Ewingsdale Coffee, a growing ambition
Robert Frater is the owner of this very local brand. With 3,000 well-established coffee trees and another 1,000 to be planted in spring this year, he’s not shying away from the task of moving his coffee upward.
Using organic principles and a ‘spray-free’ environment for his plantation, his blends are as close to clean green as you can get.
Australian grown coffee beans on show.
A no-nonsense, hands-on sort of guy, you’ll find Rob talking-up all things coffee at his stall, every Bangalow Community Market.He sells his small coffee plantation coffee with all the gusto of his larger competitors and he doesn’t appear too concerned about their market share. ‘I don’t care about my market share, there’s plenty of demand and I’m doing all I can to fill my own’, he told me.
Ewingsdale Coffee grows the beans and supports other smaller micro-farmers by buying as much as he can to supplement his own supply of beans. They don’t roast though, that’s taken care of by the Bun Coffee roasters down the road.
It’s a lovely thing when people can work together in harmony and still be in competition. The way Australians drink coffee, they all need to be producing as much as possible. Try this brew at either Mullum Mac, Station St in Mullumbimby, or the Soul Bowl, 2/14 Bay St (opposite the Surf Club) Byron Bay.
Writer Matthew Michaelis, The Good Life Lift out,Byron Echo August 12th 2014
