Baristador Coffee Legacy Page

The Spirit Of Espresso Has Been Laid To Rest

Some businesses solve a problem nobody else noticed. Baristador Coffee was one of those.

In 2005, a naturopath told Steve Davis to cut back on caffeine. A reasonable person might have shrugged and reached for something weaker.

Steve instead spent four years working out how to keep everything he loved about espresso, the dark roast, the full flavour, the ritual, while quietly dialling back what his body didn’t need.

The result was Baristador Coffee, launched in 2009: a small Adelaide operation built on the premise that reducing caffeine did not have to mean reducing standards.

The People Who Shaped How Baristador Looked

Brent Leideritz

The iconic black and white portrait of Steve was the work of photographer Brent Leideritz, who has an instinct for catching people at their most themselves. Steve and Brent have known each other for many years, collaborated on various projects and, thus, with that co-knowledge, Brent was able to capture Steve in his habitat - with espresso cup in hand.

Harry Slaghekke

A coffee this considered deserved a visual identity to match, and that job fell to Harry Slaghekke. Harry is a versatile Australian illustrator. He brought his illustrative talents to Baristador Coffee to help shape its unique visual identity. That warmth and period character in the Baristador look, the sense that this was something unhurried and considered, was Harry's contribution.

The Baristador Theme Song

Baristador had a theme song, written by friend Brett Monten. It goes like this:

Baristador, you make me sing. You fill me with my morning zing. Your flavor makes my tongue go bing. You’re my very favorite thing. I adore Baristador.

Your benchmark blend’s such nice coffee. I choose the strength that’s right for me. From 1% to 70, you never skimp on quality. I adore Baristador.

Brett captured something in those verses that most marketing copy never gets near. The joy of a cup that actually delivers, on your terms.

The Benchmark Blend Series

Four blends. All 100% Arabica. All dark-roasted using the double-roast process that produced that signature smoky sweetness. All priced the same, because quality was the constant and caffeine was simply the dial.

  • Full Strength — the benchmark against which everything else was measured.
  • B70 — 70% espresso, 30% decaf. Thirty percent less caffeine, zero percent less coffee.
  • B30 — 30% espresso, 70% decaf. For those who wanted the ritual without the rev.
  • B01 — 100% dark-roast decaf, processed using the Swiss Water Method. No chemicals. Just one very good cup, for people who’d been told they couldn’t have one.

Every bag came in half-pound lots with one-way air valves. Three grinds: espresso, plunger, whole beans. Organic. Fair trade or traded fairly. Roasted to order six times a year, dispatched within seven to ten days of roasting, because freshness wasn’t a selling point, it was the whole model.

Closing Thoughts

Steve’s love of espresso was planted at a railway station bar in Trieste, Italy, in 1992. He watched two Italian men order small cups with the quiet certainty of people who had worked this out long ago. He’s been chasing that standard ever since.

To everyone who ordered a bag, told a friend, took part in a group roast, or just quietly appreciated that someone in Adelaide had decided this problem was worth solving: thank you for sipping with us.

May your heart go “bing” forever!