A chat with the good people behind Allpress Espresso

When did Allpress begin?
Michael Allpress was inspired to start Allpress Espresso after witnessing the specialty coffee revival in Seattle during the late 80’s. This is where he first learned about specialty coffee and was inspired to bring it back to New Zealand. He started the country’s first coffee cart and later began roasting coffee in the back of a garage.

What was the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration really drew from Mike’s obsession with flavour and wanting to achieve the perfect cup of coffee. During the early years, he observed that while the origin, preparation and equipment was important, there was something else that every quality cup of coffee he tasted shared. The distinguishable difference was the roasting method. This discovery led Allpress Espresso to where we are today, roasting coffee with Hot Air Roasters that are designed and built in house.

What kind of things are Allpress involved in on a community level?
Allpress Espresso is privileged to be part of communities all around the world, not only within the communities we roast in such as Melbourne, Tokyo and Auckland but also the communities that we source our green beans from. We strive to do what we can to support these communities and the people that live there. For example, in each of our Allpress cafes, we run a ‘Recycle a Sack’ program, which is an initiative designed to support local Primary Schools. Hessian coffee sacks (that are used to transport green beans) are stationed outside of the cafes and available for a gold coin donation which are then passed on to the local schools.

What is Allpress’ philosophy?
Allpress is built on relationships and the philosophy of keeping good company. These relationships are those made with the brands we choose to partner with, the relationships made with the café owners that serve Allpress coffee and with the customers that enjoy drinking it. Sometimes it’s as simple as connecting two people in a café over a couple of flat whites – this is where good ideas and conversation happen.

What does Allpress hope to be remembered for?
We hope to be remembered as a globally trusted brand that transcends coffee. This our leading vision for our teams around the world. We all strive to provide value beyond the coffee we roast through the experiences we aim to create, the stories we tell and the people we connect.

What does Allpress hope to achieve in 2017?
The year ahead is a big one at Allpress. One of the big projects that we are working on is creating and launching a new global website which will focus on showcasing our history and stories, our global community, and of course, our tasty coffee offering. We will also be opening an Espresso Bar in Brisbane, which is especially exciting for our Queensland team to have an official home and base.