Tony skinner 00:04
Hi, if you want to find out more about one of your favorite topics and mine, coffee, then stay tuned.
Tony skinner 00:14
So Hi, Sally. Sally is from Grinders coffee, and Grinders coffee has been around for 60 years, which I didn’t even realize. And they’re celebrating their 60th year this year is that this year Sally? 
Sally 00:27
60 this year yes.
Tony skinner 00:32
I guess you got all sorts of special events and whatever. But how do you relaunch something that’s 60 years old?
Sally 00:40
Yeah, well, fortunately, like you said, coffee is close to most people’s heart. So it’s not, you know, terribly hard to, to bring new news to coffee, but also get people pretty engaged.
Sally 00:54
As you said, grinders, coffee is 60 years old, which, in the scheme of Australia, and coffee roasters is pretty old. There’s not many others that have stuck around as long as grinders has. And part of the reason for that is, it was born on the streets of Melbourne in Lygon Street, which a lot of people would be familiar with Lygon Street being Little Italy
Sally 01:22
back in the day, and still like that, and certainly where the espresso was born. So an immigrant by the name of Giancarlo giusti, came over to Australia and of course, like a few others set up a roaster on Lygon Street. And what he quickly came to realize was that all himself and all the other roasters were pretty much just selling their coffee to other Italian immigrants, in the smallest espresso format. So he had the little, I guess, entrepreneurial spirit, and thought, what if I could actually sell this coffee to Australians, you know, and open up the market, versus just, you know, the smaller market there was just the local Italian immigrants. So he names the business, a non Italian name being grinders, coffee, named after the large grinder, in the roastery, called Big Red. And, and even in the name, it absolutely sort of opened up the market to, you know, Australians and local Australians that were there to drink the coffee. And from that point on, he also then started to think about adapting it to their tastes. So most people don’t like a black coffee in Australia, we are very, very much milk based. In fact, 95% of us prefer a milk based coffee versus you go to Europe, and it’s pretty much the other way around.
Sally 02:56
So it was pretty clever. So we had some really good starter ideas. And I think that’s what’s set up the business to be still so successful, and now throughout Australia as it is today.
Tony skinner 03:08
Yeah, and I know when you travel overseas, trying to find an Australian coffee, very difficult, but it’s starting to get out there and people starting to realize the benefits of non black coffee because you’re right the first time we get to rome and it’s everybody’s standing up, but they’re quick three minutes standing up, quick sip of the coffee, bit of water bang, gone.
Tony skinner 03:31
Next one, two minutes later, bang, bang, bang, it’s it’s so different.
Sally 03:35
That’s right. Yeah, I think we often credit Giancarlo with being one of the first pioneers to actually establish Australia on the world stage for the best, you know, for having the best coffee. Most people would would have thought back in the day it was the Italians or the French, etc. Where you go for a cup of coffee, but now, throughout the world. 
Sally 03:58
Most people know when they come to Australia, they’re going to get pretty much the best coffee that could possibly get anywhere in the world.
Tony skinner 04:04
And boy, are we spooked spoiled. I have one a day and I look forward to it. I have one coffee in the morning. And wow, it really boosts my day. But you’re talking before about milk. And I have my lactose free milk. Yes, so actually from the cow.
Tony skinner 04:25
But what about things like I’ve tried them oat milk, so called milk and soy so called Milk and I just talking about let’s not milk it’s mostly water. But it’s still popular.
Sally 04:36
Yep, Australians are mad for what we call alternative milks, alt milks. They call it in the trade. And it’s growing exponentially. and what’s also interesting is each state has a little bit of a bias towards what their particular alt milk is.
Sally 04:57
So yes, so Victorians have a strong bias for oat milk. And then New south Welsh people have a bias for almond milk. And then the Queenslanders have a bit of a bias still for soy milk, which was pretty much the original of alt milk that came on to the scene. But you go to any cafe now Tony in their entire fridge is full of you’ve seen it, haven’t you like the cardboard boxes of probably They’re about six particular different types of milk. So it’s pretty hard to manage that kind of inventory. But that’s what customers demand now.
Tony skinner 05:38
Okay, so what’s your favorite coffee?
Sally 05:42
Oh, that’s a great question. Well, I I’m a bit like you, I only really have one or two a day, mind you the average Australian drinks 2.7 a day. But I really pick out then and I might go to is a three quarter almond cappuccino. But I always say put in brackets, but it depends on my mood. So my might want full almond I might want to go for oat milk. Who knows? I don’t like being fixed on I only have one type of coffee.
Tony skinner 06:15
Oh, that’s controversial. Most people stick to the one.
Sally 06:21
That’s it. That’s it. But hey, everyone’s welcoming coffee, whatever you like no judging.
Tony skinner 06:27
Exactly, exactly. They are saying that. In fact, we are in the wrong, but they say now you should have three or four coffees a day is better for you, which is great for you.
Sally 06:42
Yeah, it’s so true. I mean, there’s periods in time where things and products are almost demonized. And there was certainly a time when there was a thought that you know, caffeine wasn’t good for you.
