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Wellington · New Zealand

Coffee Supreme

Since 1993 · Chris Dillon, Maggie Wells

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Overview

Coffee Supreme began trading on August 16, 1993, when Chris Dillon and Maggie Wells acquired their café's failing bean supplier Belaroma after the IRD put it into liquidation — the founders had opened Reds Café at 49 Willis Street in Wellington in 1992 and never intended to enter coffee roasting. The pair ran the company from a tiny Woodward Street shop for nearly three years before moving to a proper Kaiwharawhara roastery in 1996, expanded to Melbourne in the early 2000s, opened in Tokyo Shibuya, and sold to New Zealand investment firm Pioneer Capital in 2022.

Known for

  • Pioneering lighter roast profiles in Melbourne when the city was still dominated by Italian-Greek dark espresso
  • Australian footprint across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland after a serendipitous Melbourne expansion led by early staffers Justin and Marsha
  • Tokyo Shibuya cafe opened after fans Hiroki and Tomoko (regulars at the Auckland Good One cafe) proposed and helped execute the location
  • Christchurch CBD rebuild on Welles Street completed roughly five years after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake destroyed the original site
  • Ownership transition to NZ investment firm Pioneer Capital in 2022, preserving New Zealand-owned status

Why it matters

Coffee Supreme is the longest-running specialty roaster in New Zealand still operating under continuous ownership and brand identity, and one of the few NZ operators that has built durable cafe relationships in both Melbourne (a notoriously hostile market for outside coffee) and Tokyo. Chris Dillon's NZSCA Lifetime Achievement Award reflects the company's role in training and supplying the bulk of New Zealand's independent café scene from the mid-1990s onward.

Production

destoning
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head roaster
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color sorting
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roaster machine
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filter equipment
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cupping frequency
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roastery location
Kaiwharawhara, Wellington (since 1996); plus Australian and Christchurch CBD facilities
espresso equipment
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annual volume tonnes
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Café

Multiple Coffee Supreme Customs locations across Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch

Recognitions

  • Chris Dillon — New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Acquired by Pioneer Capital (2022), preserving New Zealand ownership

Sources

More roasters