Highlights
- Dani Jovero was in Kuala Lumpur when he discovered his love for coffee and latte art.
- After being in a long distance relationship with his now-wife, Dani moved to Australia in 2019.
- The Joveros now own Story Behind The Coffee in Mt. Gravatt.
SBS Filipino's 'Kape Serye' is a collection of features celebrating Filipino-owned cafés; Filipino baristas, producers, distributors and coffee aficionados; and of course, the Philippine-grown coffee bean.
"When I go to a new café, I always order an espresso. It's the perfect brew - you can add milk, water and other ingredients to it; plus you can tell how good the coffee is in a place based on their espresso."
While espresso is Dani Jovero's basis for how good coffee is in a café, his foundation for a successful coffee career is constant learning, creativity and love.
Dani Jovero Source: Supplied
The backstory
"My coffee story began when I was living in Kuala Lumpur in 2013," Dani shares, adding, "I had relatives there who were working in hospitality. They were the ones who convinced me to learn more about coffee."
Dani, who used to work in IT, admits to not having any previous knowledge about coffee; but after learning about the industry and product for five years, he began joining local and international latte art competitions.
"I've always loved drawing so I thought latte art was the perfect outlet for me to be creative.
"Latte art is about creating different patterns in coffee using milk foam and other embellishments. Typically, you start off with basic patterns such as a heart, tulip, rosetta and swan. When you learn these, you can start making combinations or be more creative. Personally, I like doing swans and adding etchings [drawings using a stick] to my work."
"I've always loved drawing so I thought latte art was the perfect outlet for me to be creative." Source: Supplied
His love for the art form led him to connect with other like-minded coffee aficionados around the world.
"My friends and I created an online community for latte artists around the world.
"You'd be surprised at how much competition and support there are around latte art. Some well-known latte artists even have followers and fans."
"I like doing swans and adding etchings [drawings using a stick] to my work." Source: Dani Jovero
For the love of
Dani decided to give support and encouragement to those who follow his work.
"I would post my work online and train people interested in learning.
"I started connecting and teaching people from Australia. There was one girl, Yumi, who commented on one of my posts and I found out that she was joining a competition at the Brisbane International Airport. She was tasked with representing her coffee shop, so I extended help to her by sending her videos and photos of my work. I suggested a pattern that I thought she could make. She won first place."
"I started connecting and teaching people from Australia. There was one girl, Yumi, who commented on one of my posts..." Source: Dani Jovero
After winning first place, Yumi made plans to visit Dani.
"She hasn't gone back to her home country of Indonesia since she moved to Australia; but when she got her PR, she wanted to visit her parents. She said she would drop by KL to say thank you to me. That was the first time we met in person."
Yumi and Dani Source: Dani Jovero
From meeting in person, the two would fall in love and enter into a long-distance relationship for two years until Dani flew to Queensland to be with Yumi.
When Dani arrived in Queensland, he became a barista for different coffee shops.
From meeting in person, the two would fall in love and enter into a long-distance relationship for two years until Dani flew to Queensland to be with Yumi. Source: Dani Jovero
"I studied the market here and thought it would be good to have my own shop. I brought this up with Coffee Mentality, a coffee supplier in Queensland, and they agreed to partner with me.
Dani opened their shop, Story Behind The Coffee, in August 2020.
"We chose that name because coffee is the reason I met my wife and the reason why I'm here now."
The coffee shop Source: Dani Jovero
Unlimited learning
Aside from serving coffee in their first shop, Dani and his crew have opened a second café in Slacks Creek and are offering coffee cupping, brewing and latte art workshops in their headquarters in Woolloongabba.
"We teach people things such as there are two types of coffee - specialty and commodity. We use specialty coffee beans in our shop, meaning their quality is 85 grade and higher. Typically, more commercial coffee use commodity beans which are 80 and below in quality.
"With the beans that we use, we can do any kind of manual brewing method such as using a siphon or French press. Manual brewing provides more intense aroma and flavour compared to electric methods such as using a coffee machine.
Coffee workshop Source: Supplied
"Learning about coffee is a long journey. There are so many layers to it. Learning has no limits and the great thing about being in Australia is there are so many resources when it comes to coffee."
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