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Grinders celebrates 60 years as part of Australian coffee culture

Grinders

Grinders, a coffee roaster in Melbourne, is celebrating its 60th anniversary in Australia this year. 

Italian-born founder, Giancarlo Giusti, opened Grinders in 1962 on Lygon Street and has remained at the forefront of Australian coffee culture. Giusti says that Australians are now among the world’s most sophisticated coffee drinkers. 

“The common misconception is that Italians are the world’s most cluey coffee consumers but actually – and especially during the past decade or so – Australians might be putting the Italians to shame. I think Australians now know more about coffee than Italians do,” Giusti said. 

This statement is backed by data from McCrindle Research which says that 75 per cent of all Australians consume at least one cup of coffee per day, making the Australian coffee market one of the strongest in the world. 

According to Statista, the coffee segment in Australia generated $7.7 billion in 2021, and Australians collectively consume more than 37 million kilograms of coffee per year.  

Grinders ranks the latte as Australians’ most popular coffee, closely followed by the flat white. More women buy coffee at Grinders than men, and 25–34-year-olds are the most dedicated coffee drinkers of the nation. 

Grinders has also noticed an increase in Australians’ appetite for non-dairy alternatives. Statista indicates that even though Australians consume 97 litres of milk per person a year, there’s an increasing shift towards plant-based alternatives. Among these, soy milk is still the most popular (47.6 per cent), closely followed by almond milk (44.2 per cent). 

Undoubtedly attuned to the nation’s changing coffee trends as Australia’s fifth-largest coffee roaster, Grinders remains dedicated to sourcing, roasting, and delivering the best single origin and blended coffee in Australia. 

Grinders’ beans are carefully and sustainably sourced and roasted to create a delicious confluence of flavour and aroma. It’s a process they have mastered over generations and continue to tweak. 

Grinders marketing manager Burcu De La Cruz said one of the key pillars of Grinders is its community. Grinders’ goal is to make better artisanal roasted coffee and constantly evolve to meet the changing Australian palette, and ethics. 

“As a company, we respect where we came from and at every stage of our journey we are listening to people, to our customers, and adapting to always satisfy Australian taste buds,” De Le Cruz said. 

“We are investing in technology and in sustainability – we like to think we are leading the way in Australia for sustainable coffee with our partnership with Rainforest Alliance, our supply chain operations, with a mission for all our packaging to be 100 per cent recyclable by 2025 and as one of the first business in Australia to introduce compostable coffee capsules last year as a commercial roaster. 

“Currently three million capsules are sent to landfill each day. Our new range of industrially compostable capsules offer our customers a better alternative to what is currently available,” she said. 

“Finally, we are working closely with leading roasting experts to ensure our roasting processes are optimised for quality and consistency, including our renewable and low carbon energy sourced at Grinders in 2020 was over 95 per cent.” 

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Grinders is running a consumer promotion asking café patrons to answer, “How does your café give you the Grounds for a Good Day?” with answers being shared via Grinders’ social media platforms. The limited-time promotion includes a major $10,000 prize, plus daily prizes. 

For more information about Grinders, click here. 

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