beanscenemag.com.au 59under their Ransom Coffee banner.
Designed for ease as a central point
for all café needs, Kirby says Ransom
Coffee offers customers everything from
roasted coffee and machinery to teas,
syrups, chocolate, and training.
“We aim to meet the needs of all
cafés and restaurants in every way. At
the end of the day, if they grow, we
grow,” Kirby says.
“Our ethos is to produce high quality
coffee that’s affordable and dedication to
our existing clients. We roast top-grade
beans using state-of-the-art technology
delivering consistent, quality coffee
that’s organic and fresh. If we supply
our product to a particular venue, we
won’t supply others in their area.”
Ransom Coffee also tailors exclusive
blends for customers, ranging from
simplistic to complex recipes. Its
commercial blends include Amigo Coco,
a certified organic coffee featuring a
light milk chocolate tone with a delicate
finish, and Latino Love Child, a mix of
Central and South American beans with
a smooth caramel flavour embedded
with chocolate and white rum. Kirby
calls the Naked Honey Badger – a
four-bean blend with dark chocolate
notes and sweet honey characteristics –
a favourite, “excellent for short blacks
and even in soy milk”.
Ransom Coffee’s signature blend is
the Screaming Maasai, featuring African
and Colombian beans, offering a rich
cocoa taste with fruit notes and a mild
yet exotic spice.
“The blends came from trial and
error. When we first started roasting,
we had ideas about what we wanted.
We would play around with ratios
to see what worked best and to find
flavours that complemented each other,”
Kirby says.
“The Screaming Maasai is our
flagship coffee. It’s our most complex
and by far our best seller. It works
fabulously with milk but can be served as
a long or short black.”
More than just a roastery, Ransom
Coffee is enthusiastic about educating
and enhancing the skills of baristas
across the country. As a result, Ransom
Coffee conducts a comprehensive
training program. The course is designed
not just for café start-ups, but for those
wanting to hone their skills or learn a
little more taking a holistic approach
from pulling shots and texturing milk
to customer service, storing coffee, and
bad jokes.
“Good coffee isn’t hard to make if you
follow a few core principles, then mix
in a little experience. We show people
the basics of espresso-based drinks andhow to prepare them correctly. I sat
down and wrote a manual that covers
everything from getting the machine and
grinder ready for the morning influx to
finishing up later in the day. Our course
combines a mix of practical and theory,
so people don’t just learn the ‘hows’, but
the ‘whys’ as well,” Kirby says.
“Our barista training gives people
confidence. We don’t just show people
how to make good coffee but explain
why it needs to be done a certain way.”
Over time, as Kirby and Sarah
focused on their roasting and listened to
their clients’ needs, they began to witness
Ransom Coffee evolve into a larger
enterprise solely through word of mouth.
Kirby says watching Ransom Coffee
grow organically has been surreal. In its
very early days, the roastery produced
20 kilograms per week. Four years, and
a new roaster and warehouse later, they
roast up to 40 times that.
“We initially just wanted to make and
serve great coffee and have some fun
too, but Ransom took on its own identity
kept growing. It wasn’t just the coffee,
but how we engage with our clients. We
go out of our way to treat them all as we
would want to be,” Kirby says.
“I always wanted to produce
something. Not to make a fortune,
but to be able to have a product we
can proudly call our own that we’ve
developed from scratch. It’s probably
a little self-centred, but you need to
follow your dreams.”
While Kirby concedes Ransom
Coffee is a smaller boutique roastery, it’sstarting to gain attention in other states.
“We’re a minor player in the world
of roasting, but inside Queensland
we’ve grown substantially. When we
catch up with our clients, we enjoy
talking to like-minded business owners.
It’s a great source of information and
ideas exchange,” Kirby says.
Ransom Coffee is now seeing its
coffee sold to Victoria, New South
Wales, South and Western Australia, and
Canberra – even London and Chicago.
“They’ve tried our coffee at a venue
in Cairns and wanted that taste in
their business. That’s precisely how we
branched out into South Queensland and
into New South Wales,” Kirby says.
Looking to the future, Kirby says
Ransom’s objective is to get its coffee
into the cups and onto the palates of
consumers and see how it stacks up
against the best.
“We’ve only just started thinking of
expansion. We would like to spread
ourselves a little more around Australia
but didn’t want to do it to the detriment
of our service, product, or sun-kissed
lifestyle in North Queensland, so we
recently upgraded our roastery again.
It’s important our growth doesn’t stop
us from making the best coffee we can,”
Kirby says.
“Coffee has to be one of the most
rewarding, amazing, and challenging
industries to be a part of. I really
do love it.”For more information, visit
http://www.ransomcoffee.comTheTheTheTheTheeeRaRRRRaRaaaansonnnnnsonsooom CmCmm Cm Cm C Coffoffoffoffooffoffofffffeeeeee eeeeee ee eeee eRoaRoaRoaRoaRoaRRooaastestestestesteers rsrrsrrrs rs teateateateateateaam: m: m: mmm:SarSaSarSaSaSarSSarSSarahahaaaaah aahahah h hhh h
aandandaandandddddKiKKiKKiKKiKiKiKrbyrbyrbyrbybyyyyKoKKoKoKoKKoKoKKoKoooopmopopmopopmopmoopoopopmopmpmpmman,an,an,anaaan,ann,anananaananad Vd Vd Vd Vd Vd VViviiviiviviviiiiiviivienen eneneneeen en nWilWilWiWiWiWilWiWWiWWiWWWWiWWllllialialialialiaiaiaaaammsmsmmmsmsms.ms.ms.mmsmsss.s....beanscenemag.com.au 59under their Ransom Coffee banner.
