Our History

Grinders® Coffee was established in 1962 in Lygon Street, the centre of Melbourne's iconic Italian Quarter.
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Italian migrants Giancarlo Giusti and Rino Benassi founded Grinders® Coffee House, having discovered the secret to great coffee. Giancarlo and Rino wanted to bring the authentic taste of European coffee to Australia and the legend was born when they opened Grinders® Coffee House in Lygon Street, Carlton in 1962.

It was from this humble store that Giancarlo began developing his famous continental style coffee. After purchasing his famous large red grinder for just £1, with money he borrowed from a friend, Giancarlo started roasting, grinding and selling his own coffee beans from the back of his store.

The welcoming atmosphere and hospitality of the shop and its owners, along with the delicious Italian coffee, drew a huge following among locals, especially university students, and soon the wider community.

By 1969, Giancarlo was supplying coffee to cafés throughout Melbourne and to this day, Grinders® Coffee continues to grow with an ever evolving coffee market roasting in state-of-the-art facilities nearby in East Melbourne.

Coming from humble beginnings, Giancarlo and Rino’s dream has been realised due to their hard work, passion, dedication and persistence, making Grinders® coffee what it is today - one of the premier coffee companies in Australasia.

Grinders® Coffee continues to strive to produce the highest-quality coffee blends for Australiasia's booming cafe and restaurant scene, opening up a new roastery in the heart of West Auckland, New Zealand to bring fresh beans to the local market.

As well as roasting and supplying coffee blends, Grinders® Coffee also supplies award-winning coffee equipment, providing ongoing technical support, training and regular service.

But ever-mindful of our heritage, Grinders® Coffee continues to operate and roast at the original Lygon Street retail shop. To us, tradition and innovation are the cornerstones of an excellent coffee business.

–The perfect combination of skill & tradition in every cup

Our Mission

Grinders® Coffee, through our Master Roasters, is dedicated to sourcing, roasting and delivering the best single origin and blended coffees in New Zealand.
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Our beans
Our high grade green coffee beans are carefully checked by our quality control team. On delivery to the Grinders® Coffee warehouse the beans are processed through cleaning equipment that removes any foreign objects, soil and dust. The coffee is cupped before and after roasting in order to continuously check the quality and consistency of the coffee.
Our roaster
Our Master Roaster in West Auckland uses a 15kg fluidised hot air roaster, ensuring that each small batch is hand crafted to high standards. The hot air levitates the beans inside the roaster, keeping them moving and avoiding burning on the surface of the roasting drum. This use of a hot air process rather than drum roasting allows for a cleaner, fresher taste to the beans, without bitter or burnt overtones from beans scorching on the side of the machine.
Our process
The green coffee is single origin roasted to extract the best possible flavour from each origin. Once roasted the coffee rests in large silos for up to 48 hours. This allows the coffee to reach the optimum level of flavour balance before being blended. The blends are then passed through special cylinders that remove any chipped or broken beans.
Our products
Our packaging system is second to none and uses the latest technology to seal in the best flavours. The use of a three layer foil bag combined with a one way valve, that discharges the CO2 naturally released by the freshly roasted coffee, creates an optimum system that keeps the coffee preserved at its best.

Our Promise

Grinders® Coffee has certified Fairtrade Organic Coffee Blends that are sourced through the Fairtrade Coffee Certification Program from countries all round the world and also has Australian Organic Certification.
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