Things you should know
A new barista champ; coffee is good for you; Hammerstone turns one.
Welcome to The Magic Roast! Your regular update on all things coffee, running and other stuff. Support The Magic Roast by sharing this post (if you like it. If you hate it, share it even wider to teach me a lesson!)
When it comes to coffee articles, advances and anecdotes, there’s a lot to keep on top of. The internet is a big place and it’s hard to find the time to get across everything.
So, after a chilled Easter break, kicking back and catching up on my reading list, I’ve compiled a list of things that will keep you informed and sounding like a coffee expert.
Keep an eye out for these updates every Tuesday.
Stuff: This is NZ’s best barista
Last month, Honoka Kawashima, from Franks Coffee in Wellington, won the 2023 New Zealand Barista Championship!
Justin Wong from Stuff spoke to Honoka about the Japanese coffee scene, her time working in Wellington and her journey to being New Zealand’s best barista. So cool!
Not unlike The Magic Roast, Honoka is on a mission to make coffee more approachable. She says:
“There’s been lots of new varieties and this information might be very complicated ... and [people] feel overwhelmed,” she said. “I want to make it more fun and exciting to share with customers how fun [it is] to know about coffee ... I want to share that each coffee has different characteristics, just like us.”
Read and watch more about Honoka and her road to being the best of the best.
Newsroom: Why I Started Drinking Coffee Even Though I Didn’t Like It
Do you get sick of people telling you coffee is bad for you? Well throw a lukewarm coffee in their face and spit some hot fire (facts) at them once you read this.
Dr Victor Dierikes from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Auckland Uni is a neuroscientist (so, this is proper science) and wrote an article about coffee’s impact on the prevention of Parkinson’s disease.
“This was not a single hot-off-the-press news article of the latest research. Study after study demonstrated that coffee drinkers develop Parkinson's disease later than non-coffee drinkers.”
He also talks about the ideal timing for drinking coffee:
“Reaching for that coffee when you get out of bed may be tempting but waiting for the second hour after waking up will make you feel more alert for longer.”
Check out the article on Newsroom - not behind the paywall.
Hammerstone coffee turns one!
The awesome people at Hammerstone Coffee have turned one! Happy birthday to Hammerstone!
To celebrate, Hammerstone have NEW PACKAGING (resealable, which is what I’m all about) and they’re also running free shipping until 30 April. FREE SHIPPING!
Im eagerly awaiting a fresh bag from Hammerstone (the Jardines Del Eden) which I’ll tell you all about over on Instagram over the next few weeks.
Go help them celebrate by picking up a bag for yourself.
That’s it for this week
Go be legends.