The award-winning Celcius Coffee sprang from husband and wife Stephanie and Nick Fry’s shared passion for great coffee and their desire to run a sustainable business. Here they take up the story…

We originally bought a small coffee business that purchased coffee from a contract roaster and on sold it. We bought single origin coffee beans and blended them ourselves. We were never satisfied with this situation as we never had the desired control over our coffee, so we began a process of researching all things coffee. We listened to coffee experts and our customers, read books, took courses, refined our coffee making skills, and developed a wide network of suppliers and support staff.

By the end of 2006 we decided it was time to start roasting ourselves. We had amassed a wealth of expertise, a vision for our business and the very special coffees we would bring to the market.  

Four months later Celcius Coffee Roastery was up and running. This was where all the passion and preparation came together in creating coffees so good we believe coffee drinkers will register them among their great coffee experiences.

All our blends are the result of a lengthy selection and refining process. First our team sampled many single origin coffees selecting those of the highest quality and possessing the characteristics we were searching for.

Then came painstaking experimentation with blending and roasting, working towards the precise requirements envisaged for that coffee blend – perhaps full bodied with dark chocolate flavours or sweet and vibrant.

That process of refining never stops, factors such as climate changes and growing conditions, continually affect the flavour of the beans. No-one at Celcius ever takes our coffees for granted. 

The success of this approach became evident just four months after deciding to start roasting our own coffee when we won a bronze medal in the flat white section of the 2007 New Zealand Coffee Awards with the irresistibly luxurious Firehouse blend. Since then we have won a further 9 other medals at the New Zealand Coffee Awards. No other independent coffee roaster in New Zealand can claim this success.