Owen’s Steamy Beanz owner Kelsey Wedding has been crowned South Australia’s Best Barista, proving country cafés are worth the drive
When Owen mum Kelsey Wedding bought two little Sunbeam home coffee machines and opened a tiny country café, becoming South Australia’s Best Barista wasn’t exactly part of the business plan.
“I learnt by doing it every day, experimenting, asking questions and constantly trying to improve,” she laughed.
Fast forward almost five years and the self-taught country café owner has officially been voted South Australia’s Best Barista for 2026.
“What a bloody ride.”
It’s quite an achievement for someone who’d never completed a barista course and had no café background before opening Steamy Beanz in October 2021 alongside her sister-in-law, Lacey Brooks.
Before coffee, Kelsey had done a bit of everything — classifying grain at Viterra, teaching the kids at Holowiliena Station near Cradock, working in childcare and outside school hours care, and packing fruit and veggies for another successful local business, Lovin’ It Fresh.
Owning a café was never the dream.
“I think sometimes in a small town you can spend forever waiting for someone else to create the thing you think the community needs, or you can just have a crack yourself,” she said.
“We definitely jumped in the deep end.”
Owen’s Silo Art – Part of the Steamy Beanz Inspiration
Ironically, it was another community project that helped inspire Steamy Beanz in the first place.
After Owen’s towering silo mural was completed, locals began talking about the need for somewhere visitors could stop for a coffee while exploring the artwork.
“That was definitely part of what gave us the push to give Steamy Beanz a go,” Kelsey said.
“But over time it became about much more than servicing people coming to see the silo art.
“I wanted to create somewhere locals felt was theirs too.”
More Than Just a Coffee Shop for Owen Community
And Steamy Beanz has become just that — a place where locals catch up over coffee, travellers stop for Kelsey’s homemade slices or delicious pastries from Sevenhill’s Little Red Grape Bakery. She also stocks a range of gifts from small Australian businesses and regulars are practically greeted with their usual before they’ve even reached the counter.
“For me, consistency is a huge part of it. You obviously need good quality beans, the right grind and extraction, and properly textured milk at the right temperature.
But I think you also have to actually care about what you’re handing someone.
I want the coffee I make for my first customer of the day to be just as good as the one I make when I’m flat out and there are ten orders waiting.”
Next Stop for Kelsey and Steamy Beanz – Owen Post Office
After taking over the business and running it solo since 2023, Kelsey is now preparing for another huge leap.
With another local icon, Derily Snook, retiring as SA’s longest-serving post mistress, Steamy Beanz is about to move next door into the Owen Post Office building, where Kelsey will bring the café, gift shop and Post Office together under one roof.
“It’s really an extension of why I started Steamy Beanz in the first place,” Kelsey said.
“Small towns need people willing to have a go if we want to keep businesses and essential services in them.”
And judging by the community that helped vote her the best in the business, Owen is more than happy to back someone who’s willing to do exactly that.
