Celebrating 5 Years of MILKLAB with Danny Andrade!

Danny Andrade is an award winning barista and roaster who contributes vastly to the Australian coffee industry. He was one of the original industry collaborators who assisted us in creating MILKLAB! Danny is an industry powerhouse and his thirst for knowledge has seen him achieve many achievements, including:

• 2019 WCE certified World Barista Championship World Judge
• 2019 World Tea Brewers Cup, Champion
• 2018 Australian Tea Brewers Cup, Champion
• 2017 Australian Roasting Championship, 2nd place
• 2016 Queensland Brewers Cup, Champion

Read about Danny’s inspirational journey, below:

What and where was your first job in the coffee industry?

My first role in the coffee industry was as waiter at Santo Grao Cafe, which is a specialty café and roastery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. When I stated in 2006, Santo Grao was one of the leaders in the Brazilian specialty coffee industry. We had Silvia Magalhaes (World Barista Champion 6^th place in 2007) as our Coffee Director which was an incredible experience.

What is your occupation now and what inspired you to pursue a career in your chosen field?

I am currently working for 3Brothers Coffee as Relationship and QC National Manager.

3Brothers Coffee is a fully integrated green coffee supplier focus in specialty coffee from Brazil. Working as a green coffee supplier, give me the opportunity to learn and have a closer relationship with coffee producers and at the same time share my experience as a coffee roaster. I believe that the understand and connection between producers and roasters is the future for the specialty coffee Industry

What accomplishment/s are you most proud of?

I have to say that since my first barista coffee competition, the way I look at the industry completely changed. It became a constant learning curve. Every day I want to learn something new, share that knowledge and collaborate often. I am really proud what I have achieved as a competitor for the last 10 years.

I would say that 2019 was the pick of my career, I won the World Tea Brewers Cup 2019,  I became a world Brewers Cup certified judge, I had the honour to judge the 2019 World Coffee Roasting Championship in Taiwan, but what made me most proud in my entire coffee career was the Processing Methods Bootcamp I hosted in collaboration with Tamborine Mt Coffee Plantation in October 2019. It is an intensive 4 days course focus on how to process coffee in a farm level. This was a project I had since 2014 when I first applied my first coffee processing methods experiment in Colombia.

What’s next for you?

Next for me it is simple. Keep learning, meeting incredible coffee professionals, share knowledge, collaborate and give back.

What are the main changes you have noticed in the coffee industry over the past 5 years?

In my opinion the main change is the way coffee professionals are supporting each other. Everyone chasing the same goal. Make the specialty coffee industry sustainable and stronger.

What do you like most about MILKLAB / what is your favourite MILKLAB coffee?

What I loved about MILKLAB its the purpose of creating a product specifically for the coffee industry. A collaboration between different professionals, great experience and fun to be part of. Everyone involved was working hard towards the same goals with different ideas.

My favourite MILKLAB coffee is an Almond MILKLAB piccolo latte. I love its texture and how it works in harmony with the coffee flavours.