Auckland born and bred, Aaron Wyatt was still a child when his father owned a loose-leaf tea importing company, also bringing in a small amount of coffee. Over time, the coffee side of the business overtook the tea side, and in 1983 Wyatt’s father began roasting his own coffee. At some point in the 90s, Wyatt himself fell into the family business and has not looked back.
“I was extremely lucky as a young man to be involved with some of the pioneering names of the NZ coffee industry. I owe Dad and many others a huge debt of gratitude for teaching me about the coffee roasting business.”
The coffee industry is so varied, from roasting and tasting coffee, to green bean importing, coffee equipment sales and service, to amazing baristas. Wyatt finds reward in working and interacting with people - learning new things daily and passing on his own knowledge. With so much time going into growing, processing, roasting and blending the quality coffee that ends up in your favourite café, Wyatt believes a well-trained barista can make all the difference at the final stage. At Roma Coffee, Wyatt has a dedicated training room with a SCAA qualified trainer. The training room offers a wide range of courses from full barista training resulting in an industry standard qualification recognised worldwide, to home barista training on getting the best out of your domestic machine.
“I have an awesome, diverse group of staff. It really is rewarding to see them growing in their respective roles as genuine coffee industry professionals.”
Lucky enough to travel, Wyatt has always been amazed at how different cultures roast and drink their coffee. To him, a great roast must start with quality green beans. Taking time to roast to their own individual colour profiles and blending different origins together to create something greater than the sum of its individual parts always works.
With so much available from around the world, Wyatt finds it hard to pick a favourite roast, but enjoys a medium-roast Colombian ‘Supremo’.
“Well balanced and full-bodied with a pleasant aftertaste sounds like a great roast to me.”
With so much to explore and learn as the birthplace of coffee, Wyatt would love to travel Ethiopia.
“The traditional methods of cultivating, processing and roasting would be amazing to experience firsthand.”
Doing its part in the sustainability practices important to everyone’s daily lives these days, Roma Coffee is partnered with “Rainforest Alliance” to source ethically traded beans. Though coffee bean packaging is not easy to find sustainable solutions for, Roma try to cut waste by reusing coffee bags up to five times and deliver coffee to customers in bulk reusable buckets. Roma also use only biodegradable takeaway cups and lids and compost their waste coffee grounds and chaff.
As the world reopens from the Covid-19 pandemic, Wyatt is excited for the future - being able to meet with overseas suppliers, attend industry events like The World of Coffee, and visit coffee origins again.
His advice for those wanting to become a coffee roaster? Be prepared to work.
“Those 70kg sacks don’t move themselves, oh and watch out for fires (they happen). Other than that, its great fun in an awesome industry full of interesting people. Do it!”
