New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

AUGUST 24 2019 LISTENER 31

BREWING UP

A STORM

SHELF LIFE

Global coffee entrepreneur Michael Allpress has

some advice for drinkers of the brew who want to

help save the planet. by CLARE DE LORE ● photograph by ADRIAN MALLOCH

I

n 1986, Michael Allpress fired up

an expensive, shiny, handmade

Italian espresso machine and set

about, one cup at a time, convert-

ing Aucklanders to freshly ground

and brewed coffee. It was a gamble

for the 26-year-old, freshly returned

from his OE in North America. He’d

saved just enough while working in hospi-

tality in the US and Canada to buy the coffee

machine and cart on which his future plans

depended.

Saturday shoppers at Victoria Park Market

voted with their taste buds: after three years,

and with a trio of financial backers, Allpress

upgraded to a La Marzocco, the Ferrari of

coffee makers, found a permanent base and

established what is now Allpress Espresso.

The business, in an old flour mill behind

the iconic market, is now 30 years old and

a growing worldwide enterprise employing

nearly 300 people.

It’s an impressive achievement for the

dyslexic high-school dropout who, most

days, drives himself by amphibious Sealegs

craft between his home on Waiheke Island

and the city.

As well as overseeing the coffee empire,

Allpress is directing the company’s philan-

thropic efforts aimed at cleaning up the

Michael

Allpress:

coffee

innovations

to come.