The majority of our business is repeat and we sincerely appreciate your ongoing support to our small business.  I can promise you that we are continually doing the best we can to source and roast the best coffee we can get our hands on and to ensure you receive an enjoyable experience in every part of the process.  Our loyalty system includes purchases for beans both online and in-store.  These are sync'd to your account which is recognised by your e-mail address.

This loyalty system is completely separate from hot beverages purchased in-store and works on a points basis.  As you purchase beans, points will be added to your account.  You can use these points similar to money and the points can be redeemed to deduct your total bill next time.

How To Access Your Loyalty Points In-Store

If you are a frequent visitor in our shop, then you just need to ask us to create an account using your name and we can automatically link this to our loyalty program.  If you shop online and, in our shop, your account is linked and all your points will be kept on the same account.

How To Access Your Loyalty Points Online

Step 1

Go to our website and click on the ‘loyalty points’ button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Step 2

If you already have an account, click ‘sign in’ and login using your details.

If you are new, click ‘join now’ and you can create an account.

Step 3

You are ready to go.  Your loyalty points are synced with your account.  Shop as you normally will on our website and once you have completed checkout your points will be added.  To check on your points, click on the ‘loyalty points’ tab as you did in step 1.

Redeeming Your Points

Online

Follow our Instagram post on how to redeem your points online by clicking here.

In-Store

We welcome you the option to redeem your points in-store.  To do this just walk into our Milford retail store and give us the e-mail your account is associated with and we will load up your points and make the deductions at checkout.

We hope you enjoy using our new loyalty system and if you have any questions feel free to sing out.

Recurring Subscription

Unfortunately our system does not allow you to claim rewards on a recurring subscription.  When you have a subscription you still receive reward points but these need to be redeemed for a one-time purchase on our website OR can be redeemed in-store in Milford.

A tip for those on recurring subscriptions is to 'skip' a delivery of your subscription using your login within your subscription portal and then making a one-off purchase for the coffee you desire.

Just like food and liquor, coffee is a very subjective beverage that is consumed by many different preparations methods and available in many different styles that affect its taste, texture and flavour.  From sour and fruity to dark and smoky, coffee can taste very different depending on the type of coffee grown, country, roast and preparation method.

New Zealand is often perceived as a country that takes their coffee seriously with a good café culture.  We are an espresso-based culture meaning that the majority of the coffees served in our cafes are prepared using a pressurised espresso machine.  We are also a heavily milk-based culture and controversially the creators of the flat white (or was it Australia?).  Although espresso has been the dominating method for many decades in kiwi land, we are experiencing forthcoming cafes introducing new brew methods in addition to espresso.  These new brew methods are often a variety of filter coffee and/or cold brew coffee.  This is great for the industry as it opens up diversity and a choice of selection to try new styles of coffee that provide different experiences within the cup.

 Each part of the world tends to have a particular style of ‘roast’ when it comes to the method of roasting coffee.  This style is often ingrained into the culture and becomes a preferable norm for this geographic area.  In our retail store we have up to twenty different coffee selections and as soon as we mention this to someone they often look at us sideways and say “why so many”?  This comes down to the ability to cater to a very wide range of coffee preferences and simply the reason because they all sell-out within our timeframe of being ‘too old to sell’. 

 It’s no surprise that people enjoy different flavours and tastes and identifying the right taste or flavours can be a very important factor of a successful restaurant, bar or café.  Our wholesale offering, meaning our supply of coffee beans to cafes tailors a customised approach to each individual customer.  We sit down with you to discuss your demographic and geographic audience to determine your best coffee option.  This extends to other factors including the style of business, target audience and business structure.  Being a specialised boutique coffee roaster gives us the ability to offer this tailored service and our roasting equipment allows us to ‘precision roast’ small batches for each café we supply to on demand.

 What are the advantages of having your own customised blend?

We put this down to a few things that include having a point of difference, exclusivity and being able to offer a blend that customers can only find in your café.  With the saturation of cafes popping up in New Zealand it is becoming increasingly important to have strong points of difference in your establishment to distinguish yourself against the café across the road.  Unfortunately good appetising food and excellent service are no longer enough factors to sustain a successful café operation.  Exclusivity gives your customers a reason to return back to your café.  If they enjoy your coffee and understand that there is no other café with your exact coffee roast (point of difference and unique selling point) they will return to your café to receive that same delicious coffee again.  Your exclusive blend is uniquely your, which means you can also package and re-sell the beans.

