March Feature:

Chatting with Beat Coffee's head roaster Leigh Mellington.

How long have you been roasting and how did it start?

Started roasting in 2013 after a long career in engineering. After spending many years just going through the day-to-day, I was lucky enough to meet passionate people within their careers (Wine Makers, Brewers etc) and had a moment of clarity. Why aren’t I doing that? It was then our concept of the endless search was formed- do what you love, do it to the best of your ability and keep improving. So after 6 years working overseas, came home in 2013 bought a coffee roaster and started! Much reading, learning, trialling and roasting later- here we are.

What is your roasting process?  

Leigh, along with Corey (our 2nd roaster on the team) develop our espresso beans to a medium level and take our filter style a little darker than normally seen at the moment. We like to make sure the bean still sings but want to make sure it gets a chance to be developed into a truly tasty drink. We also strive to ensure that we have a bean available to most tastes and styles of beverage.

What are your goals for the roastery?

Our roastery goals are to develop further wholesale partnerships with like minded people. We love our coffee and we want you to as well.

What makes you unique?

I think some of our uniqueness comes from several different facets. The fact that I have not come from a traditional hospitality background, but one of engineering. This leads us to follow data and science as much as possible to achieve consistency whilst still having our artistic flair in the roasting process. It also means that although we are a part of the Melbourne coffee scene, we focus on doing things our way without preconceived ideas getting in the way. The fact that along with our primary purpose of roasting we have spent several years perfecting our cold brew coffee which is now being sold through independent supermarkets in Victoria. Finally, our focus of developing relationships with our wholesale, corporate and local customers is one of our highest priorities. Building a community around the idea of the endless search is what we are all about.

Why are you passionate about the coffee industry?

Why are you passionate about the coffee industry? We are passionate about the fact that we believe that coffee roasting is an art form, one that can be immediately appreciated by the consumer. All people involved add their own expressions from the farmer through to the barista, making the end result great. This excites us and we make sure our influence helps it become the best it can be!

Story behind the blend/single (e.g. what are some of the values that make the blend/single great?)

We discovered Minas Hill’s Brazilian Peaberry over 2 years ago and have not stopped roasting it ever since! In fact we use this bean as our house standard at our Roastery/Brewery/Coffee shop, we think it has a natural sweetness and nuttiness that really hits the spot!