b3 Coffee, Somerton Park

Adelaide roaster · In the rotation

b3 Coffee

Started in Blackwood in 2016 by Ben Laakmann, now roasting at Somerton Park. Three core values, and one of them is the suburb they came from.

Roaster Profile

A hand holding a b3 Coffee bag, seen in a car side mirror with a beach and ocean behind

The short version

Roasting since

2016

Started in

Blackwood, in the Adelaide foothills

Where now

Somerton Park

Ownership

Ben Laakmann, with Shana Knowles joining as co-owner in 2018

Also

Blackwood is still a trading cafe, seven days, and they run the b3 Coffee Academy

In Allways

One of the independent South Australian roasters in the rotation

The roastery

Blackwood first, Somerton Park now

Ben Laakmann started b3 in Blackwood in 2016. The roasting has since moved to Somerton Park, which is a fair trek across town, and the original Blackwood site did not get quietly shut down on the way out. It is still a cafe, still trading, seven days a week.

Shana Knowles came in as co-owner in 2018. So it is two people and two suburbs, which is more moving parts than most roasters this size bother with.

"Our three core values are coffee, quality and community."

Plenty of roasters put community on the wall. Fewer keep the original neighbourhood cafe open after the roasting has moved to the other side of the city, and fewer still run a training academy on top of it. b3 do both.

b3 Coffee Seasonal Blend bag on a yellow background

Approach

How they roast

b3 are not the sort to hand you a roast manifesto, and the shape of the business tells you plenty anyway: a roastery, a cafe that has been serving the same suburb since the start, and the b3 Coffee Academy for training.

A roaster who also runs a cafe seven days gets feedback that a wholesale-only operation never hears. Someone tells you the espresso is sour on a Tuesday and you find out that morning, not three months later in an email nobody sends.

About the roaster

b3 Coffee, Blackwood and Somerton Park

Founded 2016 in Blackwood by Ben Laakmann, co-owned with Shana Knowles since 2018, roasting at Somerton Park with the Blackwood cafe still open seven days. Coffee, quality and community, in their words.

Since 2016Somerton ParkBlackwood cafe, 7 daysb3 Coffee Academy

Common questions

Questions people actually ask

Where is b3 Coffee roasted?

At Somerton Park in Adelaide. b3 started in Blackwood in 2016 and the roasting moved to Somerton Park later.

Is the Blackwood cafe still open?

Yes. Blackwood is still a trading cafe, seven days a week.

Who owns b3 Coffee?

Ben Laakmann started it in 2016. Shana Knowles joined as co-owner in 2018.

Can I get b3 Coffee delivered?

Yes. It comes through the Allways subscription, roasted to order and shipped free Australia-wide. Tell us how you brew and we grind it to suit, or leave it whole bean.

Why order b3 Coffee through Allways instead of going direct?

If b3 is the only coffee you ever want to drink, go direct. Buy from them, visit Blackwood, keep a local roaster in business. We would rather you did that than settle. Allways is for the other case. One subscription, a different independent South Australian roaster in each delivery, ground to how you brew and roasted to order. b3 is one of the roasters in the rotation, and the next box is somebody else.

In the rotation now

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Espresso BlendSingle OriginHalf and HalfDecaf

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