Vice Coffee Roasters, Adelaide Hills
Vice Coffee Roasters
"Sustainably grown. Ethically sourced. Roasted in the Adelaide Hills. By women, for everyone." Since they started, ten per cent of the profits from online sales have gone to charity.
Roaster Profile
The roastery
The roaster with the best product names in South Australia
Basic Babe. Naughty Nonna. A brand called Vice. This is not a roastery that agonised over whether the label was serious enough, and the whole thing is held together by one line: "coffee should always be the one vice you never have to apologise for."
Underneath the jokes they are unusually plain about what they are. Four short sentences do the whole job: "Sustainably grown. Ethically sourced. Roasted in the Adelaide Hills. By women, for everyone." Four claims, and all four hold up.
"Since our inception, 10% of the profits from online sales have gone to different charities."
Profits, not revenue. And since inception, not since a marketing meeting. Plenty of businesses attach a percentage to a product for a fortnight in November. This one has been in the model from the start.
Approach
How they roast
Sourcing is where Vice make their strongest commitment, "prioritizing female producers wherever possible", with named growers attached to the coffees rather than a vague region on the back of the bag.
The roasting sits behind that. The blends are built to work under milk without going thin or sour, the single origins are taken lighter so the fruit stays in, and the decaf is treated as an actual coffee rather than an obligation. If you want the shorthand: they roast for people drinking coffee at home, not for a competition table.
Basic Babe
Brazil, Santa Luzia Farm, Cerrado Mineiro, natural · Colombia, El Naranjo Farm, Risaralda, washed · Medium roast
The name is the joke. The coffee is not basic. Luciana Melo's Brazilian natural brings the chocolate and the depth, Noralba Benitez's washed Colombian adds balance and roundness. Medium acidity, so it cuts through milk without turning sour or thin. This is the one for people who want their flat white to taste like it came from a good cafe.
The Albir Sisters
Finca El Encino, Macuelizo, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua · Parainema · Natural · 1,350 masl · Light roast
Martha and Ana Albir are third generation producers at Finca El Encino. Their mill does not only serve their own farm, it supports eleven other local producers as well, running an ecoforestry model with investment in local employment and education. The cup reflects the care: white peach and blackberry up front, hazelnut through the finish. Light and natural, and it works on espresso or filter depending on what you own.
Finca La Esmeralda
Las Lajas Washing Station, Sabanilla de Alajuela, Central Valley, Costa Rica · Catuai and Caturra · Alma Negra natural · 1,400 to 1,600 masl
Francisca and Oscar Chacon have run the Las Lajas micromill since 2005. In 2008 a mid harvest earthquake cut their power and water, which would have finished most operations. They improvised a natural drying process instead, and it stuck. The Alma Negra process dries the coffee skin on with extended fermentation and cherry ripeness measured by brix at harvest. The result sits somewhere between a wine and a coffee. Brew it slowly and pay attention.
Colombia Decaf
Apia, Risaralda, Colombia · Ethyl acetate washed, EA from fermented sugarcane · 1,400 to 2,100 masl · Medium roast
Most decaf has one thing going for it: it is warm and brown. This one tastes like something. The ethyl acetate used comes from fermented sugarcane, one of the cleaner decaffeination methods around, and it shows in the cup. Caramel, milk chocolate, brown sugar, and it holds up as espresso.
Those four were the Vice coffees in Release 115. The rotation moves, so the next Vice delivery may not be the same four.
Vice Coffee Roasters
Adelaide Hills roastery working to four short claims: sustainably grown, ethically sourced, roasted in the Hills, by women for everyone. Female producers prioritised wherever possible, and ten per cent of online profits out the door to charity since day one.
Questions people actually ask
Where is Vice Coffee Roasters coffee roasted?
In the Adelaide Hills, which is one of the four short claims the whole brand runs on: sustainably grown, ethically sourced, roasted in the Adelaide Hills, by women for everyone.
What does Vice mean by prioritising female producers?
They put it as "prioritizing female producers wherever possible", and the range shows it, with growers named on the coffees rather than a region left vague on the back of the bag.
Does Vice really give ten per cent to charity?
Yes. "Since our inception, 10% of the profits from online sales have gone to different charities." Profits rather than revenue, and from the beginning rather than for a campaign week.
Can I get Vice coffee delivered?
Yes. Vice comes through the Allways rotation, roasted to order and shipped free anywhere in Australia. Pick the subscription that matches how you brew and we grind it for that, or send it whole bean.
Why order Vice coffee through Allways instead of going direct?
If Vice is the only coffee you ever want to drink, go direct and buy it from them. That is the honest answer. Allways is for the opposite kind of drinker: one subscription, a different independent South Australian roaster in each delivery, ground to how you brew, so you meet roasters you would never have got around to trying. Vice is one of the roasters in the rotation.
Meet Adelaide's independent roasters, one delivery at a time
One subscription. Every independent Adelaide roaster in the rotation. Roasted to order, free shipping Australia-wide, pause or cancel whenever you like.
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