Coffee Roast Master opens new Java joint

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 06 June 2018, 12:00AM

Coffee Roaster Samoa in Apia is bringing you the premium blended coffee experience.

Making a morning appointment to see coffee connoisseur and Coffee Roaster Samoa owner, Phillip Moore, is almost near impossible as the line of eager customers waiting for their caffeine fix and chat grows by minute.

Not wanting to come in between them and their morning brew, Mr. Moore chats with the Samoa Observer over the familiar sounds of an expresso coffee machine while he keeps his customers happy.

Having finished his barista training with Lavazza The Italian Coffee Company, the coffee mixologist specialises in making his own blends by roasting and blending imported coffee beans. 

Phillip (or Pippa as all his friends and customers call him) has a deep appreciation of the science and romance behind what makes a great coffee. It is why he goes to great lengths to ensure that each cup of coffee contains freshly roasted beans made from the night before, making it a special brew every time. 

“Number one, it’s freshly roasted, you cannot beat a freshly coffee or freshly roasted bean,” said Pippa. “Like everything, coffee generally has a shelf life. It can be vacuumed, it can be frozen, you can do all that to prolong life but within seven days that coffee has the most nutritional value, that’s when it has all the benefits. Anything past that, it starts to degrade at a rate.”

Pippa’s passion for coffee is quite mesmerizing as small pools of customers gather round to hear some fun facts about their favourite hot brew and we soon find out that designing and roasting involves a lot of work and knowledge from knowing which coffees to mix to roasting beans of different origins, varieties and densities. 

“What happens is all the peaks and the flavour within that seven days start to narrow down and then afterwards and you’ve it for a long time starts to have a flat taste,” Pippa says to his customers.  

“So if you’re used to drinking flat tasting coffee, you’ll never know the difference.  But as soon as you drink something that’s freshly roasted, then you get all the flavours in your mouth.”

Being a barista and part coffee mixologist requires a certain kind of focus and preciseness as witnessed by Pippa’s dedication to the craft in order to give any coffee lover the full experience. 

“That was always my goal and I’m a little bit pedantic about that because I want it to be really good coffee, really health conscious about it and at the best price so that you’re not paying a fortune for something that’s good for you.”

There is something special about the aroma of freshly roasted beans which gives Coffee Roaster’s customers a consistently good coffee each time but don’t take our word for it, just ask a regular at Coffee Roasters who readily volunteers his review to the Samoa Observer as he patiently waits for his coffee.

“It’s the best coffee in town,” says Etu Tusitala. “It’s very refreshing and you get exactly what he says, the quality of nutrients in the coffee, you get taste as well as the health benefits as well. That’s why every morning I’m here to pick up my latte and it’s because someone has done their work to perfect something that’s healthy.”

Now an importer of coffee, Pippa’s main profession has been in importing cars for the past 20 years and was also a Les Mills gym trainer for 11 years.  After living in Auckland, New Zealand for many years, Pippa felt that it was time to return to the motherland.

“It’s time to come home. I love Auckland but it was time to change and as time progresses along in Samoa, it’s getting more and more comfortable. Like with every new business, there’s always going to be ups and downs but the thing is I like coffee.”

“Like” is an understatement as Pippa takes us through a new creation that he is still trying to name – his own version of the mocha containing his special blend of coffee and koko Samoa. As a car importer, coffee importer and barista, Pippa keeps very busy by supplying some local cafes with coffees and as the volume of his customers keeps increasing, the coffee roaster says that very soon he will need to hire help.

Coffee Roaster Samoa is based at Apia Park inside the Samoana Boutique Hotel.

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 06 June 2018, 12:00AM

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