Shake Roasters – Introduction
Shake Roasters is an excellent café serving some of the best coffee in Tasmania and tasty pastries (Russell Street Bakery, Pigeon Whole Bakery). It is situated in the centre of the Moonah retail strip which is in an outer(ish) suburb of Hobart where many young hipsters are moving to take advantage of slightly more affordable housing.
The café was initially set up under the watchful eye of Scott Clements who was one of the original owners of coffee temple Yellow Bernard in the city. He decided to set up his current venture after an odyssey through the United States examining the coffee culture on both the West and East coasts. After many years at the helm, Scott decided to sell the business and it is now under the control of coffee expert Ian Merrigoat who looks after the acquisition of the green beans, the roasting of those beans and the serving of customers.
We find it is always interesting to drop in here on our way to our warehouse to fortify ourselves with an espresso or to sit and enjoy a filter coffee made from a lighter roast. There is usually a coffee that has been sourced from Colombia where so many great beans are available from the high altitude coffee farms there.
As an example of the type of coffee you can expect to be served here (or beans you can take home) we recently bought some precisely roasted beans that had been sourced in Honduras from producer Jose Rolando Alfaro whose farm is called Finca Doña Chila (after his mother). The beans that were used were Parainema which is a variety that was created in Honduras from the Sarchimor variety by the Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFE) to better take account of the lower altitudes in Honduras compared to other countries with much higher mountains such as Colombia or Peru.
The Alfaro family fermented these beans for 28 hours in concrete tanks before drying them out on covered beds. This is what is known as a “natural process” in coffee parlance as opposed to the alternative “washed process”. The end result after being roasted on the Shake Roasters premeses was an enticing drink with a lingering finish.
This venue is also mentioned in our general article on coffee in Tasmania called Tasmania’s Vibrant Coffee Scene.
Shake Roasters – Details
Additional information
Name: Shake Roasters
Street: 85 Main Rd
Town/Suburb: Moonah, 7009
Phone number: +61 3 6228 2222
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 6:30am – 2pm, Sat & Sun 8am – 12noon
You can read more about this excellent venue on their Web site here.
