La Casa del Caffe and the Kennedy family have been offering its clientele a warm and friendly welcome for over 20 years now, similar to welcoming them into their own home. In 1984, the Kennedy family acquired a small coffee-roasting business in Greystanes area in New South Wales region of Australia. Don Kennedy, an entrepreneur by nature, seized the opportunity and began to create something big. Since then, the family business has increased ten-fold and outgrown its premises three times!
Don learned how to roast coffee in the traditional Italian way and that, coupled with his friendly and laid back style, helped La Casa develop into what it is today - a unique blend of traditional friendly values with superior fresh roasted coffee" says Don's daughter Louise. "We have restaurants who have been with us for the whole 20 years which I believe is a testament to how this unique blend works."
La Casa employs a traditional hot air roasting method and five types of A-grade beans to create its signature Tropicana Blend, named after Darlinghurst's Tropicana Caffe, which Don describes as "a soft body, low acidity, highly aromatic, smooth-flavoured Italian-style espresso with thick crema."
In addition to its famed Tropicana Blend, La Casa offers an extensive range of blends and single origin coffees.
The French Blend is a smooth classic, true to the traditional Parisian style, and the Italian Blend is carefully created to resemble the old Italy way.
La Casa's Decaf is created using the all-natural registered Swiss Water process, which removes the chemical taste that is sometimes associated with other decaf coffees. "Ours is as flavoursome as the real thing and a godsend to people trying to cut down on caffeine," says Don.
Then there's the eco-friendly Rainforest Blend, 100% certified by the Rainforest Alliance. "The Rainforest Alliance Seal guarantees that beans are sourced from farms where the environment and wildlife are protected and workers are treated fairly" explains Don.
Over the years, La Casa del Caffe has embarked upon a strategy focused on sustainable coffee. This includes the introduction of eco friendly coffees and the investment in cloth delivery bags and we will continue to strive to make a difference.
We started roasting the Rainforest Alliance beans in 2004 in a speciality blend we call our Rainforest Blend. Due to its popularity we are now using Rainforest Alliance beans in all our blends. This is not only exciting news for our customers but also for the Brazil Rainforest, Daterra. Daterra is where our Rainforest Alliance beans are grown and is located within a biodiversity hot spot, the Cerrado, which is the most extensive woodland/savannah region in South America, and nearly as diverse and as threatened as the Amazon Rainforest. We intend on becoming a significant buyer of Rainforest Alliance beans today and in the future.
Organic, shade and fair trade coffee - collectively known as sustainable coffees - fill a market niche that often has a premium price tag. We expect that the price will remain at a premium until fair trade through environmental and social protection becomes commonplace in the coffee industry.
We have successfully showcased our products in Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines and South Pacific and have had significant market response. It's an exciting new area for La Casa del Caffe and we believe we have a great product to offer the Asia and Pacific marketplace.
Headquartered in Minto, NSW, Australia
http://www.lacasadelcaffe.com.au/
POSTED: Tuesday, September 25, 2007