It is heralded by royalty, sought out by celebrities, savoured by gourmands the world over, and is soon to have East Perth abuzz.
It is heralded by royalty, sought out by celebrities, savoured by gourmands the world over, and is soon to have East Perth abuzz.
Punch No 1 Special Reserve Coffee will have its very own cafe on Royal Street next week, ground, extracted and served to perfection by Punch Coffee Company directors Glenn and Judith Darlington.
The cafe is a first for the pair, who began the Punch Coffee Company as an agribusiness in East Perth in 2003, sourcing rare Arabica coffee beans from the mountainous heights of Papua New Guinea and exporting to international clients such as gourmet retailer Fortnum & Mason of Piccadilly.
In Australia, Punch Coffees are now stocked by David Jones’ Foodhalls across Australia and in selected gourmet stores.
Mr Darlington told WA Business News the cafe was five years in the making.
“East Perth is such a great place and very ‘new age’,” he said. “The kind of people who live and work there will appreciate what we do.
“We could have opened up in any city in the world but we chose Perth because we want to see the reaction and feel like we’ve contributed to our state.”
The Darlingtons’ journey from bean to business started five years ago when they embarked on an international coffee-tasting mission to discover what made the perfect cup.
More than 400 samples later the field was reduced to 40, with these then extensively surveyed.
Emerging victorious was the Arabica coffee bean from PNG’s Mount Elimbari.
The variety has its origins in the Blue Mountain Arabica beans of Jamaica, and has been grown at between 1,800 and 2,400 metres in the PNG highlands since the 1930s.
Protected by rainforest, it is companion planted in gardens and tended to by small landholders, after which it is ripened, harvested, and roasted in small quantities to order.
Mr Darlington said the coffee bean had a distinctly large and dense profile, producing a rich, smooth flavour.
“We took it to the people who buy food and beverages on the basis of taste and it won them over…it worked well from espresso right through to complicated milk drinks,” he said.
One of Punch’s biggest achievements has been the supply deal with Fortum & Mason, a rare feat for a Western Australian product.
Mr Darlington said the store had been stocking the coffee for the past three years and sales had been strong, opening a number of other doors for the company as a result.
Exclusive restaurants, five- and six-star palaces, hotels, resorts and spas around Europe and Asia now stock the product; and with a distribution centre in Beverly Hills California, the lucrative US market beckons.
But the Darlingtons also say the Punch Coffee Company is happy to continue its organic growth and work on the coffee business from behind the cafe counter.
