Infuse Coffee Roasters (a brief history)
Infuse Coffee Roasters are based on the beautiful coastal seaside city of Burnie in Tasmania and is owned by Rob & Cath Simpson, a couple who appreciate coffee and found a need in the market for fresh and consistently roasted coffee. Frustrated with the limited choice and the not-so-fresh beans in the local market, we began roasting coffee at home as a hobby. What started out home roasting on a small scale years ago has dramatically progressed! We are a boutique roastery and pride ourselves in customer service and quality, fresh and consistent roasting. Initially set up as an online business, we have expanded into the retail market and now servicing 123 outlets including 50+ cafes/restaurants (as at July 2024).
.
(2012) Infuse Coffee Roastery & Espresso Bar
The home of Infuse Coffee Roasters was originally a workers cottage built In 1900 by Mr Sydney Horler and his wife Sarah Horler (Wilcox). Mr Horler was born in Coleford, Somerset, England and arrived in Australia in 1849 at the age of 6 on The Orient in 1855. He died in Burnie in 1932. The cottage has been used for many different purposes over the years from offices to a residential home. In 2012 we renovated the cottage, highlighting the original timber floors and gave it a new paint scheme, bringing the old cottage back to life.
The roastery has a range of alternative brewing devices, including syphons, Aeropress, Nanopresso, Picopresso, Pipamoka (and more) along with all the barista tools, coffee accessories, cleaning products, reusable cups, cold drip and of course Infuse Coffee available onsite or from our online store. Our coffee is available fresh and can be ground for your preferred brewer. Our award winning coffee is now available 6 days a week from the roastery. Grab a takeaway or settle in and check out everything coffee!
.
(2015) Espresso Bar
.
(2020) Espresso Bar
.
(2021) Espresso Bar
.
INFUSE COFFEE MEDIA ARTICLES
.
(2020)
Business proud to serve North West again after pandemic
By Claudia Williams May 27, 2020
.
At the height of the coronavirus outbreak in Burnie many business owners made the decision to close their doors in the best interest in the health wellbeing of themselves, their staff and their customers. Infuse Coffee owner Rob Simpson was among those, closing his shop for two weeks.
"We thought it was one of those things that we should do," he said. Mr Simpson said they were lucky to have their wholesale business supplying to supermarkets and delis and an increase in online sales delivering beans across the country, to run alongside their offering of takeaways. "The wholesale business has been keeping us going and we have had a lot of online orders and have been doing home delivery in Burnie," he said. "Our online orders have really picked up with a big increase not just in Tasmania, but interstate as well. "Now have been open for two weeks that we have been back and things aren't back as they were but they aren't far off." While the frequency of orders is returning Mr Simpson said he was unsure whether things would return as they were prior to the pandemic with the rise in popularity of ceramic mugs over takeaway cups.
.
(2017) Infuse Coffee Roasters wins 2017 WIN TV Cradle Coast Tourism
Food & Produce Innovation Award
Quality tourism products, services and innovation were acknowledged last night at the Cradle Coast Regional Tourism Awards in Burnie. One of the big winners was Infuse Coffee Roasters and café, gonged for 'food and produce innovation'. The business operates out of a 116-year-old cottage in the heart of South Burnie’s industrial zone. Rick Eaves found Rob Simpson roasting and making coffees today and discovered that this award-winning business began when Rob started roasting beans for himself on his backyard barbecue...
.
(2015)
Burnie's Infuse Coffee Roasters get two bronze at the Sydney Fine Food Show
Article by Mark Acheson - The Advocate newspaper - 28 February 2015
BURNIE'S Infuse Coffee Roasters might not have walked away with top titles from this year's Sydney Royal Summer Fine Food Show, but the exposure itself was gold. That's according to owner Rob Simpson, who picked up a bronze for his classic espresso blend in the cappuccino class and another in the plunger coffee class for the wild espresso. The medals come as great business branding for Mr Simpson and his wife Cath. "We actually get to put the medal on our product," he said. "It's like a wine bottle, we actually get to put it on our bags and it's a great marketing tool. "People do buy the product because it's won a lot of awards." That's 19 awards, in fact. Mr Simpson has entered his coffee in the premier food and beverage event since 2011. He's received nine medals for his classic espresso and six for his wild product. "The main thing is it's a good judge for us as to where we sit with other roasters in Australia," he said. "People come in and love our coffee but really it's about benchmarking yourself with other roasters. "We are being recognised as having a great coffee by other roasters and peers." Mr Simpson said the coffee culture in Burnie was slowly maturing. "I think people are coming in and wanting a different experience," he said "We think it's an affordable luxury, we are getting busier every day and have a lot of receptive customers "We try to achieve the best with our own roasting and beans, and they go hand in hand to make good coffee." The Sydney Royal Summer Fine Food Show was held from February 18 to 24 with 900 entries across three competitions.
