For 15 years, Deborah and Giuseppe (Joe) Anapo have brought freshly roasted coffee beans to the Logan community.
In that time, they built their own coffee shop in front of the distillery.
“People kept turning up, following the smell of roasted coffee,” Ms Anapo says.
The venture kicked off distribution of their beans all across Australia – not a bad feat for the city’s first roastery.
“We’ve been in hospitality for most of our life, either full time or part time,” Ms Anapo says.
Joe has been a master roaster at several roasteries and has a love for hand roasting – believing it to create a “more enriching flavour”.
“He got out of the business for personal reasons,” Ms Anapo says.
“He was looking for a way to get back into the coffee business and at first, we purchased a couple of vending machines.
“Then he was looking for a roaster to use the beans on, and I said he was the best roaster I know.
“And… here we are.”
Since they first started in 2009, Ms Anapo said so much has changed on the streets of Logan.
What she described as a ‘coffee culture’ has taken over, and the community has fully embraced their business.
“We hit the road looking for cafes to sell our beans to,” she said.
“We would eventually move to Logan into a small shop – we won an award in the first six months.
“We knew then that we were on the right path.”
It may have been the first roastery in Logan, but there are now many.
“It was new and usual,” Ms Anapo said.
“Most cafes had to go into Brisbane or down the coast to access roasteries.
“Coffee roasteries have really grown in the last 15 years.”
Shortly into their business, the irresistible smell of coffee began drawing passersby to the door.
“We had to open a little coffee shop out the front,” she said.
“It’s open two to three days of the week.
“That’s how it all started and then it just grew.”
It grew so much Simply Beans would have to move to larger premises where they now reside – a shopping complex on Compton Road.
They have also grown the distribution side of their business – delivering to cafés all down the east coast.
Bean distribution continues to grow for the Anapo’s and their business as well.
Simply Beans have won 19 awards for their coffee since they were first established.
“As I say to my clients, ‘it’s not that first cup you want to sell… it’s the second cup,” Ms Anapo said.
