Veneziano Coffee Roasters has announced The Melbourne Coffee Experience, a hands-on roastery tour and tasting experience launching at its Richmond headquarters on 18 September.
Guests will be given a peek behind the curtain into the working roastery, training studio and cafe where Veneziano roasts and ships more than three tonnes of coffee around Australia every single day. Across two hours, they will be walked through the “weird and wonderful” world of specialty coffee: where beans are sourced, how processing methods shape flavour, and what separates a good cup from a great one.
The Richmond HQ is also home to Gabrel Tan, the 2026 Australian Barista Champion, who heads to Panama in October to represent Australia at the World Barista Championship. Veneziano has produced a long line of national roasting and barista champions since it began roasting in Melbourne in 2002, starting in a small roastery on Bond Street in Abbotsford before moving down the road to River St, Richmond.
“We’ve been roasting in Melbourne since 2002, and in all that time the best part has been the people, our growers, our team and the ones drinking it,” says Nick Clark, Head of Brand & Marketing at Veneziano Coffee Roasters. “Most of that relationship happens at arm’s length, through a bag on a shelf or a cup handed over a counter.
“Being able to have people here in the roastery, meeting the team who roast it and tasting it with them, means a lot to us. There’s something pretty special about watching someone try a coffee for the first time and understand exactly where it came from.”
The Melbourne Coffee Experience will run every Friday from 18 September at 16 River St, Richmond, with the experience including:
- The ‘bean to cup journey, a guided tour through the HQ and roastery covering sourcing, processing and flavour, with a look at the micro roastery in action.
- A professional coffee tasting session led by a Veneziano trainer, tasting coffees side by side to understand how origin and processing land in the cup.
- A barista crash course in the training studio, learning to extract a great espresso shot followed by some latte art fun.
- Lunch in the cafe, with seasonal dishes and another coffee.
- A bag of the Melbourne Blend to take home.
Tickets are $132 per person and are available here.
