From Coffins to Coffee

Way back when we were kids, Dad had a coffin factory - it was certainly different -”What's your Dad do?” - “He makes coffins!” Our family holidays consisted of us jumping in the car and heading off to visit funeral directors all over NSW. We even had an ex -hearse as a family car - it was a Chevy Impala, white and not extended because the Impala was so long it could take the coffins easily - it was lucky it was so big and in the days before we had to wear seat belts - so all of us kids could hide out on the floor when we drove anywhere!

Then next thing you know Mum and Dad are looking at a Nut & Coffee roaster shop in Greystanes - again so different! We didn’t know there was another type of coffee, let alone blends and grinds and Italian, French, Turkish and Greek styles - what a menagerie that little shop was. Demitasse, moka, brikka, espresso, a whole new language and of course the most decadent frothy hot chocs a kid could ever have seen - Milo pfft!

We had every type of hot roasted nuts some sugar coated or chocolate covered. We had to work saturday mornings but that soon came to an end when all we did was eat the profit.

With real coffee came Europeans, and with Europeans came food - OMG the most glorious foods - pizzas, pastas, olives, salami, kebabs, hummus, tzatziki, patè, sorbet, gelato, paella, we pretty much got seduced by the industry, we were so addicted to the food there was no turning back. So coffee became our thing, we were the Aussies doing coffee, we started drinking espresso, cupping coffees, developing commercial blends for the cafe and restaurant market in Sydney and beyond and …. we were pretty good at it - Sydney went with it, the Vietnamese, Thai's and Chinese became interested in coffee too, it complimented nicely our burgeoning Sydney cafe and restaurant scene.

Now over 30 years later la Casa’s coffee has been all over the world. Europeans take it back to their families in Europe -it's bella caffe! As do the Asians and we also have our relatives and friends addicted to it throughout the UK, Ireland and Scotland, we send it to the USA and Canada - but mostly we save it for Australia - because we have the best coffee in the world!!