Romeo Perello started his career in the UAE as a waiter in the Kempinski Hotel. Today he is a barista trainer at Lavazza UAE, the country’s reigning UAE Barista Coffee Champion and the 2012-13 Speciality Coffee Ambassador of the UAE. Fascinated by speciality coffee, Perello has competed in the championship every year since 2009 and won the title last year at the International Coffee & Tea Festival in Dubai.
The ideal cup of coffee, in Perello’s opinion, is a double ristretto shot. “To achieve this, I grind coffee a bit finer than normal espresso and using between 16 and 18 grams, I end up with a longer extraction time — a 28-30 second shot — but only about two-thirds to half the total brew volume that you get with an espresso. The goal is about 45ml total volume for the double in that time,” says Perello.
In terms of food pairing, Perello says, “Toasted nuts, seeds and anything caramelised pair well with certain medium or darker roasts of coffee. Full-bodied Indonesian coffees go great with darker chocolates. Lighter milk chocolates go well with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or oven-roasted Colombian. You will also find that sweet items such as pancakes, doughnuts and dates match well with coffees with higher-fruit notes such as those from Costa Rica,” says Perello.
While shopping, Perello suggests considering coffee with a roasted-on date and ignoring those with expiry dates. “The shelf life of good coffee is only two weeks. After this time, most of the favourable and essential flavour of the coffee has diminished. Grind your coffee immediately prior to use to ensure maximum freshness. Coffee begins to lose flavour more rapidly after it is ground as its surface area increases, making it more susceptible to oxygen.”
