A coffee plantation that opened earlier this year will soon begin processing and roasting its own beans, so it can serve coffee that has been grown just metres from its on-site cafe.
Lisa Palu, her partner Paul and her son Nick Edwards opened Glasshouse Plantation in May. The four-hectare (10-acre) farm currently has about 3000 coffee trees, as well as a cafe and roastery door in the original circa-1910 farmhouse.
They purchased the Glass House Mountains property in 2015 and in 2021 planted Kenyan arabica K7 trees, which are currently flowering and setting their first commercial crop.
“In 2025 we will process and roast our own coffee beans so we can serve you a cup of coffee that we have proudly grown just metres from where you are sitting,” Ms Palu said.
She said they had a small harvest this year but not enough to serve visitors to the farm.
“In the meantime, we are serving coffee grown by our Australian colleagues,” Ms Palu said.
The team is also preparing for the next stage of planting in the next few weeks, adding 2000 semi-dwarf varieties called Marsellesa, from Nicaragua, and IPR107, from Brazil.
“It will be the first time they have been commercially planted in Australia,” Ms Palu said.
“We’ve got room for another 5000 trees, so that’s so stage two.”
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Ms Palu said the idea for the venture came from an unusual place.
“Our inspiration for Glasshouse Plantation came in 2011 after a visit to a small-scale coffee farm open for tourism on Norfolk Island,” she said.
“As agricultural scientists we had decided long ago that, late career, we would go back to doing what we have always loved: growing things.
“We already knew the Glass House Mountains was our future, forever home … and began a five-year journey of looking at real estate windows.
“It took a long time because we were very specific about what we needed. It had to be a north-facing slope with plentiful and secure water for irrigation. Mountain views were essential and it needed to be on an established tourist road so we were easy to find, because we knew that we wanted to sell our crop directly to coffee drinkers.
“We became active members of the Australian Grown Coffee Association and learned that South-East Queensland and northern NSW has the potential to grow high-quality coffee and successfully compete on flavour with specialty coffees from around the world.”
Ms Palu, who is the secretary of the Australian Grown Coffee Association, says it takes 10 trees to produce one cup of coffee a day.
“Australians drink more than six billion cups of coffee each year and less than 1 per cent is grown here – let’s change that!” she said.
Ms Palu said Nick took an interest in coffee after working as a barista while he studied law at the University of Queensland.
“He became an employment lawyer and it wasn’t for him,” she said.
“He’s our roastery door manager. He makes all the coffee and he provides the coffee tasting experience that we’ve just launched with online bookings.”
The cafe, which can seat up to 100 people, is run by another Glass House Mountains couple, Ryan and Amy Pitcher, who Ms Palu says has made a huge difference to the success of the venue.
“My partner and I are agricultural scientists so hospitality is not in our background and we’ve had to learn, but we were very fortunate to be connected to a young couple who lived two farms down the road from us, Amy and Ryan,” Ms Palu said.
“We call them our food team and they’ve looked after the menu and food, so that’s been a real game-changer for us. We couldn’t have got things off the ground without them.
“They’ve worked in hospitality all around the world, and while they’re not chefs, we’ve got a menu that people are enjoying.”
The farm also offers tours at 9am from Friday to Sunday, which can be booked online.
“We go down to the coffee trees and explain how they grow and how the coffee cherries are processed and we have a look at the mechanical harvester,” Ms Palu said.
“Every tour I do people say ‘wow, I had no idea, I’ll never look at my daily cup of coffee in the same way’.
“They say that in terms of how much more appreciative they are of how much effort has gone into producing their daily cup of coffee. That makes my heart sing because that’s what we’re about: helping people to understand where their food – or beverage in this case – comes from, and who’s growing it, what’s involved in growing it and the family that’s behind it.
“We hope that translates into governments, not just here in Australia but around the world, being mindful of that when they’re developing policies that impact farmers.
“If more coffee was grown in Australia then the food miles would be greatly reduced and that would make a big difference to sustainability.”
The farm and the family story behind it will be featured on Channel Nine’s My Way this Sunday from 5.30pm.
Ms Palu said the TV crew spent an entire day filming about three months ago.
“We can’t wait to see it,” she said.
Glasshouse Plantation is open from 8am to 4pm Friday to Sunday. Bookings can be made for groups of 10 or more people.
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