She was among the dozens of details designed to make the Socceroos base camp in Doha a springboard for success – a dedicated barista to fuel their World Cup hopes.
Her deployment was the brainchild of Socceroos head chef Vini Capovilla who wanted some home comforts for the World Cup stars.
Alexia spent their entire campaign in the team cafe, which soon became the most popular room in the vast Aspire Academy they called home for three weeks.
“They knew that I loved making coffee and I was kind of good at it,” says Alexia, whose father runs The Shed cafe at Bankstown Central.
“I was recommended for the role but had to go through an interview process.”
Laughing when asked if she was tempted to make the brew extra strong to give the boys an on-field boost, Alexia said she just focused on making the coffee “taste good”.
“I was making about 70 or so coffees a day, from the popular pre-training espressos to the ‘magic’ or double ristretto three-quarter latte favoured by others,” she said.
The former East Hills Girls Technology High School student would love to support a team again should the need arise.
“It was such an awesome experience; it was a beautiful place and the people were beautiful,” she said.
“I was incredibly happy to have been of help.”
