Lance Witham was one of the first Coffee roasters Café Culture met in the early days in the coffee Industry. It was exciting to meet the Witham family, as they actually knew about coffee, being involved as coffee farmers and as green bean brokers. It was very educational at the start of a career in coffee to be able to talk to people who could talk the talk and walk the walk. Many new roasters have moved into coffee from other careers and have not completed the full coffee circle like Lance and his family have.
What does a café proprietor fear most: running out of coffee, equipment failure or a key staff member – the barista – failing to show on a critical trading day?
Lance and Gill Witham, the owners of the iconic Witham’s Coffee Roastery, know that situation full well, because that’s where their story begins. Witham’s Coffee was born in a small, unassuming café in Waverton, a leafy harbour-side suburb of Sydney in 1994. With a small 5 kg roaster in the corner of the shop, they began roasting single origin coffees and serving them direct to the public; the venture was a raging success story.
Gill and Lance ran and staffed the café and from that experience they know first hand what is important to a café proprietor. Apart from the given of having the finest and freshest coffee available, they require security of supply, consistency in quality and efficient service – all these criteria are what Witham’s Coffee is really about.
The size and location of Witham’s Coffee has changed since then, but those tenets of their business are still the key factors they provide today – quality, consistency, reliability and service.
The foundation behind Witham’s Coffee’s strength in a competitive coffee industry is Lance Witham’s great depth of coffee knowledge. Born on his parents’ coffee farm in Zimbabwe, trading in green coffee with his father after leaving school and working on a coffee plantation in Far North Queensland has given the Withams a strong edge when it comes to specialty coffee.
“We roast daily, and only to order, from our two traditional drum roasters, affectionately known as Angelina and Chloe – a larger one for the bulk of our wholesale output and a smaller 12 kg Probat roaster, which allows for smaller specialised batches of single origins. Our philosophy has always been that fresh is best,” discusses Gill.
“We have seen such rapid expansion in the coffee industry in the last ten years,” Lance says. “On one hand it is very exciting, with people demanding better quality coffee from their cafés, but it can also be very overwhelming for many café owners. Yes, it is extremely important to take coffee seriously if you want your café to succeed, but that doesn’t mean you need to roast your own, purchase the most technical and expensive espresso machine, or employ an award-winning barista!
“Witham’s Coffee is more than a coffee roaster – we are essentially holistic coffee consultants. We appreciate that every customer is unique and every café has its own personality. Working closely with café owners, we offer solid, professional advice, professional barista training, and develop personalised coffee solutions to suit – such as tailoring signature blends, sourcing specific estate coffees or offering Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or organic options. It is very important that our customer feels a connection with their coffee, its origins and its roaster,” explains Lance.
“ I believe our success lies in the relationship we develop with our café clients. We strive to provide consistently exceptional coffee and back that up with responsive, personalised service. ”