What do these symbols mean? We are frequently asked what our four symbols represent displayed throughout our branding. We are going to cover a four part blog series to describe each symbol; its use and its purpose within our coffee offering.

The Swiss Water Process (SWP) Company specialises in removing caffeine from coffee without the direct or indirect use of chemicals.   To decaffeinate the coffee beans, they use an innovative method based on two concepts: solubility and osmosis. The water being used to extract the caffeine is a green coffee extract solution with water-soluble solids of green coffee used to extract the caffeine.

The Swiss Water Company dedicates itself to crafting amazing coffee without caffeine with constant innovation, learning and improvements to the decaffeination process. We agree and only stock SWP decaf that has been growing with popularity. The old associated stigma with bad-tasting decaf is starting to fade with new technology and innovation.

What do these symbols mean? We are frequently asked what our four symbols represent displayed throughout our branding. We are going to cover a four part blog series to describe each symbol; its use and its purpose within our coffee offering.

Fair Trade Organic (FTO) is coffee that is certified as having been produced to fair trade standards. The Fair Trade Certification is governed by the Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand. According to the organisation: “Fair Trade is about stable prices, decent working conditions and the empowerment of farmers and workers around the world”. The organisation is set out to ensure the farmers are provided with fair pay, decent working conditions and ensures consistency of income with stability.

Coffee is a widely traded commodity and is highly volatile with drastic price fluctuations from year to year. This is primarily due to coffee being an agriculture product, it is highly dependent on weather conditions and is also susceptible to diseases and a range of other factors. With over 125 million people in the world that rely on coffee farming as their livelihood this fluctuation causes lots of unpredictability. The Fair Trade Organisation is formed purely with good intentions. As this is a controversial issue we will cover a few commonly asked questions in regards to FTO coffee and its certification.

How come all our coffee is not FTO certified and is your other coffee ethically sourced?

We have one symbol that contains 100% FTO Certified coffee that includes one blend and a number of single origins.

The Fair Trade program requires the farmers to be part of the system. Being part of the system does require a substantial financial investment and also requires criteria and guidelines within the farming. Some farmers choose to exclude their farm from this system and this gives them the flexibility and direct financial control. This can be both a positive and negative for the farmer and workers.

As a roaster, having all our coffee from only the Fair Trade system severely restricts the quality and choice of coffee offering thus misaligning our goals to provide customers with the best taste. Our coffee that is not Fair Trade certified is generally dealt with and paid by the wholesalers direct. A lot of time this means higher prices. This simply means that the Fair Trade is an excellent system with good intentions but not designed for every coffee farmer.

Is Fair Trade coffee more expensive?

Our Fair Trade coffee (raw/green beans before being roasted) costs more than some of our coffee and less than others depending on quality, variety and the coffee. Same scenario follows on with our retail/wholesale offering.

What is direct trade coffee?

The Fair Trade Organisation acts as a middleman that controls the certification. Direct trade coffee is purchased directly from the growers/farmers cutting out any other wholesalers and/or certification middlemen.

What do these symbols mean? We are frequently asked what our four symbols represent displayed throughout our branding. We are going to cover a four part blog series to describe each symbol; its use and its purpose within our coffee offering.

The simple round shaped circle represents a single origin coffee. This is one that is grown from a single geographic area or farm. There are no specific rules that dictate what the term ‘single origin’ is. Generally, a single origin can refer to coffee from different farms in the same general area. Some single origin coffees can also come entirely from one farm and this can be called single estate or microlot coffees. When discussing specialty coffee, roasters tend to prefer coffee derived from a single farm for consistency amongst the lot of beans. This generally comes with higher price tag.

Single origin options give us the opportunity to taste a coffee from that specific region or farm. Each coffee growing region has its own generic flavour profile. As we dig a little deeper, each area and/or farm within that region will also have different flavour nuances. Many factors come into play including the altitude, variety of coffee grown and the processing method involved. Single origins give us the experience to taste different coffees from different countries and/or farms. This allows us to understand the general flavour profile of each origin and we generally form a perception or preference with certain regions. This deeper understanding allows us to have a better picture of what goes on at origin.

Another reason for the increased popularity of single origin coffees is the traceability. Unlike a blend, a single origin coffee is generally traceable down to the region it is grown and with higher quality coffees we can identify the farm that grew the coffee. The increasing trend of specialty coffee unravels detailed information of the farm such as the altitude, harvesting techniques, processing methods, soil conditions. etc. This traceability is a progressive trend for specialty coffee and it helps reward farmers that are proactive with their farming methods as it gives roasters an incentive to pay higher for better quality coffee.