.
(2014)
Host With The Roast
Article by Gill Vowles The Mercury newspaper - Indulge - November 8, 2014
.
(2013)
Best developing business award for Infuse Coffee
by Jason Thomas - The Advocate Newspaper 2 December 2013
Between 250 and 300 people attended the Burnie Excellence in Service Awards at the Burnie Arts and Function Centre on saturday night and we were delighted to win another award for Infuse Coffee Roasters. "Seeing Infuse Coffee Roasters take out the Braddon Business Centre Best Developing Business Award was great", Chairman of City Link, Mr Young said. "[They] are now exporting coffee around Tasmania and interstate," he said. Infuse Coffee Roasters part-owner Rob Simpson said it was a thrill to receive the award for something that was once a hobby. "We started roasting coffee at a barbecue seven years ago," Mr Simpson said.
.
(2012)
National recognition for Infuse Coffee
by Meg Windram - The Advocate Newspaper 5 March 2012
COFFEE has always been a passion for Burnie couple Rob and Cath Simpson. What started off as a hobby of roasting coffee beans on the barbecue in the backyard has now turned into the award-winning business, Infuse Coffee Roasters. The couple last week found out their classic espresso blend had been awarded a bronze medal at the 2012 Sydney Royal Summer Fine Food Show. Mr Simpson said the medal was awarded based on specific criteria, but as yet was not sure of their overall score. Mrs Simpson said winning bronze medals for two of their blends at last year's Hobart Fine Food Awards had provided the extra confidence to enter the national competition. With some fine tuning of the blend the couple hoped to eventually better their score. "We would love to get silver and gold," Mr Simpson said.
.
(2012)
Couple's Medal Tally On The Rise
The Advocate - 15 August 2012 by Sonja Brynes
A BURNIE couple have added another three bronze medals to the trophy cabinet, spurring them on in their search for the perfect gold-medal-worthy brew. Infuse Coffee Roasters, operated by Rob and Cath Simpson, took home bronze in the plunger coffee for their Infuse Coffee Classic and two bronze awards in the cappuccino classic international style for both the classic and wild at the Royal Hobart Fine Food Awards. Mr Simpson said it was nice to be recognised among the highcalibre of entrants. The bronze medals follow a bronze medal at the Sydney Fine Food Awards in January this year and two bronze medals at the same Hobart Fine Food Awards last year. ‘‘The fine food awards are held in pretty high regard. We won a WIN TV successful start-up award, but that was more for the business and what we were doing there, so to be recognised for the coffee means our coffee is up to scratch,’’ Mr Simpson said. The couple recently purchased and renovated a 1900s cottage in Burnie and moved the roastery and coffee wholesale site from their home to the new location. ‘‘I started it as a hobby six years ago, but in the last 12 months it has really taken off. Now we have coffee at six cafes and 25 retail outlets, an on-line store and ship coffee to America, South Australia, ACT.’’ With beans sourced from all over the world, including some single-blend beans coming from Nicaragua, Mr Simpson said the hardest thing about making coffee was getting the balance of flavours right with the different percentages of beans in the blended coffee mixes.
.
(2012)
Online award for Infuse Coffee
Excellence in Service Awards - Saturday 10 November 2012 City Link Awards for Excellence 2012 with Rob Vernon 41st Degree Software Director, presenting Cath & Rob Simpson with their award Infuse Coffee Roasters are the proud recipients of the 41st Degree Software Social Media & Online Presence Award presented at the recent Burnie Awards of Excellence dinner. Up against a very tough group of nominees with some amazing websites we are delighted to have been chosen as the winner. Thank you to all our clients who buy online daily all over Australia and locally. In addition thank you to Rob Vernon & Kurt Young from 41st Degree Software for sponsoring the award.
.
(2011)
NW Business & Industry Awards
2011 NW Business & Industry Awards The CGU North West Business Awards were held in Devonport recently and Infuse Coffee Roasters were nominated in 3 categories. After making it to finalists in all three categories, we were excited to hear our business named as the winner of the WIN Television successful start-up award. The category was open to innovative businesses that have commenced operations in the last 5 years and have a unique competitive advantage that ensures sustainable growth in the medium to long term from a base in the region.
.
(2011)
Couple Create Perfect Blend
Article by Ange Clark - The Advocate newspaper - 24 January 2011
