A Build-Out of Summer. A Fit-Out of Winter. It’s all the same to us here at Sprudge, where our 2024 feature series rolls on with an exciting new cafe in Morley, Australia, in the suburbs of Perth.
The 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by Ceado and Dona. The 2024 Build-outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Acaia, and Ghirardelli.
As told to Sprudge by Ie-Tehn Kwee.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
We are a small 20-seat coffee house. We opened our doors in June 2024. This company was set up as part of realizing a long time dream. As a coffee and food lover, I always dreamed of escaping the meaningless corporate grind to create my own space that prioritizes people, quality, and continual growth of knowledge and wisdom.
It is a place to escape the hum and drum of the daily grind, a sanctuary for coffee lovers to forget their woes even if only for a moment. We are serious about coffee, but the atmosphere is CASUAL and WELCOMING. And we are FUN and APPROACHABLE with DEPTH and LOVE. The coffee? It is simply delightful, reflecting the care and quality that comes from its HAND MADE origins. Hear This is a place for the people.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
To achieve everything above, we decided early that we wanted to have a dark, cozy color scheme. Many of the neighboring businesses are medical in nature, which tend to be stark and sterile, the urban area surrounding is paved and harsh. Our space deliberately set up to contrast its surroundings as a sanctuary.
The original concept was to create a “kitchen bench,” a place in the home that has always been very special to me. The kitchen bench for me was the focal point for the family, where meals, stories, troubles are shared. Unfortunately due to several factors we had to give up the Kitchen Bench, but to retain this initial vision we have built a very generous central custom table our “dining table.”
We also have a high bench for solitary visitors and some smaller more intimate share tables. Our kitchen is focused around the coffee bar. All design elements were focused on making it as effective as possible ensuring a smooth workflow to allow efficient and high quality service.
What’s your approach to coffee?
Quality has to be the key word. Consistently high quality drinks. It is the first value for us at Hear This Coffee House. Secondly it’s about people and what they want, treating every employee and customer with complete respect.
Finally it’s about growth. There is always more to learn. I consider myself an armature and am constantly amazed by the knowledge within the coffee industry. I just want to keep learning and improving andIi want to surround myself with like minded people.
To achieve this I focused on a few key elements:
The Roaster:
In planning the space I sampled several kilos of coffee from each supplier we reached out to. Several of the coffees we loved immediately, but over time found inconsistencies in the beans that we were not willing to settle for. Eventually we landed on Karvan Coffee. Their attention to quality is above any other roaster I sampled. Every single batch is cupped and it shows. Karvans beans are incredibly consistent, which means my coffee can also be consistent.
The Beans:
We use Karvan’s blend #3. It is a punch espresso roast, with a lot of the flavors a traditional espresso drinker would look for. But there is more to it. Through testing, my wife and I found that we consitently enjoyed this blend over a long period of time, without getting bored. Blend 3 is our foundation. We currently don’t offer any single origin espresso. And for good reason. As a new cafe, it is important to me that we are able to do deliver a consistently high quality product with our blend, I want to make sure we are not leaving anything on the table with the blend before developing an understanding and workflow to offer other options. As our business stabilizes we will start to develop a single origin offering provided it aligns with our values of quality and consistency.
The People:
The most important factor, without the right people the ability to maintain a high standard is impossible. My team are relatively new to coffee preparation. But they have all been chosen for their interest in quality coffee. I provide frequent feedback on technique to ensure consistency and continual improvement in the product. We expect that all team members are focused on quality as a key focus.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
For our blend 3 espresso, we have a Gravimetric La Marzocco GB5 and a Mahlkönig E80 GBW with PuqPress and an EK43 for grinding decaf and SO filter coffee. The equipment has been selected to minimize variables and to ensure high quality and consistent drinks. Every dose is weighed and every espresso is weighed and timed.
How is your project considering sustainability?
Sustainability is a massive part of my career. To support my long term sustainability we have included a few element to the build. We have many operable windows on two sides of the build, this allows us to manage the temperature with cross ventilation. The windows on the front of the building are double hung to assist in circulation of air. To reduce the impact of the sun, we will also be installing external blinds later this year.
All equipment is electric including our hot water unit. This is so that in future when our budgets allow, we can install PV cells on the buildings roof to offset our power consumption. All our cups are compostable but we also stock Potter For the Planet Cups and borrow cups. This allows us to lend keep cups to neighboring businesses to reduce the volume of single use cups that we use.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
June 2024
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
The concept was largely put together by my wife and I.
Thank you!
Thank you!
The 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by Ceado and Dona. The 2024 Build-outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Acaia, and Ghirardelli.
