The Low down

Sam Low says his two passions, specialty coffee and Chinese gastronomy, share more in common than is immediately obvious.

“[Gastronomy] is one of those topics you jump into, and the more you try to understand it, the less you understand,” Sam says.

Trends Sam says are gaining momentum in the coffee and food industries are traceability, and the flavour of terroir.

“The trendiest restaurants at the moment are the ones showcasing products that are truly from single origins and expressing that flavour, not masking it,” he says.

“It’s about respecting producers, and one of our main focuses as coffee professionals is to transfer information from producing countries to consumers.”

Sam’s interest in hospitality began during his final year of high school when he took a practical class that saw him working at an Auckland