Roasted in small batches, by the bay.
A six-kilo drum, three mornings a week, a window onto Pakington St. No giant silos, no rush — just enough coffee to be fresh when you order it.
Foredeck began the way most good things on this coast do — a shed, a borrowed roaster, and too many opinions about coffee. We wanted a cup that tasted like where we are: clean, unhurried, a little salt in the air.
So we kept it small. We buy green coffee from importers who know their growers, roast to order rather than to stock, and rest every batch before it hits the bar. If a coffee isn't drinking well, it doesn't go out — it's that simple.
The name's a nod to the bay. The foredeck is the working end of a boat — out front, weather-first, where the day gets started. Felt about right for a café that opens before the sun does.
Three origins on rotation.
Washed & clean
Smallholder lots from the south. Red apple, caramel, a soft citrus lift. Our backbone for milk drinks and the house blend.
Natural & floral
Heirloom varieties, dried on raised beds. Blueberry, jasmine, a syrup-thick body. The bright one — we pour it as filter.
High-grown & structured
From the highlands of the north-west. Cocoa, dried fig, a gentle spice. A seasonal guest — here while it lasts.
The pour-over, our way.
A V60 recipe that's hard to get wrong. Scales up and down — keep the ratio at roughly 1 gram of coffee to 16 of water, and you're away.
Rinse & dose
Rinse the filter, tip the grounds in — 22g, medium-coarse, like coarse sand.
22 g coffee · 360 g water
Bloom
Pour 50g of just-off-boil water, swirl gently, and wait. The coffee puffs up and breathes.
45 seconds
Pour in stages
Add water in two or three slow circles, keeping the bed level. Don't drown it all at once.
to 360 g total
Draw down & serve
Let it run clear — around three minutes all up. Swirl, pour, and drink it while it's hot.
≈ 3:00 total
The short version
Buy well, roast small, rest it, drink it fresh. The rest is just patience.