Brisbane coffee king Phil Di Bella wins global brewing crown
Brisbane coffee king Phil Di Bella is celebrating after picking up a global award for pitting his brewing skills against world competitors in Hawaii.
City Beat
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Coffee king Phil Di Bella is celebrating this morning after picking up a global award for his brew. Di Bella’s Coffee Commune at Bowen Hills won the world’s best milk-based coffee and roaster in the world at The Golden Bean World Series held in Hawaii.
“The Coffee Commune are world champions,” Di Bella tells your diarist. “Congratulations to my amazing team including Raihaan Esat, Jesse Matthews-Cooke, Meiti Valentina, Chen Naheed and Oozeer Justin and everyone who sourced, created, roasted and perfected the winning coffee entries.”
The Golden Bean is the world’s largest coffee roaster competition and conference, with entries from over 100 coffee roasting businesses.
Award categories include espresso, milk based (latte), filter, and alternative milk (almond). After selling his eponymous coffee empire in 2014 to Retail Food Group in a deal worth an eye-watering $47m, Di Bella returned with a new bean dream in 2021, launching The Coffee Commune – a purpose-built facility for the coffee industry, tackling everything from sourcing coffee, creating blends and consultancy, to contract roasting, educational courses and business development. That hard work has now gained global recognition.
Cloud Nine
Brisbane-based cloud hosting and web development company, Atech, has appointed veteran executive Kirsty McCann to its inaugural board. McCann’s experience spans more than 20 years of working internationally and across industry following an early career in tech. McCann is currently the managing director of Team Management Systems, a global SaaS provider of psychometric resources designed to develop high performing teams and future leaders. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds an MBA from the University of Queensland, a Bachelor of International Business from Kobe University, and a diploma of Japanese language and culture from Osaka Foreign Studies University.
Christmas Cookie
Subway Australia is getting into the Christmas spirit, with proceeds of all cookie sales this Friday going to national not-for-profit Friends for Good.
While presumably one of the happiest times of the year, Friends for Good say this Christmas will be lonelier than most without Australia’s support. Currently, an estimated 3 million Australians are experiencing high levels of loneliness and as Christmas festivities ramp up and another Covid wave looms, it can be a reminder for many people of how isolated they are.
Friends for Good co-founder Laura Rouhan says the charity’s mission is to free people from loneliness by providing among other services a chat service and community lunches.
“We are thrilled to have the support of our national partner Subway Australia to help shine a light on loneliness, break the stigma and raise much needed funds for our FriendLine,” says Rouhan. Subway ANZ Head of Marketing Rodica Titeica says that even a small gesture can make a big difference during the Christmas period.
Olympic Charge
Brisbane-based Battery World is amping up its support of Australia’s paralympic best ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
The retailer, which has 111 stores nationwide, was a key partner in this month’s inaugural Virtus Oceania Asia Games 2022 in Brisbane, which pitted some of the world’s greatest athletes with intellectual impairment against one another.
The end game for some is Paralympic Games preselection. In addition, the company is assisting Brisbane with its charge toward positioning itself as a global sporting destination ahead of the 2032 Games in the River City.
According to Battery World general manager Johnny Kennedy, the OA Games partnership was a no-brainer and had ignited a spark within the company.
“Many of our customers are passionate about sports and this was just another way for us to showcase what we do and get behind our community,” says Kennedy.
Sport Inclusion Australia chief executive Robyn Smith says it’s wonderful to have the support of Battery World.
Govt mulls revamp of Qld investment powerhouses
Speculation is still swirling around George St that the State Government is preparing a revamp of Queensland’s two most powerful financial institutions.
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