Australian Coffee

The first known planting of coffee in Australia was as far back as 1832 in Brisbane. What became of these early trees is not known. By the 1880s coffee was being grown commercially in Northern NSW. This coffee was recognised and awarded at shows in Paris and Rome at this time. Unfortunately the local industry fell into decline due to high local labour costs and cheap imports.

There was a renewed interest in the 1980s in Australian coffee, and this interest grew with the invention of a mechanical coffee harvester. Today most Australian coffee is grown on the Atherton Tablelands near Mareeba, and in the Byron Bay hinterland.

Coffee Basics

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant. Coffee trees will grow to about five metres, but we prune ours every six years. They grow clusters of seeds along their branches, which start off being small and green but grow to the size of small cherries and redden when ripe. Not surprisingly, this is called the cherry. The coffee we use is the seed inside these cherries. These cherries typically have 2 seeds but sometimes just 1 (these are called peaberrys, and are especially valuable) or occasionally 3. The seeds are recovered from the cherries after harvesting and then partially dried for storage. When the coffee is dried a skin still surrounds the bean. This is removed in a process called hulling. After hulling, the coffee is called green bean (it has a dull green appearance) and is ready for roasting.