From Perth to Rapid City

Our family entered the coffee business with Café 54 in Perth in 2007.

Working in specialty coffee led Michael Fewson to look more closely at the beans being served, how they had been roasted and why some coffees produced a more distinctive cup than others.

Serving coffee was no longer enough. Michael wanted to understand it.

He travelled to the United States for professional roasting training with Mané Alves, a specialty coffee roaster and Q Grader. Michael returned to Australia with a stronger understanding of green coffee, roast development and the relationship between the roaster and the final cup.

As the business grew, the garage could no longer contain it.

In February 2011, we opened The Roastery in Southern River, Western Australia. The open, warehouse-style café gave our expanding roasting operation a proper home and allowed customers to experience the connection between the coffee, the roaster and the café.

It also helped establish an approach that became familiar to our customers:

Serious coffee, great food and a casual atmosphere.

We took the coffee seriously without making the experience intimidating. Customers could enjoy thoughtfully selected and carefully roasted coffee in a place that remained relaxed, welcoming and unpretentious.

That philosophy has stayed with us.

Our connection to South Dakota began long before we imagined bringing Essence of Coffee to Rapid City.

When Lesley and I met and married, her father was a widower. For me, that meant no mother-in-law.

A good deal, I thought.

However…

Three months later, Lesley’s father met a woman who was visiting Melbourne from South Dakota. They fell in love and married.

And that is how our connection to the remarkable Black Hills of South Dakota began.

It was a bittersweet turn of events: sweet, because that family connection eventually brought us here; bitter, because now there was a mother-in-law.

I called a family meeting—consisting of Lesley and me—and pointed out that when we married there had been no mother-in-law. Surely adding one afterward was grounds for an annulment.

Lesley reminded me of the words “until death do us part.”

She was born in Ireland, and everyone knows it is unwise to argue with the Irish.

I took her subtle point.

We remain married.

What began as an unexpected family connection introduced us to Rapid City and the Black Hills. In time, this became home—not only for our family, but also for Essence of Coffee.

The move brought together two important parts of our story: the Australian coffee heritage and roasting experience we developed in Perth, and the community we found in South Dakota.

The location changed, but the foundation of the business did not.

The knowledge gained in Perth, the professional training, the years spent roasting and evaluating coffee, and the culture of the Australian café all came with us.

Today, we roast in Rapid City, producing our signature blends, single-origin offerings, seasonal coffees, E-Cups and subscriptions.

Michael remains personally involved in selecting, roasting and evaluating the coffee. That direct involvement matters to us. Essence of Coffee has never been a brand separated from the people making the product.

“Australian Artisan Roasters” is more than a line beneath our name. It describes where our approach to coffee was formed and how we continue to work today.

Ken first came to Essence of Coffee as a customer.

A retired U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant, he became a regular at the café and, over time, developed a friendship with Michael. Their conversations increasingly turned to coffee—how it was selected, how it responded in the roaster and how small decisions during a roast could change the final cup.

Ken asked Michael if he would teach him to roast.

Michael agreed, and what began as an informal interest developed into a serious understanding of the craft. Ken spent time learning the roasting process, developing his knowledge and gaining practical experience alongside Michael.

As Ken’s knowledge and confidence grew, Michael asked whether he would like to become a partner in the roasting side of Essence of Coffee.

Ken quickly agreed.

Today, Ken is a key part of the Essence of Coffee team. His journey from regular customer to roaster and business partner reflects something important about the way we work: knowledge should be shared, experience is earned through practice, and some of the best business relationships begin with a conversation over coffee.

Australian café culture taught us that excellent coffee should be part of everyday life. It can be carefully selected, skilfully roasted and properly prepared without becoming formal or inaccessible.

Our roasting begins with the coffee itself.

Coffee is an agricultural product. Every origin has its own character, and availability changes with harvests, seasons and supply. We select Arabica coffees for their cup quality and individual character, then adjust our roasting approach to suit the coffee rather than forcing every coffee into the same profile.

We work with specialist coffee buyers and importers who source directly with farms and cooperatives. The coffees we buy are traceable to a farm or cooperative, helping us understand where they came from and how they were produced.

Our blends are developed to provide a recognizable and dependable flavor profile. Our single-origin and seasonal coffees allow customers to experience the differences created by origin, variety, processing and harvest conditions.

Genesis reflects where our roasting journey began. Taste the World allows us to share changing coffees selected by the roaster. Our other blends, single origins, E-Cups and subscriptions give customers different ways to experience the coffee we roast.

However it is brewed, every Essence of Coffee product draws on the same foundation: professional knowledge, practical experience and an enduring curiosity about what makes one coffee different from another.

That curiosity began in Perth and continues in Rapid City.

Rapid City and the Black Hills are now home to Essence of Coffee.

In November 2025, Mashed selected our Rapid City café as South Dakota’s entry in its list of the best local coffee shops in every U.S. state.

It was not paid promotion. We learned about the recognition from other people.

For us, its value was not simply being included on a list. It was recognition of a family business that began on the other side of the world, developed its craft over many years and found a home in the Black Hills.

We are proud of our Australian heritage, proud to roast in Rapid City and grateful to the customers who have become part of our story.

Essence of Coffee has grown from a Perth café and a small garage roaster into an established family coffee business in South Dakota.

The equipment, locations and coffees have changed over the years, but the purpose has remained remarkably consistent:

Understand the coffee, roast it thoughtfully and give people something genuinely enjoyable to drink.

That is the experience behind every roast.