In 1956, a man named Jeff Broomhead left Australia for Papua, New Guinea, with the dream of starting his own coffee plantation. During World War II, while serving in the Royal Australian Air Force, he had fallen in love with the small country and its people. After acquiring land in the Wahgi Valley, he cleared ground and planted 150 acres of Arabica beans. Fast-forward 60 years and his grandson, Geoff Broomhead, is carrying on the family’s legacy with Ozpresso (3123 N. Davidson St.), an Australian-style coffee shop in Charlotte. Australian-style coffee shops, which differentiate themselves from American shops by technique, aren’t an entirely new concept; they’ve existed for years in places like New York City, where young Australian entrepreneurs immigrated to tap into the specialty coffee market. But for Charlotte, Ozpresso is one of the first to offer a taste of coffee the way it’s enjoyed in the land down under.
Creative Loafing: What inspired you to open Ozpresso?
Geoff Broomhead: My inspiration was the lack of a good cup of coffee in America, in the Southeast especially. What was so frustrating was seeing that most Americans don’t know what a good cup of coffee is. I knew that we could do it, as in replicate the taste of Australian coffee. I wanted to introduce people to something they had never tasted. Seeing the amount of places like Caribou, Peet’s and Starbucks and noticing how popular the coffee culture is here yet knowing that [Americans] haven’t had a good cup of coffee, that’s what really inspired me.
You source your coffee from Jittery Joe’s in Athens. What made you decide to go with its beans?
It was kind of a coincidence. One of the owners used to live in Singapore with my cousin. So, I went down there to chat with them and learn more about their coffee. There were a couple areas of American coffee that I didn’t know about. For example, I didn’t know anything about brewed coffee. We don’t do brewed coffee at all in Australia; we only do espresso. And, we don’t understand why [Americans] drink brewed coffee because to be honest with you, it’s not nearly as good as espresso [laughs]. So, I wanted to speak to him about a few things, including brewed coffee, and I went out back and met his roaster, Christian, and tried the coffee and it was actually really good. They’re an independent chain and have about 12 shops in and around Athens. They’re really interested in premium beans and they send Christian and a couple others down to the farms to meet the farmers to tell them things like, ‘We like the stuff from that paddock but not that paddock,’ or ‘You need to change this or harvest a little bit quicker or later,’ so they’re really in communication with the suppliers about how they want their coffee.
Why did you choose to open your shop in Charlotte?
I love Charlotte because it’s a big, small city. I also loved the climate here, the affordability and the people. I couldn’t think of a better place than NoDa to open a coffee shop. I’ve found the community here to be very supportive. It’s obviously the arts district of Charlotte, so what better place to have a coffee shop? I initially looked Uptown but the Starbucks inside Duke Energy beat me out by about two weeks. I’m actually glad because our clientele is super friendly down here and they’re not in such a hurry.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2014.
Thank goodness this nice Australian man is coming to teach us uncultured Americans what a good cup of coffee is supposed to taste like. I don’t care for espresso, but apparently my taste buds have been wrong all this time.
Business acumen: If you want customers, don’t tick them off by suggesting they are ignorant and tasteless. I can’t imagine beans from Athens being as fresh as beans roasted in Charlotte. Also suggests he knows nothing about Charlotte’s (now large) coffee culture beyond Caribou and Starbucks (hint: you aren’t the first boutique coffee shop). I was curious about this place; not anymore. My money will continue to go to Smelly Cat, Central Coffee, and Not Just Coffee.
Good god, what a pretentious douchnozzle. I had the presumed honour of grabbing a cup of coffee last week before reading this article. Glad I did because I doubt I’ll be back now! The coffee was fine, not nearly as good as Not Just Coffee (*gasp* how is that even possible?!). With so many options for a nice cuppa and less judgement in the QC, I can’t see this place lasting terribly long.
Thanks for thinking I’m a tasteless troll! You know how to win over a customer base.
An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.
Oh well, Smelly Cat gets my coffee money when I’m in NoDa anyway, no reason to stop now…
I’ve been to Ozpresso Geoff is not nearly as pretentious as this article makes him sound. Do not judge a book by a three question interview my friends.
He is entitled to his opinion, especially since he has tasted different coffees from all over the world. Maybe he’s right. There have been other people I know from Africa, Europe, and South America that actually say the same thing: Coffee in the US coffee isn’t as good.