I’ve been gradually making my way through a variety of coffee beans over the last few months and was wondering what recommendations people here have for beans or roasters in Australia.
Thought it might also be helpful to anyone who was wanting to try something new but didn’t know where to start.
No one suggesting Axil? They have the current world barista champion and other past champions (AU, Vic) in their employ.
Haven’t had a chance to try them yet, but was on my radar. Any in particular you’d recommend?
I usually have their seasonal blend, but they have a lot of good single origins. I recently had the Guatemala El Buho and really enjoyed it.
I’m a fan of Inglewood… They are pricey but they often have half price sales if you’re patient
Any particular blend?
I personally stick to the single origin but I did try the sunset blend that wasn’t bad. It really comes down to what your preference is as to which ones would be best
I tend to shop around (online) a fair bit, but my short list for good beans are (in no order):
- Industry Beans
- Academy Coffee - My rotation generally always has these every 2nd or 3rd
- Seven Miles
- Villino Coffee Roasters
- Dukes Coffee
- Ritual Coffee
Generally whatever roaster is local to you if you’re in one of the big cities. I also tinker with roasting my own beans and highly recommend it. A hive roaster is a good way to get started (no need for the temperature logged one, just the dumb one for some simple stuff will do). I get really good results out of it, and green beans are cheap
I’ve been really enjoying Redbrick Coffee, they are based in Canberra and have a wide range of espresso and filter roast selections.
Hyper Hyper Coffee in Nowra
Love both the house and the Sicilian beans
Here are a few that I’d recommend. I tend to prefer a more traditional style of espresso.
- Proud Mary: Humbler. Works great black or with milk and easy to dial in. Haven’t tried any of their others yet.
- ONA: Raspberry Candy, but most of their milk-based coffees are a pretty good bet. On the more expensive side.
- Lime Blue Coffee: Their blend is good. Also a cheap way to try out some single origins. On the more affordable side in general and they’ll often have sales on ozbargain.
this will sound snobby, but none of those posted thus far do any real work with their bean sourcing. A ‘world class’ barista is literally worthless if you don’t have world class coffee beans.
The best coffee I’ve found after YEARS of trying is from Jasper’s Coffee: they do real work with their growers which ensures that they are getting really beautiful coffee beans. Far and away the best in Melbourne(imo best in Australia)
Specifically, the Ethiopian Beans they get are AMAZING
I’ve used greenbeanroasters.com in the past. I’ve played around with roasting green beans using an old air pop corn maker, which is fun - interesting explorer how the flavours change as you go from light to dark. I think air fryers can work too for small batches.
As for varieties, I generally like Colombian beans for their rich chocolatey flavours.
If the subscription service has a retail shopfront I can visit and sample the coffee at, I’m more comfortable signing up. But for me it’s moot because I buy beans in person anyhow. I would say freshness and roast type (espresso versus filter) is just as important in determining whether you’ll like a given coffee. I used to be bigger on single origin bags (still like them) but it’s possible to get used to a versatile, consistent blend.
