Distilling fresh plans
Coffee farm to turn waste into alcohol
A FAR North Queensland coffee producer will get even more use out of its product by adopting an innovative practice to reuse farm waste.
In a development application to Mareeba Shire Council, Jaques Coffee Plantation property owners Kelsey and Luke Anderson plan to set up a boutique distillery, “The Lukure Collection”, at their Leotta Rd property, about 60km from Cairns.
Submitted to the council by James McPeake of McPeake Town Planning, on behalf of Mr and Mrs Anderson, the proposed distillery will use the coffee bean husk and pulp waste from the production of the coffee beans during the manufacturing process.
Mr McPeake said the main distilled product to be produced at the distillery would be a coffee liqueur.
“They will also be looking into producing whiskey, gin and vodkas,” he said.
“They currently sell coffee liqueur that is produced by someone else and they’ve de- cided to try this new method to use the farm waste to make the alcohol.
“They obviously have a lot of farm waste, which they just put back on the paddock so they’ll just be using that and selling their own products.”
Mr and Mrs Anderson will also look into producing beer from the coffee bean waste product in the future.
Mr McPeake said the introduction of another distillery in the Mareeba Shire cemented the region as a hub for distillation.
“There are a couple of distillers on the Tablelands and it is certainly setting itself up as a regional area for making liquor,” he said.
“It’s important for the region, especially the farmers that find new innovative ways of value adding, and it’s certainly something others can be looking into as well.”
The development application is expected to go before the council in coming months.