Coffee Roasters and Espresso Specialists ― Our Story

Allpress Espresso is built on relationships. Our success as a coffee roaster is down to the success of the people we choose to partner with – from our first café customer, to our staff around the world and even down to John, who comes in to our Dunedin Roastery Café every morning for a long black.

Human connection is why we are here and it’s the important relationships we create that steer us on the right path when we veer off course. We realise that sometimes it’s as simple as connecting two people in a café over a couple of flat whites.

Michael Allpress (yes, there’s a guy) was inspired to establish Allpress Espresso after witnessing the specialty coffee revival in Seattle during the late ‘80s. Early on, our obsession with flavour saw a switch from being New Zealand’s first coffee cart, to roasting coffee in the back of a garage and supplying it to cafés around Auckland City. We’ve come a long way since 1989 and today we’re lucky enough to work with over 1200 independent cafes around the world.

Early on we identified that the best tasting coffee is not all science nor is it all craft. It’s the combination of both. So we match skilled artisans around the world, with innovative technology. Flavour is what drives each and every one of our decisions - from the coffee machines we use, to the hours we spend in the cupping room. Everything is about ensuring consistency in your cup, right down to the way we roast.

Hot Air Roasting enables the unique character of every bean to shine through and dissipates the smoky burnt taste that traditional drum roasting causes. Today we roast exclusively using the Allpress Hot Air Roast Method and we’ve even gone one step further - innovating and building our Hot Air Roasters from the ground up, designed for flavour first.

The idea of a pick me up goes beyond caffeine. In an increasingly digital world, coffee has the ability to make people slow down and look around. It’s partly due to our kiwi roots that we truly believe that life is never best when experienced at a frenetic pace. To us lazy Sundays should be compulsory, family comes before Facebook and a day spent by the beach is the best way to wind down.

 When you get your next pick me up, whether it’s on or off the beaten track, be sure to stop, breathe and appreciate all that’s around you – with your head well out of the digital clouds.