The dynamic duo running Renegade Roasters have seen first-hand the effects the simple act of enjoying a coffee with others can have on someone.
Beck Rosnick and Rhys Jones, the team behind Renegade Roasters at Moorooka, volunteer weekly at Emmanuel City Mission - a sanctuary for vulnerable people.
There they provide visitors, many of them homeless, barista training to upskill and hopefully move towards a better tomorrow.
Through donations, Renegade Roasters supply coffee to the baristas they have trained so they’re able to practise their skills, while also providing other visitors the joy of receiving a delicious espresso coffee.
“Not only do we train the homeless, but the homeless get to enjoy delicious coffee, made with love, with a professional espresso machine, seven days a week,’’ Beck says.
“The director there says every time the coffee machine is on, the whole mood lifts. It’s about being treated with respect and feeling valued enough to receive a quality product.
“There’s even a shift in the conversation. Once they have a delicious coffee, the conversation becomes not so much about problems but more lighter topics.’’
It’s values of community, sustainability and giving back which are at the core of Renegade Roasters.And it’s these shared ideals that led to Beck and Rhys starting their own company in 2017.“We were both working at the same company for a few years, doing very different roles,’’ Beck says.
“Both Rhys and I have strong beliefs that there’s a bigger purpose and giving back is important. “We both felt that where we were working was not giving back as much as they
could. Rhys said we could do better, so we put our heads together and became renegades.“We wanted to shake it up, show people you don’t need professional training to have delicious coffee at home, you don’t need to be a coffee snob to have deliciousness.
“For us, it’s how we give back globally and locally. Our passion is providing people with deliciousness that is easy and affordable.’’
As well as their work at Emmanuel City Mission, Renegade Roasters donate $1 from every kilo bag of coffee sold to non-profit organisa- tion Kiva, which aims to help communities thrive through low-inter- est loans.
“We look for coffee farmers to lend money to so they can improve their practices and way of life,’’ Rhys says. “The money is reinvested continuously.’’
Renegade Roasters also contributes coffee toYeronga Community Centre. Rhys says a lot of time is spent making sure the beans they buy are ethically sourced, from areas that treat farmers and the land well. Beck does the roasting on site at Moorooka. She has been roasting coffee for more than 20 years, and spent many years in the US running her own roasting business.When the business started it was mostly online, but foot traffic to their roasting premises in Michlin St has increased since the pandemic.
“It (Covid) shifted what we do here,’’ Rhys said.“We’re still online but we’re open a lot more.We noticed more people wanting to have human contact and get out of the house.’’
Local coffee shops using Renegade Roasters’ beans include Baladi, on Brisbane Corso, Bean on the Green (Moorooka) and Bare Knuckles BBQ (Salisbury). If you prefer online, Beck and Rhys offer free local delivery.
