Carnevale Coffee Roasters originally opened as a ‘cellar door’. Their intention was to start a roastery to supply beans to coffee boutiques, as well as having clients visit to taste or create a blend.
Then the locals started to arrive in abundance, asking when they would open a cafe. This took the owners (Chris Hoskin and Paolo Scidone) by surprise but even more surprising were the tables and chairs people were happy to bring in and donate. Local artists and photographers brought in the colours and landscapes to hang on the walls and they used apricot tins (dip tins) for light shades (donated by Hoskin’s father). The clientele started to flourish. After being told they were crazy for choosing this location (Clarence Park), Hoskin and Scidone had to move the 10kg roaster three times to accommodate for more customer seating. Carnevale Coffee Roasters is now a boutique/roastery that provides the cellar door experience for the public as well as industry. Within minutes of entering I can tell the staff are friendly, inviting and know the regulars. The staff point to the roaster when I ask for the owners and I make my way over. I talk with Hoskin and Scidone while they roast a fresh batch of beans and wave to customers they know that catch their eye. The smell of the coffee as they eject it from the roaster is distracting and luring as we talk about their journey. They use a 3 Group Diamant espresso machine but assure me that by the time this goes to print, they will have a custom painted Ruggero 2 Group Multi Boiler installed and ready to go. They rotate single origin beans in two of the grinders with a third one responsible for the house blend. Scidone suggests I try an espresso of single origin bean from Papua New Guinea that he just roasted. It comes out promptly and is slid across the table, under my nose to reveal the smell of plums with mocha notes. As it cools, it produces the taste of green apples, which lingers in the back of my mouth. I try a latte made from the house blend. I gather it is a blend created by the owners when they tell me it was going to be called the Two Stooges but they settled on calling it the Two Amigos. It’s made of beans from East Timor, India and Colombia. With a perfect rosetta as the latte, the milk is stretched and textured beautifully. It has an exotic nut-like aroma and I can taste malt caramel and grape throughout. Hoskin and Scidone have a true passion for roasting. Scidone tells me about roasting a certain bean a number of times with multiple variations just to reach the level of excellence he was looking for before letting the customers consume it. After chatting to them over a few coffees, you can’t help but feel they both have a good heart that shines through with every aspect of the business. This is what makes Carnevale Coffee Roasters a boutique/roastery that stands out in Adelaide’s exciting coffee trail. Carnevale Coffee Roasters 114-118 East Avenue, Clarence Park carnevalecoffeeroasters.com.au
