Australians drink more than six billion cups of coffee a year. Almost none of it is grown here. Less than half a per cent of what we drink comes off an Australian farm, with the other 99-plus per cent shipped in. That gap is starting to close, and it is worth understanding why.
What is actually changing
For years, growing coffee here has been hard and expensive. One of the biggest problems was the trees themselves. Popular varieties like K7 grow too tall for the machine harvesting Australian farms rely on, so yields drop and costs climb. New, shorter varieties are starting to fix that.
Southern Cross University, working with the non-profit World Coffee Research, is trialling around 25 coffee varieties from 11 countries to find the ones best suited to Australian conditions and mechanised farming. Alongside that, an Australian Coffee Growers Manual, funded by AgriFutures, is giving growers a real playbook for the first time. Add in a tight global supply and high world prices, and locally grown beans suddenly look more viable than they have in a long while.
Do we have the altitude?
Short answer: parts of the country do, and Hurstville is not one of them. We are a roastery in suburban Sydney, near sea level of coarse not. Altitude, rainfall and soil matter enormously for growing coffee, and the conditions that suit Arabica are up on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland and across parts of northern New South Wales.
That is the honest split. We roast, we do not grow. Altitude is the grower's problem to solve, and the regions doing it have the land for it. Our job is to take a green bean with potential and turn it into something worth drinking.
Is it good for business?
For a roaster, it is promising rather than ready. The quality is climbing as the right varieties go in the ground, but the volumes are still small and the price reflects that. Until Australian-grown coffee can be harvested at scale and land at a price that makes sense for a daily blend, imported single origins will still do the heavy lifting on most menus, ours included.
None of that dampens the enthusiasm. A real Australian specialty coffee industry would be a genuinely good thing, and we are watching it closely.
Where we stand
Right now we roast imported single origins, the kind you will find across our range. The day an Australian-grown bean scales up and the cup justifies its spot, we will happily put it in the line-up and tell you exactly where it came from. We just will not pretend it is here before it is.
| Australian-grown coffee at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Grown here, of what we drink | Less than 0.5% |
| Cups Australians drink a year | More than 6 billion |
| Main growing regions | Atherton Tablelands (QLD), northern NSW |
| Why it has been hard to scale | Tall varieties, costly harvest |
| Who is working on it | World Coffee Research, Southern Cross University, AgriFutures |
FAQ
Is Australian-grown coffee any good?
The quality is improving as growers plant varieties better suited to local conditions. Volumes are still small, so it is more a promising specialty product than an everyday staple right now.
Where is coffee grown in Australia?
Mainly the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland and parts of northern New South Wales, where altitude, rainfall and soil suit Arabica.
Does King Carlos sell Australian-grown coffee?
Not yet. We roast imported single origins. We will add an Australian-grown bean when it scales and the cup justifies its place in the range.
Why is most of our coffee imported?
More than 99 per cent of the coffee Australians drink is imported. Local farms supply under half a per cent, though new varieties are slowly lifting that.
Imported, hand-picked, roasted weekly in Hurstville.
See the single originsWant the story behind the roastery? Read about how King Carlos started, or find your coffee in two minutes.
