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Perth · Australia

Five Senses Coffee

Since 2000 · Dean Gallagher

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Overview

Five Senses was founded in 2000 by Dean Gallagher in a Perth shed, after Gallagher returned from a stint as a school principal in the Chimbu Province of the Papua New Guinea Eastern Highlands and decided that selling roasted coffee was the most direct way to support the PNG farming families he had lived among. He bought a one-kilogram shop roaster, named the company after the full sensory experience of coffee, and rode the early specialty wave that was just forming in Australia. Two and a half decades on, Five Senses operates roasteries and Barista Academies in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland, supplies hundreds of cafes nationwide, and routes a fixed share of profits — both founder's share and CEO Jason Gray's share — into community projects at origin and in Perth.

Known for

  • Founder Dean Gallagher's PNG school principal origin story
  • Earliest generation of Australian specialty roasters (founded 2000)
  • Five Senses Barista Academies in WA, VIC, NSW, SA, QLD
  • Mission-driven 'Impact People Positively' brand purpose
  • Wholesale partner to Common Man Coffee Roasters (Singapore)

Why it matters

Five Senses is to Australian specialty what Stumptown is to American — a company that started in 2000 when 'specialty coffee' wasn't yet Australian vernacular, treated coffee like fresh bread, and built one of the largest national independent specialty operations in the country without abandoning its mission orientation.

Production

roastery location
Rockingham, WA (original HQ); plus Melbourne and other state roasteries

Café

Corner of King and Wellington Streets, Perth CBD

Sources

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