesthetically it's great!"
- Ryan: "I find it so easy to tamp perfectly flat with this tamper. I'm from Canada, but I have to say with our previous Canadian units I was commonly getting at least a millimetre of skew on the tamp. With the Pullman Barista it's regularly below 0.5mm which translates into richer and more consistent extractions and better results all round in the cup. That's what I call measurable results!"
Thanks for all your help during the development of the Barista tamper. We're sure you'll remain a frontrunner in the Australian espresso scene as you once again raise the bar on quality!
21 May, 2008 (top of page)
2000th Pullman Tamper produced
Since the very first Pullman Tamper was produced in 2002, interest in the product has continued to grow at an exponential rate. In October 2006 we gave away the 1000th Pullman Tamper, and just 18 months later we hit 2000! The community at coffeesnobs.com.au has a number of Pullman Tamper owner members who have spread the word about what a great product it is, so we made the competition available only to Coffeesnobs members.
On May 12, 2008, Case Sinclair of Western Australia (sinkas on coffeesnobs) placed an order for a Checkerboard Pullman Tamper, ignorant of the fact he was in fact the 2000th order! As a result, Case received his tamper completely free of charge and was rapt with the product! "This is the first time I've won anything!", Case said. "It's such a beautiful product it feels almost criminal to get it for free!". Ironically, the machine Case owns is a Quaha Napoletana, which is the same target machine the very first Pullman Vanilla tamper was made for.
Best wishes with the new tamper!
15 May, 2008 (top of page)
Feature in WA Business News
WA Business News recently ran a column about Pullman Tampers. Here's an extract from their article, while subscribers can read the full story.
Worth a tamper
ACCORDING to Greg Pullman, manufacturer of the Greg Pullman tampers, Western Australia is a very progressive state when it comes to all things coffee.
"The level of interest and the level of expertise are greater in WA." he said This is one of the reasons why Mr Pullman tested his products at West Perth-based Epic Espresso for six months last year. "I wanted to tap into that expertise and find out what was working and what wasn't, the barista at Epic would give me that feedback," he said.
The tamper is a crucial element of coffee making; it determines how the water flows through the coffee and therefore directly affects the quality of the coffee in the cup.
18 April, 2008 (top of page)
Pullman Tampers accepted into Australian Made Campaign
The Australian Made Australian Grown campaign promotes businesses who use Australian materials and labour to produce their end product. The requirements of the Australian Made / Product of Australia logo are very stringent; access to the highest tier in the program, the 'Product of Australia' logo, demonstrates that:
- all significant components or ingredients originate from Australia, and
- all, or virtually all, of the production processes must take place in Australia
Pullman Tampers have always been 100% Australian Made, but the 'Product of Australia' logo proves it. This means you can be confident the stainless steel tamper bases are made from Australian steel using Australian labour; the wooden handles are hand-turned by an Australian wood turner; all the assembly, measurement and support is done by Australians, in Australia. Even the retail presentation boxes are, you guessed it, made in Australia.
The cost of producing a coffee tamper in Australia is a lot higher than employing cheap labour and cheap materials offshore, and some manufacturers choose this path to gain a bigger profit margin or to undercut those who truly supply Australian products; however we're confident the quality of our product speaks for itself and we're determined to continue supporting the local businesses who help us produce a world-class product. By purchasing a Pullman Tamper, you not only get one of the world's leading hand-crafted coffee tampers, you can also rest assured the money you spend will stay right here in Australia.
See the Australian Made feature page for more information.
22 February, 2008 (top of page)
Ian Callahan wins SA State Barista Championship with Pullman Deluxe tamper
Ian Callahan, winner of SA State Barista Championship (centre), and (L, R) using the Pullman Deluxe tamper he used to win the competition
On Feb 21, 2008, Ian Callahan comfortably won the South Australian Barista Championship ahead of some very good competition. Ian will now travel to Melbourne in May to represent South Australia in the National Barista Championship.
Ian was pleased to inform us he chose to use his Pullman Deluxe tamper for the competition in preference to a Canadian aluminium tamper he'd used in previous competitions, and as used by the other competitors. "I find it a lot easier to be precise with the Pullman (compared to the Canadian unit)", Ian said today. "The TrueTamp rings obviously help but just the general finish on it too. Plus it had a better fit in the FB80 competition machine so the choice was a no-brainer". The choice of tamper isn't the only factor which led Ian to his win, but it demonstrates the Pullman Deluxe tamper is has what it takes to come out on top not only in domestic and commercial situations, but in the high-pressure, high-accuracy environment of professional barista competitions, and that industry professionals recognise it as such.
Congratulations Ian, and best wishes for the nationals!
29 August, 2007 (top of page)
Vanilla tamper deleted
The Vanilla tamper is no longer available for sale.
The Vanilla tamper was the first Pullman tamper to be designed and produced and has many happy owners throughout the country. It was originally designed as a replacement for the built-in tamper on the Quaha / Imat / LeLit machines; However its functional shortcomings by comparison to the hugely popular Deluxe and Barista tampers have been recognised by ourselves and many prospective buyers who have opted for the Deluxe and Barista tamper instead. We have therefore decided to remove it from our product range to consolidate our resources. While it is a little sad to delete the very first product from our range, we feel this will allow us to concentrate our resources on ensuring the Deluxe and Barista tampers are the best they can be.
25 May, 2007 (top of page)
Pullman Tamper features in Crema magazine Tamper Showcase
Crema is one of Australia's leading cafe lifestyle magazines and contains columns, feature articles and the latest news from the coffee world. Their autumn 2007 issue carries a showcase of some of the best coffee tampers on the market, including the Pullman Tamper. The blurb states the following:
"Like a fine pen, the tamper has become a design piece as individual as you are. We showcase some of the best..."
The Pullman Tamper is one of the units chosen for this 'showcase of the best', and occupies pride of place in the centrefold.
Look out for it in your local newsagent, or check out the magazine's website www.cremamagazine.com.au.
10 May, 2007 (top of page)
Pullman Tampers chosen for 2006 and 2007 Barista Championships for FoodCo Group
The Foodco Group comprises over 220 Australasian retail outlets trading through the Muffin Break bakery cafe and Jamaica Blue cafe brands.
Foodco hold an annual national barista championship as part of their endeavours to raise the standard of coffee throughout their commercial outlets. Competitors are judged on both their technical ability and the taste profile of each drink. The event is judged by two Tasting Judge as well as two Technical Judges. Each finalist is required to prepare an espresso, flat white, latte, cappuccino and a specialty coffee of their choice. They are then judged on time, technical ability, coffee taste, presentation and coffee knowledge.
To recognise the outstanding efforts of the successful baristi, Foodco chose custom-engraved Pullman Tampers as awards for their regional winners in 2006. As a result of their satisfaction with the quality of the product, Foodco also selected Pullman Tampers for their 2007 championship to reward the successful employees with a functional work of art to further enhance their barista skills.
The successful 2007 regional winners with their Pullman Tampers.
Pictured with Foodco National Operations Manager Matthew Williams (left)
and Foodco National Coffee Consultant Brent Williams (right)
Close-up of the custom engraving on the handles
26 April, 2007 (top of page)
Review of Sunbeam EM6910 and Rancilio Silvia
These two popular machines have polarised the top end of the home espresso market. I was fortunate enough to run them head to head and the results were quite interesting!
