Taste the world’s best coffee in Canberra

It’s official. If you want to taste a killer coffee, head to Canberra – where you can feed your caffeine addiction with a world beating brew in the hometown of the current World Champion Barista.

The founder and director of ONA Coffee Sasa Sestic was named 2015 World Barista Champion at the 16th Annual World Barista Championship.

The Canberra barista took the title from baristas representing 49 countries at the premiere international coffee in Seattle, USA in April.

Each competitor prepared four espressos, four cappuccinos and four original signature drinks to exacting standards in just 15 minutes and Sasa won with his secret weapon — a dash of Canberra District winemaker Tim Kirk’s Clonakilla shiraz viognier in his signature drink.

Sasa first began competing in 2009 at a state level but admits he ‘wasn’t really going anywhere with it’. After some time off to try and understand coffee better by working on the farms with the producers, he came back in 2013 with third in Australia.

‘The following year, 2014, I’ve gone into it with a lot more confidence; perhaps too much confidence,’ he laughed.

He decided to roast his own coffee for the competition instead of relying on his team, and admitted one small mistake in that process had a terrible consequence, costing him a lot of points and the win.

Some bad news soon after the result helped put things into perspective though:  he was told the manager of his farm in Honduras had been murdered.

‘I looked at myself and said ‘what a joke’. Here I am, I’m getting depressed about one silly barista comp and people are getting killed over coffee on the other side of the world,’ he said. ‘I think that moment clicked for me as well that it’s good to do barista competitions but it’s not all about winning.’

Going into the competition this year with that in mind made it all happen for him, winning both the Australia Barista Competition two months ago and then the World Barista Competition. He said there was no way in the world he would have won without his team.

‘That trophy belongs to the entire Ona team and everyone that has supported me,’ he said.

Sasa, an Olympic handball champion in a former life, takes his coffee seriously, with Ona’s website detailing the different blends of coffee available, right down to the location of farms and the names of the farm owners.

‘Even though we won a title we need to get better; you cannot ever know coffee 100 per cent and we never will,’ Sasa said. ‘I think all my life I’m going to be on a mission to taste the perfect cup and I don’t think I’ll ever taste perfect coffee. The moment you say ‘this is really good’, you say ‘how can we make it even better?’’

The founder and director of ONA Coffee has a roastery and cafe in Fyshwick, ONA Coffee House, and ONA on the Lawns in Manuka. He is also a partner in the popular Canberra city cafe, the Cupping Room, which continues to receive rave reviews for both its coffee and food. Serious coffee fans can enjoy a cupping experience to taste and judge the various blends of coffee on offer, guided by the knowledgeable staff.

Find out more about ONA Coffee at www.onacoffee.com.au and be inspired by Canberra’s coffee scene by visiting http://www.visitcanberra.com.au/inspirations/top-canberra-coffee-spots