2023 was a big year for us at Five Senses. We have been busy making lots of improvements as a company, attending and displaying at trade shows around the country, and continuing to deliver the best damn fresh roasted specialty coffee you can find!!! Here are some of the highlights of our year.
Are we B Corp Certified? Yes we are!!
In April this year we officially became a B Corp certified company. Booyah!!! B Corp certification recognises that Five Senses is a business that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. We know we’ve talked about this one a lot, but because B Corp certification was three long years in the making with a lot of detailed information required to prove the company was performing up to the standards of a B Corp, we are incredibly proud of this achievement, so we’ve wanted to tell everyone.
Impacting People Positively has been the core ethos of Five Senses since it began, and it was great to take our practices and have them measured and certified by an external body that agrees that Five Senses is making a huge difference!!
Keeping it Neutral
We have continued to be Carbon Neutral as a business since April 2020. It hasn’t been easy, but its been totally worth it. In the last 5 years we have reduced our omissions by over 40% and we continue to support local carbon offsetting initiatives such as a Yarra Yarra biodiversity corridor located north of Perth in Western Australia.
Champions!
Earlier this year our good friends at Scarf reached out in need of some increased support to run their Autumn dinner program. When you wholeheartedly believe in something, you just can’t say no, hey?! Scarf run an amazing program helping young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds to develop skills and career opportunities in hospitality. We were delighted to step up our support both financially and in the use of our training facility to become official Scarf Champions (their words not ours) and ensure that Scarf continues to be a great part of the Australian hospitality industry for many years to come.
You're going to need a bigger roaster!
We installed a brand new 140kg roaster in our Cheltenham roastery in January. This was a massive logistical task that we managed to do with minimal interruption to customers thanks to the great work and late nights of many of the Five Senses staff and amazing support from our Roaster suppliers Giesen Australia. The roaster has been fully operational all year and allows us to continue to provide exceptional coffee quality and gives us room to efficiently grow our business.
What about the coffee??
Of course!!! … We also roasted and delivered a whole bunch of amazing coffees. In total we had 51 different coffees from 17 countries in our lineup in 2023. Woah!
The Rafael Vinhal triple honey process from Brazil was not only a staff favourite, but a particular highlight, because we showcased it on our stand at MICE, with Rafael himself coming along to share the story behind his coffee.
Last week saw as roast up our Christmas special release the Altieri, Panama, an amazing heirloom coffee from Panama roasted by us and delivered in our newly created special release cans!!
Trade Show Season
We got back into trade shows in a big way this year, with five senses repping our brand-new stand at four hospitality trades shows in four months. The stand features artwork from our good friend Barry Patenaude and not only looked to represent all the many hands involved in the process from farm to cup, but also all aspects of our positive impact. The stand was extremely well received at each of the shows we attended gave us a great opportunity to connect with new and old friends and showcase all the things Five Senses has to offer.
We bought a mill (it stopped working but then we got it working again)
Tiga Raja is a mill located in north Sumatra that we founded in 2013. The mill produced high quality green coffee and was a part of the Five Senses coffee lineup for years. Unfortunately, the mill has not been producing coffee since 2018. Initially this was due to a failed harvest, then economic issues and eventually covid lead to the mill being placed in just a standby mode for years.
At MICE this year, we met Septiani Trijayanti (Septy) from TAL, a mill operator and coffee exporter from Medan who offered to partner with us in reactivating the mill. Over the last few months Five Senses has worked with Septy, the team from TAL, and our old partners Talenta (a co-op of coffee growers who part own the mill with us) to restart operations at the mill.
After a lot of hard work the mill is now sourcing and milling coffee and is preparing to export its first coffee to Australia in nearly 5 years!! When we say a lot of hard work, we mean A LOT of hard work , but we have not stopped high-fiving in excitement to see the mill up and running again. The region does not produce as much coffee as it used to, but this is more about the long-term. We are working with our partners to support the growers and hopefully produce a greater avenue to market that will be significant economic benefit to the whole region for years to come.
We are super excited that this coffee will be back in our lineup in early 2024 and we can’t wait to share the coffee and the stories with our customers and friends.
A new venue
We have been active in Queensland for many years with a bunch of great customers and some amazing Five Senses staff flying the flag.
While our staff have been amazing at getting things done, they’ll be the first to admit that there’s nothing like having a permanent place to call home, so we are over the moon to announce we have just signed a lease for our new Queensland Barista Academy. Hallelujah! We’re hoping to have the academy open for training classes early in the new year.
Thank you!!
Five Senses is a great company only because we have great staff, customers and suppliers. Thanks to everyone who partners with us on our journey. We look forward to enjoying many great coffees and making a positive impact on many people again next year!!
