Who are you?

I am the Founding Owner of Espresso Workshop Coffee Roasters and Point Chevalier local where I’ve been residing since 2004.

Espresso Workshop was founded in 2007, initially located in Parnell but since 2017 have relocated the Roastery to Orakei Bay Village. In addition to the Roastery we have espresso bars at Falcon Street, Parnell and within the Britomart precinct, Central Auckland.

I have a huge love of the sensory experience in all food and beverage products, but coffee was in the right place at the right time. Prior to my days dealing in caffeine I owned a juice bar in Central Auckland, but during that time I found myself frequenting an espresso bar on Shortland Street. I was feeling the coffee culture vibe and was very curious about the flavours it produced.

When/Why/How did it all start?

After selling the juice bar business I worked for Allpress as a roaster, after a couple of years in coffee I started developing a coffee roasting business concept that focused on single origin coffee and tailored blends, at that time featuring single origin coffee was a new approach and a point of difference. The vision and philosophy of this proposed business was shared with my initial business partner and we managed to find an affordable little espresso bar in the Axis Building, Parnell that we thought had an incredible ambience within the building’s courtyard next door to Cibo. After a modest refit the Espresso Workshop journey kicked off in September 2007. Despite changes in personal over the years I have always sort to retain a consistent, quality focused, coffee culture within the business. 

What does Espresso Workshop stand for?

At Espresso Workshop we believe that coffee is not just a product but an experience. We focus on sourcing quality specialty coffee and roasting to unlock the full flavour potential of the coffee.

Coffee should be traceable and transparent, we want to be knowledgeable about our range of coffees and to be able to pass on the key information of each coffee, the producer, the method of growing/processing and any accompanying harvest information that make the coffee special. Relationships are crucially important in coffee, strong long term relationships simply produce a better product.

What do you roast on?

We roast on a Probat P25… called Bob.

Anything else?

This year has seen us celebrate 15 years… we have felt privileged to have been on this journey. We have witnessed the evolution of coffee appreciation, the use of better tools, improved techniques, and have experienced the overall increase of coffee quality. Espresso Workshop has taken us from chatting coffee with our neighbours, to the World Barista Champs in Italy, to staying with our coffee growers in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

What are On the Grind subscribers receiving?

Morēna blend is a coffee we launched this year, we were looking for this blend to act as a crowd pleasing option that embodied the morning and the nourishing qualities you look for when you have that first coffee for the day, nothing says "morning/morena!" quite like a good cup of coffee.

Morēna blend, is a developed medium roast featuring flavours of Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel and Blackberry, containing the origins, Brazil Cascavel Vermelha, Colombia Volcān, and Tanzania AA

What’s your favourite way to drink Morēna Blend 

Probably a double restricted flat white in a 130ml vessel (I’m not picky). If using an espresso machine for this coffee, for a full double shot I recommend 19 grams in, approximately 28 grams out in 24 to 27 seconds. Also tastes fantastic in my Bialetti stovetop coffee maker.