Mecca - Alexandria

If you’ve ever been to Mecca’s Roastery and HQ in Alexandria, you might not even notice they roast coffee at first. Every person I’ve taken there, has first been taken aback by the beautiful, rustic architecture and absolutely delicious food. Once this daze of euphoria has worn off, their delicious coffee greets you like a warm hug. This is why on June 22nd of any year, you’ll catch me 5 flatties deep with some of my closest friends. Theres no better birthday brunch place in Sydney.

However, Mecca is so much more than this. They deeply care not only about quality, but fair trade and sustainability. To be honest, I tried writing this article many times and could not describe the depth of this properly in my own words. So instead, here is it in theirs:

“We started this place as an outlet for really great coffee. Despite a mature and booming cafe culture, most of Australia's coffee roasters had very limited access to transparency at the farm and origin level. When questions surfaced like "who grew this coffee, how much did they get paid, and why does this lot taste so different to that one?" we found the answers were unclear, so we set out to find some ourselves.

Sure enough, it was a serious can of worms. What else do you expect to happen when you start turning over rocks in an industry this big? It seemed like wherever we traveled, cupping spoons in hand, there was far greater things to discover - stories of crop disease, fairtrade labeling upsets, dodgy deals and logistical nightmares. We have spent many long flights, road trips, skype sessions and coffee dates asking how we can do better for our planet and for the people who deserve more recognition for producing good quality coffee.

We haven't compromised on our standards since day one, and that's the reason we're still here so many years later.

It’s easy to talk about the impact of the soil, altitude and variety on flavour quality. It’s much harder to recognise all the effort and work that went into creating the infrastructure up on those hills, or the difficulties of navigating shipping lanes. We always try to keep in mind the many hands that have touched our coffee before us. Those who have taken so much care and pride in their work before it ever arrives at our door. We really believe that we are a small piece of the puzzle, so we do our best to honour the efforts of the full community of people working together to bring you delicious coffees every day. “

I’ve had a wholesale relationship with Mecca for a few years now and personally I can vouch that they live up to this. I’m willing to bet that any of their other wholesale customers would say a similar thing.

This week we are featuring five coffees from Mecca. Scroll down to learn more about them.