A little bit about us…
Industry One Coffee was born out of a desire to see the Cairns & Far North coffee culture grow and develop alongside cities such as Melbourne, Wellington & the like.
In achieving this we believed it was necessary for Cairns to have its own Specialty coffee roaster; a roaster focused on the art of hand-crafted small batch coffee roasting, while developing new and emerging roasting trends.
As a result Industry One Coffee came into existence in July 2010, bringing a new sense of urbanity to the traditional industrial hub of Bungalow.
The Roastery
As a local coffee roaster we felt it was important to creating a dynamic interface that would allow people to get up close and personal with the roasting process and the whole-coffee experience which lead to the creation of our current premises at 110 Scott St, Bungalow – a fully functional roast house & espresso bar open to the public 6 days a week.
We roast on a 1988 LN-series 12 kg Probat – she truly is awesome & after months of scouring the globe we found her in Echuca Moama, Victoria. We made the phone call and bought her over the phone sight unseen. Bursting with excitement during one of Cairns’ heavy wet season down pours we could hardly contain ourselves knowing we had just committed to making an idea reality. We have only been impressed by her ability roast beautiful coffee & thank Rebecca her previous owner for passing her on to us.
Our ethical values
Industry One Coffee supports all initiatives that work towards a fair and equitable exchange between coffee seller & coffee buyer. We are humbled by commitment & work carried out by coffee farmers all over the world who bring us truly amazing coffees each and every year.
We take great pride in knowing the coffees we purchase, all of the highest quality, have been fairly traded & the coffee framer has been rewarded for an outstanding product. We believe the growth of the micro-roasting movement has been monumental in bring about positive change in the green coffee market.
Our long term goal is to establish close to home (i.e. PNG & Sumatra), direct-trade relationships with coffee farmers to ensure the best possible returns for their produce.
Our coffee
Obviously all our coffee tastes amazing and is super fresh, however, in addition our core principles are focused on quality, appreciation and understanding of the beans we roast and the coffee we serve. As a result our coffee is honest, refined and distinctive – you can taste the love!
We offer a range of carefully blended & single origin coffee beans. As with any good coffee roaster, we purchase green beans seasonally meaning blends change slightly, single origins are here and then gone & from time to time a bean or blend is unavailable. This is a good thing.
We challenge you to test our knowledge, make us grow & make us better; all for the benefit for Specialty coffee. We love what we do and happily share it with you. We believe there are no secrets in coffee and knowledge is power – power for positive change.
Who we are
Stephen Lee
Stephen first developed his interest for coffee after experiencing the thriving micro coffee roasting industry in New Zealand. These micro-roasters were opening up access to freshly roasted coffee beans and as a result producing outstanding coffees, anything from the humble flat white to single origin beans to brew at home was now fresh, alive and anything else was a compromise. However, what excited Stephen most was the diversity, awareness and education being generated around coffee production and consumption as a result of these micro-roasters.
So many coffees later and with a fascination for the artisan craft of coffee roasting building it was clear the coffee bug had bitten and wasn’t letting go.
On returning to Australia, Stephen immersed himself in everything and anything “coffee”, most notably undertaking training with renowned US coffee identity Tracy Allen. With a background as a carpenter Stephen took quite naturally to the artisan approached required for great coffee roasting. However, like many things coffee is a life of learning with a long road ahead. In the mean time, we are all happy to enjoy fantastic coffee along the way.
Alberta Slotemaker
Growing up in Nelson, New Zealand, Alberta’s first job at age 14 was making coffee (at a local winery of all places) & her specialty was the layered latte (cringe). This was something she fell into as everyone else was scared of the espresso machine. I guess that is one moment in time which changed the course of Alberta’s life forever. Coffee making now become a way to pay the bills while studying science at Canterbury Uni & enjoying summer long holidays on the Gold Coast.
A move to Cairns not long after completing Uni saw Alberta take a 4 year deviation into the world of Local Government before getting itchy feet for business ownership. There were all sorts of business ideas from stockfeed shops to established cafes, however, after an extensive search and nothing to show for it, Alberta & now husband Stephen decided they would plunge head first into something they both loved – coffee. Coffee roasting was not initially on the agenda, however, after a lot of research it became apparent to put up a product where you have total quality control, roasting was paramount. As they say the rest is history.
Karlie Hall
Karlie has been part of Industry One Coffee since day one and continues to delight customers with her flair for exceptional customer service and ever growing coffee knowledge.
Most recently Karlie was a judge at the Cairns Regional Barista Competition 2012. Karlie is an integral part of Industry One Coffee and we are truly grateful for having her on board.
