How We Source & Roast Our Coffee
Before we embark on creating each of our coffees, we always start by asking the simple yet powerful question:
“How can..?”
How can… we recreate the experience of our favourite café’s coffee?
How can… we offer something that nobody would have experienced before in a coffee pod?
How can… we capture the culture, the vibe, the flavours, the quality of Melbourne’s world-renown coffee culture in not only our brand but our coffee?
That’s how we begin: with a vision of the end in mind.
The rest is a journey, regardless of how difficult it may be, to provide the best answer that question.
Join us as we take you on that journey.
Slopes of dormant volcanos. Deep jungle. Mountainous terrain. Pack your bags because you're going to the farthest ends of the Earth if you want to find what fuels your day.
Scared of heights? Hope not.
You'll need to ascend to precise altitudes between 3,000 - 6,000 ft. It's only here hot days and cool nights extend the arabica cherry's growth, giving it more time to develop and ripen, creating a more refined and complex flavour.
The equatorial 'bean belt', where conditions are perfect for growing arabica coffee.
Like most things in life, the greater the difficulty, the larger the reward.
That's why we source our coffee across 4 continents, 9 countries, and 16 regions. These are the extremes one must go to, to source the best.
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When working with coffee farmers, we deal with them directly.
Working directly means the quality is controlled and sustainability can be ensured, as a larger percentage of money goes directly to the farmer and workers, whom are now incentivised produce higher quality coffee.
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Coffee varietal
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There are over 80 varieties of the arabica coffee bean, each with its own unique set of flavours. Knowledge of how different varieties can be combined to complement each other is the role of our master roaster.
Growing altitude
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For arabica, we look for altitudes between 3000ft and 6000ft, where coffee tends to be more acidy and complex. Robusta is typically grown between sea level and 3000ft, for which reason, arabica is known as ‘highland’ coffee.
Processing method
There are two primary methods of coffee processing: natural (dry) and washed (wet).
Natural processing is where coffee cherries are often laid on mesh beds and left to dry in the sun up to four weeks until they're ready to be hulled. This results in concentrated sugar content, giving the coffee strong, distinct flavours that present less acidity and more body than washed coffees.
Washed processing involved fermentation of the already skinned coffee cherry in large water tanks. The fruit is left there between 24-36 hours and closely monitored to ensure no undesirable flavours. Once the mucilage layer of the bean has come off due to natural enzymes, the coffee is then dried to 10-13% moisture content by sun and/or machine.
Washed coffees tend to be sweeter with brighter, more exotic flavours in the cup and overall less body.
Harvest date
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This is the Goldilocks formula.
The coffee must be picked when it is just ripe, and not too mature, not too immature. This involves painstakingly going through an estate's trees multiple times and then usually only once per year, selectively stripping the trees of their precious cherries by hand or machine.
Transportation method
Did you know that even the bag the coffee is transported in plays a role in its quality?
Most coffee is transported using 60 to 70kg natural fibre bags made from burlap. This is fine for coffees up to a certain quality. However, when you're looking at the highest quality coffees or those that are particularly fragile, they require a special, vacuum packed multilayer polythene bag to preserve flavours and prevent damage. If you want the best coffee, you must to treat it like it is.
From bean to cup, our grassroots relationships with coffee producers everyone involved.
Melbourne.
The coffee capital of the world.
This is where art meets science. Where you’ll find an uncompromising obsession for quality, flavour, innovation, and desire to be the best pervading each café in each city laneway.
It’s that same obsession that drives us to continually tweak our coffee. Refine it. Better it. Never compromising on quality.
All with the vision to recreate that unique Melbourne café experience within each coffee pod.
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Love a latte full of intense flavours like Baker’s cocoa, French vanilla nougat, and ripe pomegranate?
Our master roaster may consider a dark roasted Brazilian Bourbon for body and finish…
Our coffee goes through two rounds of initial testing for a total of eight weeks, after which, the coffee's in your hands to provide us further feedback, so we can continue to refine and perfect the end result.
Speaking of which...
All our effort would mean nothing if it didn't translate to the best cup of pod coffee you've ever had.
So, next time you open that bag of coffee pods and you're overcome by the smell of freshly roasted arabica coffee, we want you to picture the coffee's history...
...sourced from the farthest corners of the Earth, from Nicaraguan jungle to Tanzanian dormant volcanos, harvested by the hands of farmers with experience passed through generations, travelling thousands of miles to be roasted in the coffee capital of the world, passed through rigorous testing, and finally, at the push of a single button, will be savoured by you in the comfort of your own home.
Must be time for a coffee... right?