Words: Lara Pacillo // Photos: Allways Coffee
Michael Tyson says there are two different types of coffee drinkers: ones that are very comfortable with what they know and like and stick with that, and ones that can get bored easily and want to try something new every few weeks.
His business is for the latter. With many different legs under the one name, Allways Coffee offers a coffee subscription that includes only South Australian roasters, as well as a CBD coffee vending machine that stocks coffee beans and other local products.
The subscription model, which launched at the end of 2021, sends a new coffee blend to subscribers every two weeks and has a zero-waste business model.
“You’ll never get the same coffee twice really – there’s heaps of variety,” Mike says.
“We buy coffee in bulk in buckets or tins, and then put it into our own compostable packaging, which we send to subscribers.”
The packaging can then be put in the compost bin or a kerbside green waste bin to be composted by the council, who then break it down in about 8 to 10 weeks.
He uses as much compostable packaging as possible for products in his vending machine too, which launched at the end of last year, and is located at Treadly Bike Shop in Norwood. With about 10 years of experience in cafes and roasteries across the country, Mike said he’s seen how much waste goes about – “a lot of it is unnecessary”.
“People buy coffee, and it’s in a bag, and probably won’t stay in that bag longer than two or three weeks, sometimes a little more. And then it goes into landfill for 400 years. It’s crazy.
“I just got to this point, like why are we doing this? Obviously, we want to keep the coffee fresh, but the coffee doesn’t go stale quick like everyone thinks it does, it’s not going to go bad in two weeks.”
He says while some packaging is now made with a soft plastic recyclable bag, the actual sustainability of this can be really hard to monitor, where recycling companies can struggle to keep up with the demand of recycling soft plastics. Meanwhile, bags with foil lining on the inside just go straight into landfill.
Allways Coffee’s compostable bags break down in a worm farm or in council compost bins, where more control is had over the process, and the packaging is broken down within three months.
The vending machine element of the business was inspired by Mike’s trips to Japan where he found their many vending machines to be incredibly convenient. “I just wanted people to be able to get coffee whenever they liked, whenever suited them,” he says. “A lot of people work into the evening, or a lot of cafes are closed on the weekend, especially in the CBD. So this gives them that option.”
Allways Coffee’s main demographic is proving to be people aged 25-35, and the business provides them with easy access to conscious coffee. They know that their money is going local with all elements of the business stocking only SA brands.
“It’s a really great snapshot and a showcase of the quality we have here in South Australia. And it probably pushes the roasters to work together instead of being competition.”
He stocks 12 local roasters, including Paddy Barry’s and Two Fish Coffee, where variety is never an issue.
“Coffee is really seasonal, so the blends are endless. Coffee is so beautiful in that way. If we talk about the cultivation of coffee, there are so many growing regions of coffee in the world, through Africa, Indonesia, and South and Central America; there are just so many options. You can kind of just go crazy with it, whether it’s from a different roaster, a different country, a different processing method of coffee, or a different variety of the coffee plant itself.”
Another element to the business is stocking his own brand of instant coffee, which is perfect for travellers and campers. Unlike many instants you’ll find in the supermarket, this one’s chemical-free and freeze-dried. All the user needs is clean water.
While Mike has already achieved zero waste in his subscription model, he wants to take that concept a step further this year with plans to introduce reusable coffee bags. Acting as a silicone storage pouch for coffee that can be refilled, “It’s like a keep cup for coffee.” This element pleases both types of coffee drinkers, and the planet too.
Allways Coffee: Vending machine at Treadly Bike Shop 23 Mattingley Lane Norwood
