“I did a lot of touring as a musician and it just made sense to move where it wasn’t as hard to find work or travel,” he says. “You can have good runs in the music industry where you make good money and then other times when you make nothing.”
When he and wife Claire, the creative force behind their PIQUE Coffee brand (and many more besides), had children the unpredictability of life on the road became even less attractive. As fate would have it, or perhaps due to his innate curiosity, Jason took a break from recording one day and wandered across the road to pioneering coffee roaster St Ali.
“I was blown away; the coffee was amazing and it was like a whole other world,” he says. “I spent the next 10 years working every single job in the coffee industry, from barista, roasting, account management, and sales, just soaking it all up.”
This included stints working with coffee royalty at St Ali, learning from champion brewers, and honing the skills he would need to run the coffee business he was already planning. While working as a roaster for Veneziano – which he describes as “a university of coffee” – Jason qualified as a Q Grader, working his way through intensive sensory exams to earn a licence to grade coffee.
High-end specialty coffee typically scores above 80 out of 100, a benchmark that has grown increasingly expensive. “Since we started PIQUE, the cost of green beans has more than doubled,” Jason says, pointing to shipping costs, droughts in key supplier Brazil and broader climate pressures as some of the factors.
Much more to coffee
In 2017, the family returned to Perth, where Jason furthered his passion for all things coffee as Veneziano’s local sales manager, then roastery manager for Mano a Mano Coffee, and Claire continued to build her reputation as a brand designer.
But Jason never stopped planning his own coffee roasting company. What started with a series of specialty roasts sold online or through small wholesalers eventually led to PIQUE Coffee Bar. The Wembley premises is modelled on a cellar door rather than a traditional coffee shop, the coffee machine tucked beneath the counter, alongside cold taps more associated with bars (though the range of beautifully packaged roasted coffee might give the game away).
Drinks on tap include Nitro Cold Brew, Nitro Oat Latte, and Coffee Cola, which PIQUE Coffee is bringing to this year’s Meet the Buyer™, Buy West Eat Best’s annual food and drink trade show where producers show their wares to potential buyers.
After tinkering with sodas for his children at home, Jason started researching cola ingredients. When the bar opened, he decided to take his experiments with coffee and cola to one of those taps, and early customers were only too happy to help him fine-tune the recipe.
“I was able to serve people Coffee Cola on tap, get some feedback, change the recipe and put it straight back on the tap within a few days, so I was getting constant feedback,” he says.
The refreshing, caffeinated cola is not overly coffee-forward, and is sugar-free, sitting in an interesting space between soft drink, energy drink and specialty coffee.
“A lot of people get confused because they think it is just coffee and coke, but it is made from scratch,” Jason says. “It is unique to us and entirely our recipe.”
The live feedback continues as Jason develops more flavours, with the dedicated “experimental tap” giving regulars a taste of things to come. Cherry cola and lemon lime drinks are close to production.
Taking the next step
Jason admits there have been some big learning curves along the way, not the least when the first canning run failed to live up to expectations, costing 800 litres of product and pushing the cola’s launch back. While he was understandably miserable at the failure, Jason believes the setback ultimately led to a far better outcome.
A regular customer suggested he attend Meet the Buyer™ last year to see the kinds of contacts he could make to help take the next step. There, he chatted with representatives from SIFT, a government initiative open to all WA food and drink companies looking to scale up production. Through them, he was introduced to Spinifex Brewing, who took on the canning. “They were extremely helpful,” he says of the far more successful second attempt. “The pilot run has almost sold out.”
Meet the Buyer™ also led Jason to the CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow program, which pairs small producers with researchers to help solve production and formulation challenges as they scale. It also provides guidance on applying for suitable government grants. “I’m about halfway through the program and have learned so much,” he says.
This year, Jason returns as an exhibitor, bringing his range of specialty roasts, as well as three coffee-based cola varieties. “I’m keen to build on the early interest in what we’re doing and open conversations with buyers and retailers who could take the drink to a wider audience,” he says.
Building on opportunities
Jason is also developing connections made through the coffee bar. Another regular customer who works for Mineral Resources introduced PIQUE to the mining company, which now stocks the Coffee Cola at its hospitality centre and head office. It was also the first beverage sold through the company’s new airport terminal outlet.
“It’s all working on those relationships, which takes time,” Jason says.
This includes talking to local distillers about potential collaborations, given cola’s natural affinity with spirits like rum, and exploring opportunities with local bars. “We had a neighbouring wine bar serve PIQUE cola on tap with cocktails last summer, which was great,” Jason says.
It may be a long way from touring musician to coffee specialist but there are some important similarities. Both demand an almost obsessive attention to the craft to do well, and the desire to share the results with others.
Coffee Cola was in part born out of the despair of knowing how much work goes into roasting coffee, only for an inexperienced barista to burn those lovingly prepared beans.
“There are so many factors at play as to whether a customer will get a really good coffee experience or not,” Jason says. “With the canned coffee products, we can make something that tastes delicious and the customer can open it and be guaranteed they will get what they should.”
Meet the Buyer™ is at Crown Perth on Tuesday 20 October. The exhibition floor has sold out, but buyers can still book tickets to the trade show.
Note: Meet the Buyer™ is a trade and industry event only, but you can support local by supporting the businesses mentioned and looking out for local produce wherever you shop.
