Producer Profile - Leaping Goat Coffee
Legend has it that coffee was discovered about 850 AD by an ancient Ethiopian goat herder called Kaldi when he observed his goats leaping about with extra energy and excitement after eating the berries of a certain bush. We felt the same after talking to Gavin Stoessiger of Leaping Goat Coffee and sampling his delicious blends. Read on to find out more.
Leaping Goat is a Tasmanian coffee roaster in Quoiba in North-West Tasmania producing premium blends of coffee since 2014. Owners Gavin and Laura Stoessiger purchased the business in 2021, bringing their hospitality experience and love of good coffee together to create a vibrant café space and micro-roastery for the people of the North-West coast.
Business has been great and their coffee has won praise near and far – including a recent win at the 29th annual Royal Tasmanian Fine Food Awards where Leaping Goat won three Silver and Five Bronze medals in the Coffee categories – an excellent outcome for a first-time entry!
We caught up with Gavin at our Longford store’s Producer Night recently and ran through a quick Q&A about his growing Tassie business.
What do you produce and where do you produce it?
We have a small batch micro-roastery in Quoiba. We roast beans from Columbia, Brazil and Sumatra and an Ethiopia Haro Lebetu Guji Single Origin grown in the Yabitu Koba region. Keenan, our head roaster, manages factors like moisture content and density. The beans are roasted and on the shelf at Hill Street within seven days. It’s all done in-house including the packaging. The product is literally passing through our hands every step of the way and this helps us maintain high levels of quality control.
The roastery also includes a café which serves cakes and biscuits as well as light lunches.
How did you start your business?
Both my wife Laura and I had backgrounds in hospitality and started tinkering with roasting coffee in a home roaster on our back deck. I found I enjoyed it and became a bit more confident. When the opportunity came along to buy Leaping Goat in 2021, we took a leap of faith and did it!
We have renovated the café and also upgraded the offering and the branding. There was quite a bit of room for improvement and lots of upside to be gained.
Tell us about your business now
We have great loyal customers and focus on micro-loyalty. Whenever a school or a sports club comes to us and asks for support, we just say yes! Being loyal and local is so important to us and our business.
We have recently renovated the café and also upgraded the offering and the branding. There was quite a bit of room for improvement from when we bought the business and lots of upside to be gained.
We have also developed our online offering which has now doubled due to the work we have done on branding and our online presence.
How did you come to work with Hill Street?
Hill Street was already a customer when we bought the business in 2021 but we have nurtured that relationship and are thrilled to say that we are now the number one selling coffee at Hill Street Devonport! And recently we succeeded in supplying all ten Hill Street stores statewide.
What is special about your product?
I think our branding sets us apart. It’s playful and unique. Our coffee is at an affordable price point and is approachable for customers. That’s the philosophy at our café too. With the blends we offer, we wanted it to be simple and convey what the blend is: so we have light, medium and dark, and names that convey what you might taste in the coffee – for example Colombian Toffee and Brazilian Cherry.
What do you like most about being a producer in Tasmania?
The best thing is tapping into the local market and embracing all the opportunities it gives you. We’re part of the Tasting Trail and I’m involved with the running of that. There’s so much opportunity in northern Tasmania and it has so much to offer. And we love living here – Laura and I, and our two children, who are 9 and 4, live in Shearwater, which is a lovely, small community in itself.
What is your favourite way to use your product?
My favourite blend is the Rich Mocha, it’s my go-to drink at the moment at home. I like it as a long black with a dash of cream.
Leaping Goat coffee is available in all Hill Street stores statewide.
