Large Open Highway – The OG Melbourne roasters with a brand new look & really feel! – Thieves Espresso

New yr, new set of roasters to function! We’re kicking-off 2025 with the legends over at Brunswick primarily based Large Open Highway.

Large Open Highway has been roasting and supplying scrumptious espresso from their Brunswick HQ and cafe since 2009. On high of their Melbourne homebase, in addition they have a comfortable cafe up in Byron Bay and partnerships with a lot of superb venues round Australia showcasing their coffees.

Along with working their flagship roastery and two cafes, the Large Open Highway gang are always pushing out distinctive and attractive espresso roasts – utilizing top quality and sustainably sourced beans provided by an extended checklist of rockstar espresso producers from around the globe. This month they’re that includes an unimaginable filter roast with beans from their superb Colombian provider, Jorge Elias Rojas, who’s doing superb work on his property within the mountains of Colombia.

Large Open Highway additionally has some thrilling initiatives within the works for 2025. Control this group of espresso roasting mavericks. They’re always pushing the boundaries within the business whereas concurrently staying true to their go-to blends for the on a regular basis house brewer. We’re stoked to be that includes them once more this yr!

The  Interview

We caught up with Large Open Highway’s very personal Jayden Goodwin to speak all about how the enterprise was began, what the way forward for the espresso business appears like and all of the thrilling plans they’ve deliberate for 2025.

What’s Large Open Highway’s origin story?
Beginning Large Open Highway was partly out of necessity, which is difficult to consider with so many roasteries in Melbourne as of late. This was at a time when there have been barely a handful of boutique roasters round – again in 2009. We had already been working our first cafe, A Minor Place, for a number of years, and we knew we wished to roast for ourselves. We selected a specific espresso profile that we wished to work with, so we determined to make the leap and begin roasting ourselves.

Sooner or later, Jono (the proprietor) was strolling alongside Barkly Avenue, as a result of all of us lived in Brunswick, and observed that the native NQR (Not Fairly Proper) grocery store was up for lease. It appeared like the proper place to deliver collectively all of the issues we love: espresso, creativity, and neighborhood. With two ranges of over 1,000 sqm, we figured we may do loads. It was a steep studying curve and took months of trial and error to excellent our first espresso mix. We kicked issues off with Bathysphere, which we nonetheless provide right this moment, and it continued to evolve from there.

We’re proud to say we had been roasting in Brunswick on the very starting of the specialty espresso wave!

The place did the title come from?
After we had been arising with a reputation for the roastery and cafe it needed to be a music title. Our first cafe, “A Minor Place” had introduced us a lot luck and pleasure it grew to become a superstition to call all issues after songs we beloved.

Large Open Highway is greater than a music title, it’s a temper, a frame of mind, it conjures a story and story of how we wish to journey by the world.

What are you trying ahead to within the espresso business in the meanwhile? Any cool developments we must always preserve our eye on?
The rise of the at house baristas has been one thing that has been very cool to see over the previous few years and the recognition of brewing specialty espresso at house continues to develop as espresso costs skyrocket.

Whereas it is a difficult time to navigate for cafes and roasteries, the at house barista is an thrilling growth as the shoppers have extra management over the espresso they determine to brew, that means some up and coming roasters or smaller extra boutique roasters have the chance to showcase their coffees increasingly more.

Inform us about what’s in retailer for the remainder of the yr? Any thrilling or upcoming initiatives to notice?
2025 goes to be a giant yr for us! We underwent a rebrand in mid 2024 and now we have been working arduous to transition all the pieces throughout into this new type. We’re very pleased with how we’re positioned for the yr forward. A giant focus for us this yr goes to be on bettering our buyer expertise each in particular person and on-line.