The beans behind our brew....

Our roasters are our kind of people. Serious & passionate about creating custom blends for their clients.

Find out what makes our master roasters (father and son team) Peter & Chris tick and how they get their beans tasting SO good in 'Meet our roasters' Q&A...

What do you love most about coffee?

It's kind of a cliché but the people. The business owners we work with are masters of their domain - They know what their customers want, and we must deliver. Meeting this standard can be challenging, but it’s the most rewarding. 

What is the roasting process?

Custom roasting is a pretty simple process. Our customers tell us what they like, and we roast it. We guide them through green bean selection, blend development and taste profiling. Then our advanced algorithm and facility keeps it super-humanly consistent!

Why are your roasted beans the best?

Firstly, it’s not about “our” coffee – its our customers own creations. I think our customers like the quality and constancy, as well as removing the headaches that come with traditional roasting houses like managing roast dates and inconsistency. What really sets us apart is our facility. Not many roasters do green bean cleaning and then roast with a continuous, automated roast curve in a state-of-the-art roasting plant.

How many different blends do you make? (and which is your fav!)

We can make an infinite array of blends. Between our collection of green beans and software the opportunities afford to our partners are endless. As for favourite – honestly, I say coffee should always taste like the coffee at Shirt Bar!

Where is your roastery?

Coburg, Melbourne. The home of the Australian coffee scene. 

How much coffee do you roast a week?

Because we roast to order this can vary from two or three - to fifteen or so tonnes a week. 

How much coffee do you drink a day? How do you have it?

I’ll have somewhere between 4-8 espresso in everything from iced long blacks to strong ¾ lattes (or ‘magics’) depending on what; blends or origins, and where; trainings, meetings or quality control.
Weekends, usually only 2-3.

Most memorable coffee experience

Years ago, hiking to Aguas Calientes in Peru I stumbled across a wild coffee plant. It was amazing to see the plant in its raw, uncultivated state - battling the forest to stay alive. Really put the humanity and its achievements into perspective. 

What is a typical day in the life of a roaster?

There are always daily challenges when roasting.
Early rises come with the territory and between managing production and maintaining quality control measures, there’s machine maintenance for customers and growing the business.

It’s not all foosball and lattes.

Hope we see you for a fresh roasted beautiful coffee at Shirt Bar sometime soon...

Shirt Bar Crew