Iterview with John Kaye of Sample Coffee

Sample Coffee are a roastery and café based in St Peters in New South Wales. A self-proclaimed “small business that believes in the power of little things making a big impact”, this pocket rocket of a roastery source their beans from small farms across the globe and are one of the few Australian roasters that are a certified B Corporation organisation. We at Brewtech had a chance to sit down and chat to Sample’s head roaster to chat about passion, dedication and the importance of family.

Hi, my name is John. I'm the head roaster at Sample Coffee. I have been the head roaster here at Sample for about five years now?

Can you tell me a little bit about how the roaster come to be in this area and what you like about the area?

So Sample coffee established itself in St Peters back in 2014. Before that, we just had a little hole in the wall cafe in Surry Hills, which is just about to celebrate its 10th birthday.

Congratulations, happy birthday.

Thank you.

What attracted you initially to becoming a roaster? Is this the first place you’ve worked at a roaster?

This is the first place I've worked as a roaster, I was trained up through Sample. When we made the move from Surry Hills and opened the roastery, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to learn a bit more about the roasting side of the coffee business and I've since progressed into roasting. I love roasting, because I feel like I’m in contact with every step of the coffee production business. I get to interact with sellers and importers and exporters in other countries. Then I get to handle the products that they give to us. And then we roast it and pass it on to brewers and other people who are enthusiastic about coffee, who then get to brew it up and gift it to customers. It's nice to play a role in that process.

And the final step of this entire beautiful process is with the barista before it goes to the customer, right?

Correct.

And with that in mind, from a roaster perspective, how important is it to have a great machine out there, to be able to best represent the things that you a roasting up back here?

Having good equipment and a good machine is so important because you can't consistently brew a good coffee without good equipment. So, you can trust it and know that every coffee that is being brewed and sent out is as good as you want it to be. And there is no risk of wasting a product that a lot of people have put a lot of effort and time and passion into.

Yes, totally. Do you work out in the cafe as well?

Yeah, I'm so lucky! I get to spend a day a week brewing coffee and interacting with people. So I kind of get to see people's reactions and interact with people in the moment that they’re drinking the coffee, rather than just roasting it and sending it out and hoping for the best.

Can you tell me a little bit about the machines you have back here?

Yeah, this is a Probat Ug 15. It's the first roaster that we had in the space. It's really the only one I've worked with extensively. It was originally built back in 1957. That makes that machine – ooh how good's my maths- 33 years older than me. It still does an amazing job and it's such a consistent roster. It's a real pleasure to work with.

Can you tell me a little about Sample’s relationship with Brewtech?

I know that sample has a good relationship with Brewtech. We are a big wholesaler, so we deal with a lot of cafes and people with a lot of equipment. To have people you can trust, installing and maintaining equipment, it makes the job so much easier. They make sure that everyone using our coffee is doing a great job and all their equipment is of the best standard. So, you know, all the people that you sell coffee to, you know, representing the coffee that you're selling them, I suppose that was good. Brewtech are very good at providing resources and information about the equipment that we provide to our wholesale customers. No one is necessarily a technical specialist if they're a cafe owner or business owner, so it's good to have someone who's reliable and very knowledgeable about all the equipment that they supply.

What do you believe makes Sample so special?

Um, I think what makes samples special is our transparency. We try to be very open and clear about the coffee that we like, we try to sell and brew coffee that we like to drink, and hope that people enjoy what we enjoy. You don't have to try too hard to foster a passion for something that you naturally enjoy. We're a certified B Corp organisation and we are very open about where everything comes from. And, like our suppliers and importers, we hope that we can treat them with the same fairness and respect. It’s important for us to do justice to the to the coffee that they supply us.

Did you mention earlier that you’re about to be a father?

In about two weeks, I'm expecting my first child, a little baby girl, which is very exciting.

I guess you could say she’ll be the first Sample baby. I actually met my wife through Sample, she used to be a regular customer. So, it really has come full circle.

How amazing! Thank you for sharing that story and for your time today.