Evolving coffee culture’s bean an inspiration

There’s more to a perfect cup of coffee than meets the eye. Just ask Neli Coffee’s Ed Thomas.

Neli Coffee owner Ed Thomas.

ED THOMAS reckons he wasn’t passionate about coffee until he and wife Janelle moved to Sydney and found themselves in a “significant coffee culture” in 2002.

It was there they first saw coffee being roasted and dared to dream it was something they could do one day.

They returned to the Redcliffe Peninsula in 2006, with the idea in their back of their minds and took the plunge in 2008, launching Neli Coffee at Clontarf.

Ed’s background was in investment banking and Janelle’s was in hospitality. They started with one roaster and a small counter.

“We bobbled along until we got an idea of what we were doing,” Ed recalls.

Neli Coffee at Clontarf is owned by Ed and Janelle Thomas.

Janelle ran the business during the day while Ed worked in finance, changing into shorts and T-shirt and roasting coffee until 11pm, four days a week.

He says he could only sustain this for a short period of time, before pulling the pin and working in the business full-time.

“A few things went our way and I was able to throw that career in the bin and start again. That was in 2012,” he says.

Since then, they and their team have worked hard to build a reputation for roasting and supplying quality specialty coffee.

“Our aim has always been to try to source the best coffee we can and do as little to it as possible so the coffee itself shines, not what we’ve done to it,” Ed says.

He likens the search for quality beans to buying different cuts of meat and says if beans are not of the highest standard the coffee will never taste good.

Neli Coffee team members at work.

Their research over the years has produced a top five list of source countries – Brazil, Ethiopia, Columbia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.

Ed and Janelle supply Neli Coffee to a large number of cafes, have a good relationship with their wholesale and retail customers, and run a busy cafe onsite.

“We’ve never had ambitions to be the biggest. We’ve always wanted to be as good as we possibly can be,” Ed says.

This year, they launched their second brand called Moreton Bay Coffee Co (MBCC), which embraces their coastal position and has an environmental focus.

“We wanted to start a green brand,” Ed explains.

Coffee beans from Neli Coffee based at Clontarf.

They’ve added a second roaster, which is fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly, and they use packaging which can be recycled.

Ed says the new brand has been well-received in the market and they’ve had good feedback on how it tastes.

“People take coffee very seriously. I’m lucky to be in an industry where people recognise quality,” he says.

“The biggest thing is we enjoy what we do. It’s challenging and rewarding but it’s not like we’re pulling teeth or giving someone bad news. When someone comes in they’re after a coffee. We’re a place of happiness.”

Ed says Brisbane has now far exceeded the coffee culture that captured his imagination in Sydney all those years ago.

“I think Brisbane has some of the best coffee anywhere, around Australia and the world,” he says.

Visit nelicoffee.com.au