Bannister Downs Dairy
At Rubra Coffee, we both use and recommend Bannister Downs Farm milk. Bannister Downs TV Ad
Just like coffee, not all milk is created the same. The quality of milk available greatly differs depending on where the milk comes from and how it is processed. Adding a lower quality milk to your coffee can turn an amazing cup into a pretty average cup. If you are buying a high quality, locally roasted coffee such as Rubra Coffee, it makes sense to pair it with the best milk you can find.
To better understand why Bannister Downs Farm milk is so good, we first need to understand some basic milk chemistry. There are three main properties of milk that change form when you apply heat, such as texturing it for coffee:
Proteins – When heat is applied to proteins they denature. This is what creates stability around each bubble in the milk foam and stops them from bursting.
Fats – The solid fats in the milk melt into an oil when heated, just like when you heat butter in a hot pan. This creates a creamy texture that will give your coffee more body and a better mouth feel than cold milk.
Carbohydrates (milk sugars) –The carbohydrates found in milk are known as lactose. When milk is heated, these carbohydrates become more soluble. This is why heated milk will tastes sweeter than cold milk.
To learn more about Milk Chemistry and how to pour perfect Latte Art, head to the Rubra Coffee Institute.
After much testing, we believe that Bannister Downs Farm milk is superior to all other milk available in Western Australia, including various ‘café style’ milk. We believe this is due to their unique farming, processing and packaging methods.
The Dairy
Bannister Downs Farm is nested in lush pastures amongst the shady karri and peppermint trees in Northcliffe, Western Australia. The climate and location of the dairy means lots of fresh, green grass for the cows to graze on all year round. The dairy has over 1500 Holstein Fresian cows, specifically bred to produce the finest quality milk. The herds are hand reared as calves and nurtured to develop into placid dairy cattle to be milked twice daily.
Processing
During milking, the fresh milk is piped only 10 metres, direct from the dairy, across to where it is processed for packaging, only minutes after the cow is milked. Most commercial milk producers collect milk from various dairies in a milk tanker truck where it is then transported to a central processing plant, which has the potential to lead to deterioration in quality.
Single Origin Milk
Commercial milk processors collect milk from many different dairy farms, which then get blended together. All of the milk processed at Bannister Downs Farm is from the one location and is therefore a ‘single origin’ milk. This means that the high quality milk produced at Bannister Downs Farm is not blended with lesser quality milk.
Pasteurisation Method
The milk at Bannister Downs Farm is ‘batch pasteurised’. This is a lower temperature pasteurisation method and is a little slower than large commercial processors. During batch pasteurisation, the milk is held at 65 degrees for a minimum of 12 minutes, unlike high temperature pasteurisation where the milk is held at over 72 degrees for 15 seconds!
At Rubra Coffee, we believe that this unique pasteurisation method is one of the main reason Bannister Downs Farm milk textures so well for coffee and tastes so good. The lower maximum temperature used in batch pasteurisation decreases the destruction of sensitive proteins. And you need high quality proteins to give your milk foam stability! Milk that has been pasteurised at a higher temperature will contain proteins that have already started the denaturation process. This leads to less stable milk foam that will dissipate more quickly. The lower temperature pasteurisation method also results in less destruction of essential nutrients and carbohydrates in the milk, which results in a sweeter, more natural tasting milk.
No Additives
Seasonal variations and the fact that commercial milk processors blend milk from so many different dairies, means that during commercial processing different additives may be introduced to the milk in order to meet the final nutritional requirements of the product. Skim milk powder is often added to increase the amount of protein in the milk. Another example of this is your ‘café style’ milk, which essentially has extra protein added in the form of skim milk powder to help create more foam stability. Bannister Downs Farm milk does not need to add extra protein as the lower temperature pasteurisation methods results in a product with high quality proteins.
Sometimes the nutritional elements of the milk are higher than required. For example, the protein level may be 4.1% per 100ml instead of the 3.2% required. In some cases ‘permeate’, which is a milk processing by-product (containing water, lactose, vitamins and minerals), is added to the milk to help standardise different nutritional differences. Whilst this is a perfectly legal practice, by law the ingredient list does not have to state that the product contains permeate. This means that as a consumer, you’re never really sure what you buying. The problem with permeate is that it can create an inconsistent product that has a distinct difference in flavour and is harder to texture than milk not containing permeate.
All Bannister Downs Farm products are free of ANY additives, including skim milk powder and permeate. All products are also GM free, as only GM free grain is used at any time grain needs to be purchased off farm. This coupled with the lower temperature pasteurisation method results in better tasting milk that creates beautiful microfoam, every time.
Eco Packaging Bannister Downs TV Ad
Bannister Downs Farm’s distinct packaging is designed and produced by Swedish company ecolean. The milk comes packaged in a 1 litre pouch with a unique air handle and tear tab for pouring. The ecolean pouch is similar in composition of egg shell, consisting mainly of chalk (calcium carbonate) and some binding agent for flexibility, and as a result doesn’t use precious resources and decomposes naturally. No toxic gases are emitted during the manufacturing of ecolean film and the process uses minimal water. The pouch itself is non-penetrable by UV light and maintains its product ‘coolness’ due to the pouch’s natural composition.
The eco packaging is recyclable and can be burnt safely, keeps product fresher and increases its fridge life. The entire pack can be frozen when sealed and can be microwaved once the seal is broken. Because the used pouch packs down to such a small size, cafes find that rather than having to regularly dispose of bulky plastic milk bottles, the ecolean packaging takes up much less space in the bin. Not only does it help baristas save time by not having to regularly empty bins, it also reduces landfill.
Sustainability
At Rubra Coffee we are passionate about coffee sustainability, from seed to cup. We believe that the sustainability practices of the milk we use are just as important as the coffee we use. Bannister Downs Farm use recycled cardboard cartons in preference to plastic milk crates to ship their products. They have established a ‘re-use system’, where they collect and recycle the cartons. They also use a bio-degradable European shrink wrap for wrapping pallets for shipment. Bannister Downs Farm are also embarking on the process of auditing their business in terms of carbon emissions and are seeking to establish offsets to remove their impact on the environment 100%.