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How Lavazza collaborated with artists and tastemakers to develop Mosaic, a new line of premium coffees set to capture Australian palates across the café and restaurant landscape.
For thousands of years, artists have used small fragments of materials to create a bigger picture through the method of mosaic. For the team at Lavazza Australia, this idea of combining multiple elements to piece together a story was the perfect fit for its new project propelled by collaboration and inspired by the natural beauty of Australia.
Over the past two years, the coffee specialists at Lavazza have been working on a collection of blends that capture the spirit of Australia and its unique coffee culture. Named Mosaic in honour of the creative and collaborative process behind it, the unique range marks a new era of Lavazza in the country.
“Lavazza has been in Australia for 50 years, and our coffee is roasted right here in Melbourne, so to celebrate we are releasing a new line that embraces the country’s contemporary coffee community,” says Nick Ferrara, Lavazza Trainer and Ambassador.
“We approached the Mosaic range very differently than any other coffee we’ve launched here previously. We wanted to show that we understand the market and are part of the market, so this line is quintessentially Australian.”
While many of Lavazza’s coffee ranges are sold internationally, Mosaic has been developed exclusively for cafés and restaurants in Australia.
Defining the perfect cup
To understand what coffee drinkers in Australia are looking for in their perfect cup, the team conducted a thorough audit of coffees on the market. This 360-degree approach included interviews with premium café customers to understand their perceptions of Lavazza, mapping the local coffee market by conducting a series of tastings over 12 months, and inviting consumers to in-depth sensory tastings of existing products.
“We wanted to comprehend what consumers look for in a great coffee, so we invited 100 people, both external and internal, to blind taste our existing blends and competitors’ roasts. We asked them to grade each coffee on strength, bitterness, and sweetness,” says Nick.
“We plotted the results on a graph with Earthy/Chocolaty on one end of the scale, Fruity/Acidic on the other, and Body/Strength as a vertical axis. What we noticed from the results was that, surprisingly, most people only really care about the levels of bitterness and sweetness, and that strength isn’t an important factor.
“As we wanted to cover the whole spectrum of tastes in the Australian market, we used the graph to plot where our three new blends should sit among the most popular parameters. We decided on one at the chocolaty end of the scale, one in the middle, and another towards the fruitier side.”
With taste profiles locked in for the coffees they wanted to create, the team got stuck into the next phase of development: blending. The testing started with cupping eight individual origins to understand their characteristics and flavours, then sampling 22 different combinations of the coffees to find the perfect blends.
“We created a spider chart with markers of Fruity, Floral, Sweet, Nutty, Cocoa, and Biscuit for each blend we wanted to create. We then tried each proposed blend black, with dairy milk, and with a range of alternative milks,” says Nick.
As the team were developing coffees for busy Australian cafés that require a crowd-pleasing blend to appeal to their diverse customers, it was vital that the coffees worked well in various serves and with different types of alternative milks.
Image: Prime Creative Media
Artistic collaboration
Alongside this in-depth research and market comparison, the Lavazza team partnered with three of Australia’s most experienced makers and artists. These artists were selected to provide rich insight and perspective into the Australian palate from their respective disciplines.
Pana Barbounis, chocolatier and pioneer of Pana Organic, challenged conventions and inspired the Lavazza team to explore notes of chocolate, biscuits, and nuts; distiller Carlie Dyer of Starward Whisky shared her innovative approach to blending techniques and understanding flavour; and artist Daimon Downey distilled the creativity of the project and the Australian coffee scene into Mosaic’s striking packaging and branding.
“Working alongside Daimon, we approached the artistic concept of mosaic through a contemporary Australian lens, while also ensuring we stayed true to Lavazza’s heritage,” says Peter Dorkota, Lavazza Trainer and Ambassador.
Lavazza commissioned Daimon to craft three pieces of original artwork, one for each of the new blends in the Mosaic collection. His brief was to weave a distinctly Australian narrative and highlight the country’s contrasting landscapes.
The result was three beautiful prints, inspired by the art of mosaic. The first reflects the country’s coastline and features blue hues; the second is inspired by the desert with warm tones of red and orange signifying the outback’s vibrant contrasts; and the third references Australia’s rainforests in its soothing green tones.
Nick and Peter of Lavazza Australia. Image: Prime Creative Media.
The winning trio
Each print was matched with one of the team’s winning blends: Tidal, Ochre, and Retreat.
According to Nick and Peter, Tidal is the blend that sits at the fruitier end of the scale. Made up of 100 per cent Arabica from South America and Papua New Guinea, it’s medium roasted to elevate its sweetness and distinct flavours of plum and green apple.
Ochre is described as the ultimate crowd-pleaser. Straddling the line between chocolatey and fruity, the blend of Brazilian, Ethiopian, and Colombian beans delivers fruity notes without the acidity. The Lavazza team define it as “smooth yet robust, with notes of Pink Lady apples and nuts, with a chocolate aftertaste”.
Completing the trio is Retreat, representing the full-bodied end of the scale. Designed for the milk-based coffee drinker, the mix of high-quality Arabica and Robusta promises low acidity and notes of chocolate, nuts, toffee, and malt.
When it’s launched in August 2024, the Mosaic collection of blends will be joined by a rotating seasonal single origin. While all the coffees are roasted and packed at the roastery in Melbourne, to ensure standards remain high, Lavazza Australia follows the European Union’s strict protocols and requirement.
“These protocols aren’t mandatory in Australia, but we have chosen to continue with the same high standards upheld in Europe. Each product, therefore, goes through 11 quality-assurance steps,” says Nick.
Eager to ensure the coffee continues to taste good long after it is roasted, the team invests heavily in the quality of Lavazza’s packaging. Before the beans are packaged, they are flushed with nitrogen to remove oxygen (which can cause coffee to go stale) and carbon dioxide from the silos in which they are stored to help extend the shelf life of the product. To keep the coffee tasting as fresh as possible for as long as possible, the bags feature a one-way valve to ensure carbon dioxide can escape without oxygen getting in.
Mosaic’s moment
Nick, Peter, and the Lavazza team can’t wait to share the new Mosaic range with coffee lovers across Australia. The coffees will be available in quality cafes across the country from August 2024, with an industry launch party at Starward Distillery in Melbourne to mark the occasion.
“We were determined to bring something fresh and innovative to the industry, and that required almost two years of research and development to create this new portfolio that truly delivers to the Australian coffee palate,” says Peter.
“We want to ensure this brand comes alive and we can’t wait to see people enjoy it. There’s an authentic story behind each coffee that captures the personality of Australia.”
For more information, click here.
This article appears in the August 2024 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
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