Latte art competition shines light on quality South West dairy produce

A Lower South West dairy company hosted a latte art competition earlier this month in celebration of its cafe customers who have faced hardships over the COVID period.

The Bannister Downs Latte Art Championships highlighted the quality milk produce to come out of the Northcliffe-based dairy farm with outstanding works of art being produced by some of Perth’s best baristas with the dairy’s multi-award winning milk.

The inaugural event — attended by Swimming World Champion and Australian Gold Medal Olympian Kyle Chalmers as guest judge — also provided an opportunity for the dairy producer to raise funds for Black Dog Ride, a volunteer group it supports in its efforts to prevent suicide and raise awareness of depression.

The Bannister Downs Latte Art Champion 2023 award was presented to Andy Tseng from Darkstar Coffee Roasters in front of more than 200 attendees.

Bannister Downs managing director Suzanne Daubney said the event was hosted to give back to her customers who faced hardships over the COVID period in a fun, purposeful way.

“Our milk has been recognised as the best milk for coffees and all these really high performing cafes in Perth have used it ... that was one part of it and the other part of it was the food industry has been through such a hard time with labour issues and lockdowns,” she said.

“They’ve kept a really postitive attitude and have been resistant and worked hard ... so we thought it was time to try and do something to thank and celebrate them, and give them something that shows respect to what they value in their industry and their skills,” she said.

Mrs Daubney said the competition was a great success despite the difficulties they faced in running the first event of its type.

“It was a great fun evening with these talented baristas showing us what can be done,” she said.

“The sense of community amongst WA’s food service industry is alive and well as we all saw firsthand.

“We enjoyed it so much that I must admit if possible we’ll definitely have another go.”

Mrs Daubney said Bannister Downs aimed to take their quality produce to the Eastern States and highlight its worth as the milk of choice for a bigger number of cafes and the everyday consumer.

“We are excited to be entering into markets in the Eastern States in the coming months ... particularly after having been voted Australia’s Favourite Milk at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards in 2022 which saw inquiries come from every corner of the country.”