Old favourites of ours, and Napier locals, Empire Coffee Roasters are back!

Empire Coffee Roasters began as a dream and was founded by a love and passion for coffee and everything that it encompasses. The dream began when the owner was just 16, with his first job in coffee being in an up and coming coffee roastery, creating a spark that led him launching Empire Coffee Roasters in 2017 at 21.

Today, Empire Coffee Roasters is set up as a roasting/production space, espresso bar and retail store in Pirimai, Napier. Pirimai is a firmly family based community, and the espresso bar has become a core part of that community.

Empire Coffee Roasters is in partnership with Tearfund New Zealand, working with children and communities in less fortunate countries. One of Tearfund's core focuses is the sponsorship of children. Through their wholesale partnerships with cafes, offices and workplaces, they are able to utilise a portion of their profits to sponsor children in coffee growing nations, to help provide them better education, better healthcare and safer communities. They say that they may not be able to change the world, but they can change one life at a time!

Empire have selected their Peru San Martin de Pangoa single origin to showcase this month. The Pangoa Co-op is based in a Junin region of Santipo, Peru. It is a co-op that suffered immense loss and pain in the late 1980’s during a period known as “El Periodo de Terrorismo”, when the communist terrorism organisation Shining Path swept through the region causing mass destruction and with many losing their lives. Since then, Pangoa is starting to slowly rebuild; initiatives like this help them do it and bring economic support into the region. We’re really proud of the partnership this month, enjoy!