Walcha Coffee, fresh off two runner up places in the prestigious Golden Bean World Series coffee competition, is now set to increase the production of its award-winning coffee with the acquisition of a new 30 kilogram roastery.
Cameron Hayton, director of Walcha Coffee, roaster, and sometimes janitor in the business, says the move has been sparked by a growing demand for the locally made product and a desire to create a coffee hub for the town.
“Part of my dream for Walcha Coffee was to create jobs in our area, while also enhancing the coffee culture of Walcha, and the wider New England region,” said Cameron.
“Our new roastery can produce 30 kilograms every 12 minutes. It’s being retrofitted out now, but we also want to turn the building into a coffee bar, put in a mini roaster, and offer training courses for roasting, how to make coffee and more.”
Cameron said the new roastery would also give Walcha Coffee “greater control over their final product,” which using other roasters in Sydney and Newcastle denied them.
The business is “working feverishly” to finish the install, but it will be a couple more months before the project is fully realised.
“We’re looking forward to this as something that will benefit not just the community but other businesses; if we can make Walcha a coffee destination, it will bring in more tourists, which is great for everyone,” Cameron said.
Worldwide recognition for Walcha Coffee
Born out of his passion for coffee, Cameron says Walcha Coffee has since snowballed into a thriving business after officially opening its doors in 2020.
According to Cameron, it all began after he started roasting his own coffee, which led to his friends asking for a taste.
From there, his coffee went to farmers markets, local shops, IGAs, and then a listing on Metcash, which allows any independent supermarket in the country to stock the product.
“It just snowballed from this passion project, I just love coffee, it’s such a versatile product, it’s delicious, and just so varied, you can have anything from commodity coffee to nice Panama Gesha,” Cameron said.
“There are so many different flavours and what you can achieve, and how to prepare it, coffee can be an endless rabbit hole of imagination, a limitless hobby.”
Walcha Coffee’s exceptional quality was recently acknowledged at the Golden Bean World Series, the world’s largest coffee roasting competition. After winning entry, the brand secured two runner-up positions.
“We entered the Golden Bean Australasia Competition last year, and after we got a silver, Walcha Coffee was invited to the World Series in February,” Cameron said.
“There were four categories, and Walcha Coffee came away with silvers in two of them, which is massive for us. We’ve been invited back, hopefully, once the fit out is done, I will have enough time to get a fresh entry together,” he added.
For more information and updates about Walcha Coffee, have a look at their Facebook page or website.
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