Designed for ease as a central point
for all café needs, Kirby says Ransom
Coffee offers customers everything from
roasted coffee and machinery to teas,
syrups, chocolate, and training.
“We aim to meet the needs of all
cafés and restaurants in every way. At
the end of the day, if they grow, we
grow,” Kirby says.
“Our ethos is to produce high quality
coffee that’s affordable and dedication to
our existing clients. We roast top-grade
beans using state-of-the-art technology
delivering consistent, quality coffee
that’s organic and fresh. If we supply
our product to a particular venue, we
won’t supply others in their area.”
Ransom Coffee also tailors exclusive
blends for customers, ranging from
simplistic to complex recipes. Its
commercial blends include Amigo Coco,
a certified organic coffee featuring a
light milk chocolate tone with a delicate
finish, and Latino Love Child, a mix of
Central and South American beans with
a smooth caramel flavour embedded
with chocolate and white rum. Kirby
calls the Naked Honey Badger – a
four-bean blend with dark chocolate
notes and sweet honey characteristics –
a favourite, “excellent for short blacks
and even in soy milk”.
Ransom Coffee’s signature blend is
the Screaming Maasai, featuring African
and Colombian beans, offering a rich
cocoa taste with fruit notes and a mild
yet exotic spice.
“The blends came from trial and
error. When we first started roasting,
we had ideas about what we wanted.
We would play around with ratios
to see what worked best and to find
flavours that complemented each other,”
Kirby says.
“The Screaming Maasai is our
flagship coffee. It’s our most complex
and by far our best seller. It works
fabulously with milk but can be served as
a long or short black.”
More than just a roastery, Ransom
Coffee is enthusiastic about educating
and enhancing the skills of baristas
across the country. As a result, Ransom
Coffee conducts a comprehensive
training program. The course is designed
not just for café start-ups, but for those
wanting to hone their skills or learn a
little more taking a holistic approach
from pulling shots and texturing milk
to customer service, storing coffee, and
bad jokes.
“Good coffee isn’t hard to make if you
follow a few core principles, then mix
in a little experience. We show people
the basics of espresso-based drinks and
how to prepare them correctly. I sat
down and wrote a manual that covers
everything from getting the machine and
grinder ready for the morning influx to
finishing up later in the day. Our course
combines a mix of practical and theory,
so people don’t just learn the ‘hows’, but
the ‘whys’ as well,” Kirby says.
“Our barista training gives people
confidence. We don’t just show people
how to make good coffee but explain
why it needs to be done a certain way.”
Over time, as Kirby and Sarah
focused on their roasting and listened to
their clients’ needs, they began to witness
Ransom Coffee evolve into a larger
enterprise solely through word of mouth.
Kirby says watching Ransom Coffee
grow organically has been surreal. In its
very early days, the roastery produced
20 kilograms per week. Four years, and
a new roaster and warehouse later, they
roast up to 40 times that.
“We initially just wanted to make and
serve great coffee and have some fun
too, but Ransom took on its own identity
kept growing. It wasn’t just the coffee,
but how we engage with our clients. We
go out of our way to treat them all as we
would want to be,” Kirby says.
“I always wanted to produce
something. Not to make a fortune,
but to be able to have a product we
can proudly call our own that we’ve
developed from scratch. It’s probably
a little self-centred, but you need to
follow your dreams.”
While Kirby concedes Ransom
Coffee is a smaller boutique roastery, it’sstarting to gain attention in other states.
“We’re a minor player in the world
of roasting, but inside Queensland
we’ve grown substantially. When we
catch up with our clients, we enjoy
talking to like-minded business owners.
It’s a great source of information and
ideas exchange,” Kirby says.
Ransom Coffee is now seeing its
coffee sold to Victoria, New South
Wales, South and Western Australia, and
Canberra – even London and Chicago.
“They’ve tried our coffee at a venue
in Cairns and wanted that taste in
their business. That’s precisely how we
branched out into South Queensland and
into New South Wales,” Kirby says.
Looking to the future, Kirby says
Ransom’s objective is to get its coffee
into the cups and onto the palates of
consumers and see how it stacks up
against the best.
“We’ve only just started thinking of
expansion. We would like to spread
ourselves a little more around Australia
but didn’t want to do it to the detriment
of our service, product, or sun-kissed
lifestyle in North Queensland, so we
recently upgraded our roastery again.
It’s important our growth doesn’t stop
us from making the best coffee we can,”
Kirby says.
“Coffee has to be one of the most
rewarding, amazing, and challenging
industriesto bea partof.I really
doloveit.”For more information, visit
http://www.ransomcoffee.comee aaannnnsonsosooom C ff RoRooaas esssteaeammm:mm rr
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