A new Queenstown coffee roastery is boasting it’ll have New Zealand’s first ‘‘very environmentally-friendly’’ Probat electric roaster.
While waiting for it to arrive, Ryder Specialty Coffee’s roasting with a smaller roaster, also run off electricity.
Based in Glenda Dr, the company’s been set up by coffee industry veteran Samantha Bright and business partners Wes McAllister and Peter Forde.
Bright, who’s delighted at seeing her pipe dream brew into reality, says, compared to gas, electric roasters are ‘‘just more technically advanced’’, and aren’t so reliant on the person operating them.
‘‘We kind of hope we inspire other people to get into using electric roasters on a commercial scale — all coffee companies in NZ are gas at the moment.’’
Using only specialty-grade coffee sourced from beans around the world, the owners are also using only compostable bags and biodegradable labels.
McAllister says they’re initially selling directly to customers via their website, before seeking business from new and existing cafes and restaurants then, eventually, wholesale stores.
Down the track they’re also keen to open a roller-door cafe at their premises.
Their business website is ryderspecialtycoffee.co.nz
