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It’s hard to think of a more timely or compelling calling card for a fledgling coffee business than to be anointed roaster-in-chief at Sydney’s Noma pop-up. Tim Varney, who makes up one half of Bureaux Collective with Tim Williams, established the “coffee program” at Noma’s Copenhagen mothership a couple of years ago, and both Tims have gained a high profile in the coffee-obsessive communities of the UK, Norway and the US over the past decade, particularly in the spheres of roasting and sourcing.
Now they’ve returned to Australia and plan to put coffee-roasting resources and skills in the hands of locals at the Bureaux Collective HQ in a small warehouse in Melbourne’s Cremorne. “Coffee-roasting equipment is expensive and not everybody has half-a-million dollars or the time it takes to negotiate landlords and red tape,” says Williams. “What we’re doing is providing access to equipment and skills so that the coffee community can get access to a state-of-the-art roaster [a Probat, from Germany], and to Tim’s skills as a roaster.”
But the business isn’t just about roasting. It’ll also be “an incubator and community space” where there’s a flow of information and, one weekend a month, a coffee “farmers’ market” for those who “grow, roast and consume coffee that’s ethically sourced and treated with care”. Roasting will start in May with Melbourne cafés Assembly, Patricia Coffee Brewers and Everyday
Coffee already signed up. bureauxcollective.com MICHAEL HARDEN
Coffee suppliers to Noma deliver more than beans with a new coffee collective.