GATESHEAD roastery and coffee bar, Josie Coffee, has expanded to Mayfield.
Owner and operator Chris Edden and his wife Kate launched their latest retail coffee shop on Hanbury Street in Mayfield last week, taking over the space previously home to Portafilter and, more recently, Hanbury’s.
This is the second bricks and mortar location for Josie Coffee following the opening of the coffee bar at their roastery in Gateshead in May last year.
Branching out into Mayfield was a no-brainer for Edden.
“It was something that we had thought about doing, but it wasn’t something that we were actively looking for,” he says.
“If a good site came up, we would take it, and something did pop up, so we went for it.
“It’s the same style and service that we have in Gateshead and that we had at the markets.
“The coffee is the same as Gateshead, but we just have a little more of a food offering in Mayfield. Everything you come to expect from Gateshead, we now have at Mayfield.”
NEW FACES: James Herminjard-Geraeds, Greg Watkinson and Josie Coffee’s owner Chris Edden. Pictures: Marina Neil
The Mayfield site offers a more prominent location and a larger floorplan with both indoor and outdoor seating, while a new fit-out carries across the sleek design features seen at the coffee bar in Gateshead.
“For us, it’s really good for the brand and helping showcase what we do,” Edden says.
“Although the Gateshead site is great, getting people from Newcastle out to Gateshead can be a bit more difficult.
“It’s a good opportunity to pick up a site closer to town and to service more of that area. I didn’t want to be in the CBD because being in the suburbs and having community regulars is, I think, really more our style.”
The simple, breakfast-style menu from the Gateshead bar has been carried across to Mayfield; with the addition of a handful of new dishes including house-cooked BBQ-style beans and porridge with apple compote.
Other options include banana bread, Sonoma apple and currant toast, and sourdough toasties.
There is scope to expand the menu in the future, but Edden says the coffee will always remain the focal point.
“The coffee remains the focus and the food is just something that can accompany the coffee without impacting it,” Edden says.
“We focus on quality and speed, so we don’t want to have a really heavy food menu that may impact that.”
The coffee menu includes their signature blend Purple Rain, as well as single origin espresso and filter.
PRIORITIES: There’s a breakfast-style food menu at Josie’s to complement the coffee.
For the coffee heads, there are tasting flights (espresso, flat white and batch brew for $ 9) and the exotic espresso (a double shot from their high quality Gold Label), along with iced drinks, hot chocolate, chai, and teas from The Tea Collective.
The cafe has a retail section stocked with brewing equipment, merchandise and bags of Josie Coffee’s three blends, and single origin beans.
Edden’s passion for coffee turned into a career when he launched Josie Coffee five years ago.
He started small, roasting as a hobby at home before setting up the business and roastery in Gateshead to start producing beans for wholesale to cafes.
Working alongside his wife Kate and resident “coffee geek” and roaster Greg Watkinson, the small, dedicated team established a strong retail presence both in the Hunter region and across the country.
Now, Josie Coffee employs more than 10 staff members and has built a team of passionate coffee professionals.
They also offer training and expertise out of their roasting and wholesale space.
For those yet to visit the Gateshead site, it is something special.
It features an under-counter Modbar espresso machine, which is a minimalist alternative to the standard cafe machine, and other high-tech equipment such as a twin-tap Juggler milk dispenser with sensor activated taps that are connected to milk bladders.
“We don’t have the Modbar in Mayfield, but we have carried across some of the features of Gateshead and we are trying to keep in that theme of what Gateshead is, which is really clean, functional but also keep it welcoming,” Edden says.
“It’s nice, light and bright. That’s what we tried to focus on, making everything really good to work on and on-brand for us.”
Josie Coffee Mayfield is located at Shop 2/2-16 Hanbury Street, Mayfield. Open from 6am to 2pm on weekdays and 7am to 1pm Saturdays (Sundays coming soon).
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