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Hills of Byron Gourmet Coffee |
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Open: Monday - Sunday if people want to see a coffee plantation and enjoy a lovely cup of coffee or buy a pack of freshly roasted coffee! Call first though! Directions: From Bangalow, take the Lismore Road and turn right at the sign to Rocky Creek Dam. Follow the Rocky Creek Dam signs. Hills of Byron is just before you get to the dam. |
Although Greg's background was in the computer industry and he had no knowledge of growing coffee, he and his partner, Janice, decided to sell up and move from Sydney to the Northern Rivers with a view to retiring there. “We decided to live in the Northern Rivers because we loved the area,” says Greg, “It’s so green and there’s lots of space. Everything grows so quickly here and you can plant just about anything!” Janice has a promotional products company which is still thriving and she travels regularly to see her clients in Sydney. Being a typical programmer, Greg took it one step at a time and did heaps of research, asked other growers in the area about growing coffee. Some of them were very helpful so he went ahead, experiencing a lot of heartache when planting the initial coffee trees as it rained for a week and flooded about three-quarters of the coffee plants. Four years after leaving Sydney for a ‘tree-change’ the business now produces 100 percent Australian-grown coffee in four styles: whole bean, espresso (ground), filter and plunger, all featuring a hint of molasses with a pleasant chocolate-y taste and no bitterness. Hills of Byron has won three medals for its cappuccino and plunger coffees at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show, in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The farm is located in the hinterland of Byron Bay and the coffee is roasted and packed on-site. These products are sold at all good gourmet food stores around the country. See the website, or email for details of the nearest stockist.
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