The Wild West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand has its own boutique coffee roaster hidden away in the bush near the edge of the Tasman Sea between the historic gold mining town of Charleston and the quaint fishing village of Westport. Called Kawatiri Coffee Roasting, it has been quietly roasting Fairtrade, Certified Organic coffee beans for about 14 years.
The founder, Tater Coppernoll, started roasting coffee when she migrated to the West Coast from Oregon in the USA: ‘Westport didn’t have much to offer in the way of fresh organic coffee when I first arrived, so I started roasting my own green beans.
Tater’s love of good coffee is in her genes. Her father, a gold miner in the wilds of Idaho—a “sourdough” as such men were called—roasted his coffee in a frying pan over an open fire. ‘His “Cowboy coffee” was hot enough to scald the hair off a black bear and strong enough to dissolve the business end of a spoon,’ says Tater. ‘He’d keep the brew going for several days, adding more coffee grounds and fresh spring water, all the while leaving the kettle in the coals so visitors could squat by the fire and enjoy a hot coffee.