The Origins of the BioBean Coffee Company

 

BioBean Coffee had its origins back in 2001, when the Australian airline Ansett collapsed. Michael and Mary Ipkendanz were planning a trip to Queensland at the time, and the demise of Ansett forced them to rethink their plans. Instead of heading interstate they decided to head to the pilbara in the north of WA for a few weeks camping out.

They stopped at a gorge in the Kennedy ranges and Mike went off to explore, Mary (who is a paraplegic) was holding the fort in the car, when she found herself craving a cup of coffee. After getting around to be boot of the car, she then tried to dig out the kettle and equipment from under all the camping gear when she noticed the presence of a highly suspicious man.

Although she feared the worst, it turned out that that Rainer Sakic was simply another coffee fanatic out for a decent cup of coffee too. They both sat down for coffee and within half an hour opened a bottle of wine as well by the time Mike turned up again. Rainer then spent the rest of the holiday traveling with them.

Rainer Sakic was on holiday in Australia, and also a salesman for a prominent German Fairtrade coffee company called GEPA. When they got back to Perth, Ben Ipkendanz, Mike and Mary's son, got to know Rainer as well and he returned to Australia several times over the next few years. Mike and Mary have also been to Germany to visit Rainer.

In 2003 Ben was on the verge of completing an honours year in the department of Biochemistry at UWA, Rainer had previously mentioned the possibility of starting a coffee business to supply coffee wholesale to the Perth market, which he felt was predominantly made up of extremely poor quality coffee. At the time Ben felt he would be continuing on to work in the field he was studying in.

Ben graduated from University with an honours degree in 2003, and after six months searching for work finally got a job as a research assistant with a Perth Biotech company. After five months of working with the company he became disillusioned with the fact that he was simply helping to make someone else wealthy and had problems with the ethical stance of the company.

After making the choice to quit the company, Ben then had to decide where he was going, what job could a science graduate with little workplace experience do for themselves and from home? After discussing the problem with his parents they then hit on the coffee idea from Rainer, something that would be possible to make a business out of, which would make use of his scientific background and would be an ethical way to make money.

Mike, Mary and Ben decided to form a company between the three of them. However, they felt that it needed to founded on ethical guidelines with a focus on producing a quality product at a reasonable price without ripping off either the producers or the consumers.

Once the company was formed and the roasting equipment was installed, Rainer Sakic came out to Australia with a roaster called Rainer Braun. Rainer Braun was a roaster with his own company in Germany, with more than 20 years of experience in roasting coffee. With their help, Ben was able to learn how to properly roast coffee, and BioBean coffee officially started business in july of 2005 .

Since then, BioBean coffee has been steadily growing and adding new varieties of quality coffee to our range.

July, 2006