SITTING DOWN WITH ONA COFFEE’S SAM CORRA
ONA Coffee was founded by 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic. The team at MICE were recently able to find out a bit more about ONA from head roaster Sam Corra – who also placed second in the 2017 World Brewers Cup.
Q: How did ONA Coffee first start out?
A: ONA Coffee first began as KONA Coffee, a small cafe in the leafy, inner southern suburb of Manuka in Canberra. Over time, the ‘K’ was dropped and the business expanded to include a second venue, a small roasting facility and wholesale supply. Now we supply hundreds of cafes across Australia and distribute coffee across the world, in addition to running our five flagship stories in Canberra and Sydney.
Q: What is your favourite food pairing with coffee?
A: Each to their own I guess, but I think most can agree that it’s pretty hard to beat the perfect pairing of your favourite dish from your favourite brunch spot with a solid filter brew on a sunny Sunday morning. For me at this moment that would be the tomato, stracciatella and pickles dish from Highroad in Canberra’s inner north, served with a nice big carafe of Finca Deborah ‘Vivid’ from producer Jamison Savage.
Q: If you could drink a cup of coffee with one famous person past or present, who would you choose?
A: Albert Adrià or René Redzepi. I would love to pick their creative culinary brains.
Q: What is your ideal holiday destination when not busy with roasting?
A: Anywhere really with a good food scene and access to quality fine wines. But I have to say I do feel very at home when visiting the wine regions of France, such as Bordeaux or Burgundy.
Q: Which city makes the best coffee in the world?
A: I don’t want to be biased in saying Canberra or Sydney – so let’s go international. Lately I have been very inspired by the quality of the specialty coffee scene in Taipei, Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
ONA Coffee will be exhibiting in Roasters Alley next month, at stand #63 – make sure you get your MICE ticket so you can drop by to meet Sam and the rest of the team!
