We spoke with White Horse Co-Founders Matthew Sprem and Dominick Majdandzic about their backgrounds in hospitality, the place the idea for ‘White Horse’ got here from and what music their staff likes to take heed to whereas working.
How did you guys get into espresso?
Our backstories are removed from the identical. Matty’s background was promoting ice cream, doughnuts, milkshakes, pizza, and principally something he may get his fingers on. He owned a store promoting ice cream down by the seaside in Cronulla, the place he initially fell in love with making and consuming espresso. Earlier than this, Matty owned a Wendy’s Milk Bar not removed from the place he and I might ultimately begin up the primary White Horse Espresso retailer.
My story is somewhat completely different. After making an attempt my hand at a commerce (and being fired from not less than one job), I transitioned into hospitality following an enormous business push across the 2000 Olympic Video games in Sydney. Earlier than lengthy, working in accommodations in catering and features shifted to the restaurant, which is the place I found the espresso machine. After being enrolled in a barista course run by Australian Barista Champion, Maico La Pena – it was clear that my future was in espresso.
My journey took a rewarding flip after I met Paul Bassett (Australia’s first World Barista Champion) and would change into his protégé in all issues roasting, brewing and past. I then ended up working in Japan for quite a lot of years the place I honed my abilities and solely additional developed my love for espresso – a type of baptism in caffeine!
Quick ahead a couple of years. We now have loads in frequent! A love for espresso and hospo, and a eager need to share these experiences with the local people. And, we each come from a Croatian background – sharing a proud heritage of neighborhood and beneficiant hospitality.
How did White Horse Espresso get began?
It began in a small, hole-in-the wall espresso bar in Cronulla, solely a stone’s throw from the seaside. We met whereas consuming a really particular espresso – a model of a Piazza D’oro espresso which you would solely discover in a couple of choose espresso bars in Australia. Quick ahead a couple of years, ‘particular’ coffees would change into ‘specialty espresso’, Matty would tackle the nickname ‘Matty Ristretto’, and I might change into ‘The Domtron’. White Horse Espresso was born.
What’s the cope with the ‘White Horse’ title?
In developing with the title, we needed one thing distinctive and thought-provoking. A reputation that meant one thing, which represented our philosophy on espresso. The color ‘white’ evoked
the notion of transparency, nuance and class. The ‘horse’ symbolises power and robustness. It additionally simply so occurred that some very unique coffees from the Ethiopian Harrar area have been referred to as ‘horse’ coffees – particularly, Ethiopian Harrar MAO (Muhammad Abdullai Ogsadey). So this solely additional cemented the White Horse title.
What are your go-to music tracks in the meanwhile?
We’ve received such a various vary of music cranking at anyone time. Completely satisfied hardcore, RnB and pop are some favourites for our roastery. In case you’re within the automotive with Domtron, it’s more than likely demise steel. So prepare! We’re an enormous podcasting crew. In the intervening time, the flavour of the month is ‘Diary of a CEO’ by Steven Bartlett (the guide, not the podcast). Our in-house advertising and marketing and content material man has a person crush on The Child LAROI.
What are some cool issues that White Horse has achieved lately?
We received gold for Greatest Filter Espresso on the Golden Bean 2023 Australia Competitors with a tremendous espresso from Colombia named ‘El Diviso Ombligon’. We’ve additionally labored on some cool collaborations with native brewers and distillers, Sunday Highway Brewery and Scylla Distillery. In 2023, we produced each a ‘Espresso Porter’ and a ‘Espresso Lager’ utilizing White Horse Espresso. With Scylla, we now have a tremendous Espresso Liqueur, which makes a imply Espresso Martini.
