The coffee connoisseur with a cult following in Hong Kong, and how she got the perfect blend
Australian Kim Oelrichs couldn't believe how bad the coffee was in Hong Kong when she arrived, and set about teaching baristas how to make the perfect cup. Now she has her own coffee supply company
When US coffee house culture broke into the mainstream Western world in the 1990s, thanks to television shows such as Friends and Seinfeld, Kim Oelrichs was already working as a barista on Australia’s Gold Coast.
And when Starbucks started expanding beyond its local Pacific northwest roots, taking California by storm around the same time, Oelrichs was already mastering the art of the perfect blend in a coffee shop in Brisbane. In fact, her initial training has roots overseas in Europe, where coffee has been a part of local culture for centuries.
“The first place I got a job in Oz [Australia] they were actually really strict about teaching you how to make coffee,” says Oelrichs. “And the place was owned by two Greek brothers. They ended up teaching me their way of coffee.”
Oelrichs started to develop a highly personalised style of roasting, blending and brewing, along with how the coffee was served to the customer. She started to refine her talents, pick up tricks, and ultimately became a local expert in whichever Australian coffee shop she worked.
“You know you’re doing something right when people will travel to have your coffee,” she says, adding that she developed a local following of people who would drive to wherever she was working at the time.