"We are a family run specialty coffee roasting business based in Adelaide, South Australia." That's how they introduce themselves, and the rest follows from it. Quality, ethics and honest service sit at the core of it, and they buy green from importers they trust rather than chasing novelty.

Three blends carry the range: Heirloom, Harvest and Hummingbird, alongside rotating single origins. The name is a date rather than a number. 1645 is when the first coffee house in Europe opened, in Venice.

Read the full 1645 Coffee Roasters profile →

"Adelaide born, raised and roasted. We started in Beverley, Adelaide, in 1999." Twenty-seven years later they're at 253 Grange Road in Findon, two generations in, still family owned. They roast daily, which is why the coffee arrives fresh rather than having sat in a warehouse.

The roastery has a cafe attached with glass doors at the back, so you can watch the roasting happen while you drink. Ask them how the place runs and you get this: "We keep it in house, all under one roastery roof. From our delivery drivers and phone reps to our coffee roasters and machine techs, we do everything ourselves." Also this, which tells you plenty: "We're not here to reinvent coffee or save the world one cup at a time."

Read the full Altura Coffee profile →

"With humble beginnings, b3 Coffee opened as a roast house in 2016. Ben Laakmann set up a store on the main street in Blackwood." It worked well enough that the roast house became a cafe, and the roasting has since moved to a dedicated site in Somerton Park. In 2018 the business welcomed Shana Knowles as co-owner, and both still actively work in it.

"Our three core values are coffee, quality and community." Not a surprising set of values for a specialty roaster, but the Blackwood cafe still trades seven days and they run a training arm, b3 Coffee Academy. They mean the community part.

Read the full b3 Coffee profile →

"In 2021 we set out to open a small coffee shop in the easy going suburban streets we grew up in. 2022 began and we stumbled upon a simple row of shops which we now call home." That home is a fifty square metre shop beside the train line in Warradale. In 2024 they added a second site in Glenelg North, just off Anzac Highway.

The vision, in their words, was "to bring no fuss specialty coffee to the locals through an unassuming row of shops in the backstreets of the burbs". Everyday coffee for everyday people, roasted out of an Adelaide roastery, each coffee roasted to suit its profile and aiming for balance, clarity and consistency in the cup.

Read the full Bobby's Coffee profile →

"Established in 2020 Charlie Black Coffee Co. is a family-owned business that prides itself on roasting great coffee in Pooraka South Australia." There's over thirty years of combined experience behind it, and it shows in the setup: three roasters, including a one kilo machine kept for micro lots and sample roasting.

They also run a proper in-house barista training facility stocked with Victoria Arduino, Slayer and Mahlkonig gear. That's a serious amount of equipment for a business five years old, and it tells you which side of the business they care most about.

Read the full Charlie Black Coffee Co. profile →

A small-batch roastery and cafe in a warehouse space on Bacon Street in Hindmarsh. They describe themselves in about as few words as possible: "we're an adelaide, south australian based roastery." Three house blends anchor the range, named Heaps Good, More Juice and Nightcap, with singles rotating alongside them.

"Our smallbatch roastery allows us to rotate fresh new and exciting coffees all year round." They've carried Ninety Plus coffees and a Peru Geisha, which is a stronger signal of intent than most roasteries this size would attempt.

Read the full Coffee in Common profile →

"Dawn Patrol was established in 2014, in Kangarilla South Australia." They now roast on site at their headquarters in McLaren Vale, in the middle of wine country, which shapes how they do things.

The cellar door approach to coffee is a real thing here rather than a metaphor. You can visit, taste through the current offerings the way you'd taste wine, and work out what you actually like. On sourcing they're unusually direct: "We aim for 100% traceability at Dawn Patrol, which means that we know exactly where our beans come from, who grows them and how they were processed." The cafe at the roastery is run by Neighbours Crumpets, which is a good excuse to make the drive south.

Read the full Dawn Patrol Coffee profile →

"We're Brad and Carly, and for over 20 years, we've been part of Australia's dynamic coffee scene, now calling Adelaide home." Elementary is a roaster, a wholesaler and the operator of a couple of the better cafes in town, at 9-17 Young Street in the city and 2 Jervois Street in Torrensville.

