Slow Coffee Roasters is the vision of two mates. Sam Dakin, an Olympic Cyclist and Alex King, a New Zealand National Waterski Team Member. Founded in 2022 in Cambridge, New Zealand from the inside of their Flat, Sam and Alex began roasting small batches on a 1kg Bullet in the garage. The name Slow comes from the founder’s mental health struggles and the way coffee was used as a ritual to slow down and heal. The idea was simple, encourage people to be more present, slow down and enjoy their coffee as much as they do!
Slow has grown steadily and still utilises the garage for roasting small single origin batches, packaging and shipping; although Grey St Roasting Co kindly let Sam and Alex use their space and amazing Loring S15 to roast the larger orders to ensure the best coffee possible. Sam and Alex roast light to medium on all their roasts to highlight the key characteristics of each bean. Behind their roasting approach is a huge amount of attention to detail to ensure their coffee best expresses the hard work of the farmers at the origin when it makes it to your cup at home.
Their Seasonal Espresso is formed by a balance of two staples, a Natural Brazil (Samba Reversa) and Washed Colombian (Supremo) and is being shipped to their wholesale accounts weekly and to numerous businesses in the region. This blend is the go to for most customers who enjoy a perfect balance and includes tasting notes of Caramel, Hazelnut, Chocolate and Raspberry...a little bit of something for everyone.
For those who like to mix it up, they rotate through many different types of single origin beans, a couple currently on offer include a washed Kenyan with notes of Strawberry, Orange and sparkling tropical fruit as well as a black honey processed Costa Rica with notes of Red Grape Blueberry and apple.
Their favourite way to drink the seasonal espresso is as a milk based beverage. It really brings out the sweet notes. When drunk black though there’s a raspberry finish which is just sublime!
Check them out at https://slowcoffeeroasters.org/