The St. Ali Family is a privately owned group of cafes, retailers and specialty coffee roaster founded and based in Melbourne, Australia in 2005. St. Ali currently has 2 cafes in Melbourne: St. Ali South and St. Ali North. St Ali was an early adopter of specialty coffee in Melbourne and was one of the pioneers of specialty coffee movement of single estate and single origin coffee beans. St. Ali has been credited with being a contributor to the third wave of coffee movement in Melbourne, with a strong focus on quality beans, and unique brewing methods.
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Business structure
The St. Ali family group of companies consists of St. Ali’s 2 Melbourne cafes (in South Melbourne and North Carlton), Sensory Lab (a cafe, coffee retail, wholesale, online store and education division), and Plantation (a cafe, coffee retail and online store). All are under private ownership, with the majority owned by Salvatore Malatesta, a hospitality entrepreneur with a legal background.
History
St. Ali’s South Melbourne cafe was founded in 2005, and business continued to grow in the years that followed, which led to the opening of a second cafe in December 2012.
Philosophy and sourcing
St. Ali coffee beans are sourced through direct trade, harnessing strong relationships with the coffee growers themselves. Malatesta has also invested around $US100,000 in buying a share in a small farm in Cali, Colombia. The 20 hectares yield about seven tonnes of green coffee a year. St. Ali’s coffee beans are all purchased green, and small batch roasted in Melbourne using Brambati roasters.
As well as engaging in direct trade coffee sourcing, St. Ali is a supporter of local and community initiatives, including a barista challenge run in conjunction with Melbourne City Mission (MCM), to teach disadvantaged youth work experience and barista training. Students competed in a competition that mimicked the Barista World Championships and each student prepared coffees to exacting standards, with one winner being picked in each category. Another community initiative, held at St. Ali North, was a pedal powered music concert in July 2013. Concert goers could volunteer to ride two exercise bikes connected to a battery that powered the PA and the instruments.
Recognition
St. Ali has been nationally and internationally recognised for the quality of its coffee and locally for its food. St. Ali South was awarded ‘Best Food Cafe’ in Melbourne in 2013 by The Age Good Cafe Guide.
St. Ali’s head of coffee, Matthew Perger won first place at the 2012 World Brewers Cup, and has won two Australasian Specialty Coffee Association (AASCA) Detpak Australian Barista Championship titles, and also placed third at the 2011 World Barista Championship that took place in Colombia and the second place in 2013 World Barista Championship.
International presence
The St. Ali Family has toured internationally with pop up cafes across many continents. In February 2014, a small team set up a pop up cafe and coffee masterclasses at Coffee Workers in Seoul, Korea. From 3 to 6 April 2014, St. Ali was invited to the London Coffee Festival to run a pop up cafe to bring a taste of Melbourne to Londoners. This was followed closely by a cafe installation in Milan at the design festival Ventura Lambrate. St. Ali formed a part of an Australian design contingent called ‘The Other Hemisphere'.
In a collaboration with Common Grounds, St. Ali heads to Jakarta, Indonesia in September 2014 to take over the bar and hold manual brewing masterclasses.
Rue & Co
St. Ali has enjoyed a residency as a part of the long-term pop up in Collins Street, Melbourne, Rue & Co. This residency sees St. Ali alongside other venues, Chris Lucas' 'Kong', and George Colombaris' 'Jimmy Grants'. The location boasts a nine storey mural, created by street artist Rone.