Sample Coffee is a coffee roasting company born on Gadigal land in Sydney in 2011, small by design and independent by nature. Reuben Mardan opened the Surry Hills espresso bar that year after nearly a decade brewing and roasting for Single O and Mecca. It began as a multi-roaster bar showing single origins and black drinking styles such as filter and cold brew, which was unusual at the time. He started roasting his own coffee at a friend’s facility in 2012, and the St Peters roastery and Pro Shop opened in 2014. An online subscription followed in 2015 with Simon Wright, a climbing friend and Surry Hills regular. A third café, Old Gold in Chippendale, opened in February 2020 and lasted about three years.

Its ways are plain: independent with no investors, every green coffee bought above the C-market and Fair Trade prices at an SCA score of 80 or more, transparency data on each coffee and in annual reports, home-compostable packaging and a 20-cent donation per bag sold. It has been a certified B Corp since 2019 and roasts on a Loring Kestrel S35. Single origins are roasted omni for filter and espresso, the two espresso blends, Pacemaker and Sweet Tooth, are roasted for milk coffee, and All Day Decaf is roasted omni as well.

Surry Hills is a small space focused on coffee, serving rotating single origins as filter and espresso, milk drinks, hot chocolate, matcha, tea and locally baked pastries. St Peters is the roastery, where visitors can watch roasting early in the week and buy beans and brewing gear from the shelves. Marrickville, opened in August 2026, is a micro espresso bar of about 7.5 square metres attached to the upcoming roastery. It serves drinks only, with pre-batched espresso on tap for milk coffees and a Modbar for single-origin espresso and pour-over. The roastery is relocating there from St Peters as Precinct 75 is redeveloped. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Sample Coffee