"At Elementary coffee, we roast small-batch specialty coffee with a focus on sustainability and quality. We partner with farmers who share our commitment to ethical sourcing." Weekly quality cuppings and strict roast profiles keep it consistent. The Young Street Blend is named after the roastery cafe address, which is the sort of detail that tells you where their head is at.

Read the full Elementary Coffee profile →

The newest roaster in our lineup by some distance, founded in September 2024 and based in Somerton Park. Small operation, clear values: "We work directly with sustainable farms, so our beans are traceable from crop to cup." Clean, sustainable, fair is how they put it on the tin.

The part most people miss is why they do it. They're in it to "offer love and hope to those in need through the proceeds of a great cup of coffee". You'll also find them at markets around Adelaide, including the Adelaide Hills Farmers Market at Mount Barker, Stirling Laneways and Gilles at the Grounds.

Read the full Elusive Coffee profile →

Co-founders Alex and David started Kindred in 2019 with a clear mission, "Brew Good. Do Good.", between them having worked in and around specialty coffee for a combined 35 years and more. They began as nomad roasters, renting shared spaces and putting every spare hour into sourcing green.

They now run their own facility with "two Probat roasters, a P5 and P12, as well as a Kaffelogic for sample and competition coffees". The freshness is the part worth knowing: they store green, roast, pack and dispatch all within the day of roasting.

Read the full Kindred Coffee profile →

"Roasted by the mindful, for the inquisitive." Monastery has been going since 2013, out of Windsor Gardens, built around traceability in a way not many Adelaide roasters were attempting at the time. "To us 'traceable' designates two key things, quality and provenance."

"We value the artisanal over the industrial and people over profits," they say, and "we only roast coffee beans that are sourced in an ethical, transparent and responsible manner". In January 2018 the Australian Specialty Coffee Association named co-founder Adam Marley Australia's top-ranked roaster, which is about as good as it gets in this country.

Read the full Monastery Coffee profile →

Founded by Emily Raven and Rachel Mead, and "part of the fabric of the Adelaide community for over 10 years". Raven brings more than 35 years in professional cookery and hospitality; Mead holds a Master of Management from Macquarie. You'll find their coffee at 11 Waymouth Street, 185 Pirie Street and 60 King William Street, plus their sister restaurant A Prayer for the Wild at Heart on Hurtle Square.

"Our multi award winning coffee is roasted by us in Adelaide." The beans are seasonal and specialty grade, bought according to availability, some directly from farms and some through specialist buyers. Small detail worth having: the milk is farm-direct from Tweedvale in the Adelaide Hills.

Read the full My Kingdom For A Horse profile →

A micro roastery with an origin story unlike anyone else on this list. "Our team is rooted in Korea, built by roasters and baristas with years of experience. Though Korean by nationality, we bring together more than a decade of work across the United States, Australia, and Korea to offer new perspectives and experiences in coffee."

That's a genuinely different set of reference points to bring to Adelaide coffee, and it shows in what they choose to roast. They share green beans with the local community as well as selling roasted, which is rare. Their line is "Bound by the Between", which suits a roaster working across three coffee cultures.

Read the full Peninsula Coffee profile →

"Based in Adelaide, we have been involved in roasting, brewing and enjoying coffee for nearly 8 years." Coffee is roasted to order every single week rather than sitting in stock, and they're specific about when to drink it: "We recommend that the best brewing window is between 7 and 21 days after the roast date."

On sourcing they put it plainly: "We believe that the best and most outstanding coffees are obtained by working directly, sustainably and ethically with the producers themselves." The result is that the vast majority of their coffees can be traced back to a single farmer or washing station.

Read the full Two Fish Coffee profile →

"Sustainably grown. Ethically sourced. Roasted in the Adelaide Hills. By women, for everyone." Vice is a female-owned boutique roastery, and the sourcing follows the same thinking: their coffees are ethically and sustainably sourced, "prioritizing female producers wherever possible". The aim, as they put it, is to highlight the hard work of producers at origin.

Since they started, 10% of the profits from online sales have gone to charity. The coffee names are worth the visit on their own, Basic Babe and Naughty Nonna among them, and the house line is hard to argue with: coffee should be the one vice you never have to apologise for.

Read the full Vice Coffee Roasters profile →