Behind every bottle of First Press is a whole lot of coffee, care and collaboration.

We’ve been working with Melbourne’s Rumble Coffee Roasters since the early days of First Press. Almost a decade later, they’re still the team roasting the specialty coffee beans that go into our Australian-made cold drip coffee and ready-to-drink iced coffee range.

When we first connected, we were both small Melbourne businesses finding our feet. We admired Rumble’s approach to coffee, particularly their commitment to quality, ethical sourcing and knowing where their beans came from.

We shared a passion for great coffee, but figuring out how to make it work for our cold drip process was another story.

There was plenty of trial and error, a lot of tasting and more than a few conversations about what worked and what didn’t.

Over the years, that shared curiosity has grown into a partnership built on trust, collaboration and a genuine love of coffee.

We recently caught up with our co-founder Hamish and Joe from Rumble to reflect on how it all began, what we’ve learned along the way and the care that goes into every bottle of First Press.

Finding the right coffee for cold drip

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned over the years is that not every great coffee makes a great cold drip.

A coffee that tastes incredible as an espresso or filter brew can behave very differently when it’s slowly extracted using cold water.

Our cold drip coffee takes around 10 hours to brew, and getting the flavour just right involves much more than choosing great beans.

In the early days, we were experimenting with different coffees, roast profiles, grind sizes and extraction methods, working closely with Rumble to find the right balance.

We even had to learn how to make those flavours work as production grew.

What worked in our original 30-kilogram brewing system didn’t necessarily translate when we scaled up to batches of around 150 kilograms.

As Hamish explains, there wasn’t exactly a manual for figuring out how a coffee’s flavour would change at that scale.

It meant a lot of testing, tweaking and working together to find the right approach.

Today, Rumble roasts specialty coffee specifically for our cold drip process, helping us bring out the flavour profiles we’re looking for across our range.

From the brighter notes of our Sidamo blend to the richer berry and chocolate flavours in the coffee used for our iced latte range and Espresso Martini Concentrate, each requires a slightly different approach.

And even after all these years, there’s still plenty of learning involved.

How we keep our cold drip coffee consistent

Coffee is a natural agricultural product. Just like wine, its characteristics can change depending on the season, weather conditions and growing environment.

That makes consistency one of the biggest challenges when working with specialty coffee.

While we can carefully control our brewing temperatures, grind size and extraction process, the beans themselves naturally change from harvest to harvest.

It’s where our relationship with Rumble really comes into its own.

The team works closely with growers and sourcing partners to plan ahead, assess coffees before they arrive in Australia and adjust roasting profiles as the beans change over time.

It’s a lot of work behind the scenes, but it means we can continue delivering the flavour and quality our customers expect.

Because when you reach for your favourite First Press iced coffee, we want it to taste just as good as you remember.

From Honduras to Melbourne: Sourcing specialty coffee

Knowing where our coffee comes from has always been important to us.

One of the origins Rumble sources for First Press is the Santa Bárbara region of Honduras, a region known for producing specialty coffee.

For Rumble, this means access to a variety of coffees that meet our sourcing requirements and work particularly well with our cold drip process.

Over the years, the team has continued sourcing coffee from the region, building familiarity with its characteristics and how to get the best out of it.

It’s a reminder that choosing the right coffee isn’t just about flavour. It’s also about understanding where the beans come from and the people involved in growing them.

Why coffee traceability matters

From the beginning, we wanted to work with a roaster that cared as much about where coffee came from as how it tasted.

The coffee industry has a complex supply chain, and knowing exactly where beans originate isn’t always straightforward.

For us, traceability has always been an important part of the decision-making process.

There have even been times when we’ve stopped using particular coffees because we could no longer confidently trace their origins.

Rumble takes a transparently traded approach to sourcing, prioritising knowledge of where its coffee comes from, who it’s purchased from and the relationships behind it.

Where possible, the team works with the same growers and export partners year after year, developing long-term relationships and a better understanding of the coffees they produce.

It’s an approach we value because great coffee should be about more than what ends up in your cup.

A lot of love goes into every bottle

When you pick up a bottle of First Press, you probably aren’t thinking about roast profiles, growing regions or how many times we’ve adjusted our brewing process.

And that’s fair enough. You just want a really great coffee.

But behind every bottle are years of experimentation, countless conversations and a lot of people who genuinely care about what they’re making.

Despite how much First Press has grown, our commitment to quality hasn’t changed.

We still use the same cold drip methodology, carefully selected specialty coffee and the concentration ratios we’ve developed over the years.

Our coffee is roasted and brewed right here in Australia, using real coffee beans rather than instant coffee or coffee extracts.

It’s something we’re incredibly proud of.

And as Hamish shared during our conversation, one of the most rewarding parts is hearing from customers who notice the difference.

Here’s to the people behind the coffee

Looking back, it’s pretty special to think about how far both businesses have come.

What started as two small Melbourne businesses figuring things out together has grown into a long-standing partnership built on trust, shared values and a genuine love of coffee.

We’re grateful to Joe, Matt and the wider Rumble team for being part of the First Press journey and for continuing to help us make coffee we’re proud to put our name on.

Because behind every great coffee are great people.

And we reckon that’s worth celebrating.

Want to hear more of the story?

Throughout November, we’re sharing a series of conversations between Hamish from First Press and Joe from Rumble, taking you behind the scenes of the coffee, the people and the processes that make First Press what it is today.

Follow along on Instagram to hear their stories, or explore our range of specialty cold drip coffees and ready-to-drink iced lattes in the First Press online store.