Increasingly informed consumers demand better quality, more ethical coffee – Allpress Espresso
In operations for over three decades, Allpress Espresso has branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, London, and Singapore, which also caters to Hong Kong and China.
Besides supplying in-house roasted coffee beans and renting La Marzocco machines to partner cafes, the firm also sells direct to consumers via its website.
Its retail products include coffee beans, coffee capsules, and ready-to-drink canned coffees. The capsules and canned coffees are all derived from the beans roasted by the company.
According to Roshini Sivakumar, Customer Service and Trainer at Allpress Espresso Singapore, although the firm has always had a retail selection, it became more prominent since the pandemic.
“Over the COVID period, a lot of people were looking for a hobby or topic to invest their time in, and coffee was definitely one of those topics. Today, consumers are much more knowledgeable on things such as roast and flavour profiles, country of origin, pre-roasting and roasting processes, etc.
“They are also demanding a higher standard from roasters. They want to make sure that companies are ethically sourcing their beans, and they pay close attention to the environmental impact of farming processes and issues like child or unsafe labour. Similar to the cocoa sector, the coffee industry has got to be very aware of how we are able to support farmers as best as possible,” Roshini told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Speciality Food & Drinks Asia (SFDA) trade event held in Singapore.
She added that Allpress Espresso has a long-standing relationship with a particular farm in Brazil, where the firm has been sourcing and purchasing directly from “for a very long time”.
“During the pandemic, people couldn’t go out to cafes and they were looking for the cafe experience at home. That’s when we ramped up the retail section to serve this community. The beans are certainly our best-sellers.
“Nowadays, there are a lot more home baristas with a proper set-up and who want to make sure they have good beans to justify the machine that they have, so they would purchase the coffee beans from us. At the same time, consumers are also looking at what roasters are doing to ensure that the supply chain is ethical.”
Good roast
Allpress Espresso’s core line-up includes four espresso blends and one decaffeinated blend, with the most popular blends being its signature Allpress Espresso Blend and the A.R.T. Espresso Roast.
A.R.T. stands for Air Roasting Technology, which is the roasting system that the company adopts for all its beans. The system uses hot air to roast the beans, which is said to deliver a significantly more consistent flavour profile.
“Capsules converted from the beans give a much more intense crema (the creamy, reddish-brown froth on the top of an espresso shot) as well, so consumers can get a good cup of coffee right at home [regardless of format],” Roshini shared.
In addition, single-origin coffee beans are rotated every few months in each market. At the moment, Singapore is offering single origin coffee beans from Papua New Guinea.
“Depending on the palates that consumers in different regions are used to when they were growing up, they tend to prefer a certain blend over another. Some people prefer fruity notes, while others may prefer a more dark chocolate and nutty profile.
“The beans’ origin and how dark or light they are roasted affect the coffee profile, and well-informed consumers will choose according to that.”
