![Bread and Butter's head of coffee Saul Brehme. Pictures by Paul Scambler Bread and Butter's head of coffee Saul Brehme. Pictures by Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/293f5c7c-c57a-4807-ab91-0c2b6b8aecd4.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Hospitality runs in Saul Brehme's family.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
His mum is a catering and school chef, his sister a pastry chef and baker, and his uncle founded Clipper Teas.
After swapping the UK for Australia, Bread and Butter's head of coffee has settled in Launceston with his wife and son.
How did you come to live in Tasmania?
I've been at Bread and Butter since May 16, 2022 - it's an easy day to remember because it's the day my son was born.
I got to Tasmania by doing a small coffee pilgrimage. At that point I was making coffee for about eight years in the UK and I wanted to push myself a bit further.
I came to Australia, trained and worked in Melbourne. I met my wife at the end of that and [after returning to the UK] we came back in 2022, worked there for a bit and had a baby.
We needed support because it was our first child.
Our family are based in Launceston - at that point I'd only been to Launceston once before and I already liked it.
I'm very pale and I don't like the heat - I hate heat. Arguably Australia is probably the worst place for me to move because I burn - if I'm next to certain halogen lights I burn.
But Launceston is perfect - it's, temperate, it's cool - the only thing I worried about moving to Launceston was 'was the coffee scene going to be the same capacity and standard I'm used to?'
But I landed at Bread and Butter where it certainly is, very much so.
![Mr Brehme grew up in Hertfordshire in the UK. Mr Brehme grew up in Hertfordshire in the UK.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/415bd928-f8e0-4ab1-b3c3-9ef94be13e75.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
What do you love about the job?
I'm a chatterbox - I'm a bit of an extrovert and I like educating and communicating things to people.
One of my favourite things I love to see - you know those restoration shows where they have an old car and it's battered? I love when they fix it.
I like how it was - raw potential, and most people would leave it - and then people don't leave it, they fix it and make something spectacular.
All coffees are kind of like that.
The bean itself when it's on the farm, it's got potential depending on all these variations and things that become the roast bean that ends up in Melbourne, London or Milan.
And then I, the barista, get to brew it in a myriad of certain ways to emphasise the quality of that coffee.
That to me - the raw potential from this to that - whether that's a car or coffee or a human being - I find that fascinating.
How did you get into coffee?
My first ever job was in a Starbucks which was when I was 15 or 16. I left that, did schooling, and went back into coffee when I was 20 or 21. I'm 33 now.
I was learning how to make coffee to pay my college courses to become a therapist. But at the end of becoming a therapist I was like 'I'm going to give this coffee thing a real go'. I did my coffee qualifications and that's where I am now.
The last job I had in the UK before coming to Australia, I was actually working within prisons, teaching inmates how to make coffee because my youth work and counselling background tied in really nicely with the hospitality aspect.
The company's called Redemption Roasters and their aim is to lower recidivism by training people in how to make better quality products.
![Mr Brehme has begun a monthly 'cupping' coffee tasting session. Mr Brehme has begun a monthly 'cupping' coffee tasting session.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/H9AemfQ3cDaTrBwqEFxwv/0abb490d-ec44-4dd0-9b8c-b2c11749a699.jpg/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
I think in a weird way, me studying to become a therapist has only helped me in my hospitality career - listening to people, having a gut feeling how to figure things out.
Hospitality is about being hospitable and also listening and helping people, whether that's in a very fast-paced cafe like this, or a slow-paced cafe where you do get to meet the regulars, ask the questions and build up that rapport.
How have you found fatherhood?
It's good - I'm not going to tell people to have kids - but if you can, do it, it's good fun.
He's funny, he makes me laugh.
My wife, she works at Ritual Coffee Roasters and she works in the market, so my boy is strapped to her while she's making coffee, so he's probably the youngest barista in Launceston.
Being a parent is hard and it has its strains, but I think me and my wife made a good decision coming to Launceston.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner