Ripe Coffee Company - Since 2001
We hark from the days when Petone was still full of second hand shops, fruit shops, and weird little folk living in bedsits and store fronts all along Jackson Street. It seemed like the perfect place to start roasting coffee.
Things began at Go Bang Espresso where we established the coffee with a regular bunch of great people from the neighborhood. Go Bang has become a bit of a Petone institution now with some of those Go Bang Babies now working at the cafe. Talking about babies there seem to be a lot more of them around these days in Petone. So lets hope that means there’s more coffee drinkers in our future.
Ripe Since 2002
Since everything was going great we opened a few more stores – Brandon Street in Wellington – so we could educate the city folk about our great coffee, and to see if we could lure them out to the Hutt. The store went well and we opened a store opposite the mall in Lower Hutt. We also made our first step into an infrastructure by opening in the Lower Hutt Hospital (needless to say we have been responsible for saving several lives).
Ripe Since 2004
In February 2004 we moved the roaster into Moera – yet another up and coming community. We made a dodgy tee shirt that I still wear which looks like a gang patch. The Moera people loved it but you had to be careful not to wear it in the wrong place or you might get your head punched in. We established our second cafe here and our kitchen which provides the nourishment to all the Ripe Stores.
Ripe Since 2007
Back in Petone – our collection of roasters needed a new home – and what better place than where we started, well nearby at least. Things from here are a bit more serious – more space, more staff, more customers, more coffee. But still time for a bit of fun.
Well not done with spreading the word we opened a small store tucked away in Boulcott St, and more recently an outlet on the 3rd floor of the Bowen State Building in the Ministry of Social Development.
Support thy neighbour
If you haven’t heard, Zany Zeus makes pretty good Organic Milk, we think it’s the best! That’s why we use it in all our milk coffee drinks, it’s a bit more expensive than other organic milk, but it is the best and we love it! Oh, and Zany Zeus is just a few doors down from Ripe Moera…handy.
Zany Zeus also makes some pretty fantastic cheese, feta, halloumi….we have some for sale in the fridge at Ripe Moera, come in and check it out.