Sally 06:57
You know, I’m not going to spruik any health benefits. I’m not I’m certainly not a practitioner. But certainly if you do speak to a lot of health practitioners, and you read a lot of academic research, there’s a lot of advanced research that has a lot of positive benefits that sit behind caffeine now. And you know, there’s certainly no problem with things like
Sally 07:20
heartflow antioxidants, etc. Yeah. I remember when I was pregnant, and I asked my GP if I was allowed to drink coffee. And they said to me, Look, in the Middle East, the pregnant women drink nine or 10 a day and everything’s fine. There. You have your coffee, you enjoy it, it’s not gonna do anything. So that gave me permission, then it was okay, as well, of course.
Tony skinner 07:47
Alright, well, well, plainly We need to drink more coffee. We’re letting the side down.
Sally 07:50
Yeah, I know. We’re under average.
Tony skinner 07:54
Yeah. Well, and so what are some of the other trends that you’ve seen in grinders, coffee and coffee in general?
Sally 08:02
Yeah. Look, I think after the alternative milks, one of the strong ones coming from our customer base, so our cafe owners, but also consumers, it’s just a sustainability footprint.
Sally 08:15
You know, the biggest component of coffee is the coffee bean, obviously, it’s where and it often comes almost entirely comes from developing nations. So you know, we have to be very careful around where we source from, to ensure that the right kind of practices are happening at source, you know, to ensure that we have certification across things like modern slavery, ethical farming practices, social impact studies, as well. So there’s a really high demand now to ensure that everybody is buying, from farms that are doing the right practices. And certainly for us, we mandate that 100% of our beans are ethically sourced.
Sally 09:02
And fortunately, most other roasters, particularly in Australia, also have the same mandate as well. And if we don’t, then you know, cafes quite rightly say, Well, I prefer to buy a bean that I know where it’s come from, where it hasn’t caused any kind of dis harm to anything or anyone.
Tony skinner 09:21
So besides cafes, and I know, I think it’s a lot in Melbourne in Sydney. I don’t see as much in cafes, but okay, if you’re not in the cafe, then where can I get hold of your awesome beans.
Sally 09:35
So you can get hold of our awesome beans in stacks of independent cafes around Australia. But it’s a competitive market. We call it a fragmented market. It’s there’s no real one major player. So trying to hunt down your favorite roaster through a cafe isn’t as easy.
Sally 09:57
But if you are an avid grinders, fan weare in all the major retailers. So we’ve got beautiful ethically sourced beans and ground coffee and pods in Coles. Woolworths IGA lots of local supermarkets as well. And you can be guaranteed you’ll get a stunning, stunning, ethically sourced coffee. They give you a hit for the day.
Tony skinner 10:20
Yeah, i saw the pods, they fit in the market leading machine.
Sally 10:26
I see what you’ve done there. Yes, they do. And the good news is they’re one of the very, very few pods that are compostable. And so most of the others require some form of recycling of which there is no downstream recycling plant. So they actually just do go into waste fill for about 500 years, but the grinders, pods are compostable, and they break down within 90 to 100 days in an industrial stubble in so it’s much, much more preferred. So that’s one good news. But yes, they are compatible with the market leader. Awesome.
Tony skinner 11:05
Well, there you go. So great coffee, compostable capsules, ethical beans. You You’ve got it all.
Sally 11:14
Got it? Oh, yeah, you better try it. I’m not even gonna ask you what you’re currently drinking. Because I feel like it might not be grinders. But that’s okay.
Tony skinner 11:24
It’s not. I like I’m pablo and rusty at the cafe. I think that’s what they have. And, look, I’m fairly coffee agnostic, because you’re right, you can’t rely on what coffee gonna get in whichever cafe you go to.
Sally 11:41
That’s right. But the good news is, like I said, it’s really hard to get a bad coffee. Now, in in a cafe. Once upon a time, it might have been a bit hit and miss. But our standards are so high now that you can’t really operate as you know, a coffee outlet without producing and putting out a great coffee. So it’s great for consumers.
Sally 12:05
Because you pretty much can be sure anywhere you go that that the barista knows what they’re doing. And you’re going to have a great coffee.
Tony skinner 12:13
We recently had a crisis here in the lower north shore. And there was no water. I know exactly where you are. Yeah, yeah. No bloody water, then you’ve heard everything and I wander up the road on a Saturday morning. No coffee anywhere. Oh, my God.
Sally 12:32
That is a that is actually like that is a crisis for people. Because you know what a punctuation mark a coffee’s for your morning. Like it really does start the day. And we all can empathize with that. So I don’t know how you got through that, Tony. I really feel for you. May it never happened to you again.
Tony skinner 12:56
I ended up in another part of Sydney and wynyard somehow in some how I ended up there and I’m like, God, what am I doing? There? You go it shows the importance of coffee. Alright, so thank you very much for your time. And grinderscoffee.com.au
Sally 13:16
Excellent. All right. Thanks so much for your time. Great to talk to you.
Sally 13:19
All right. Thanks, Tony.