On a recent trip home to New Zealand from the United States I had dinner at the Urbano Brasserie in Rotorua and finished up my meal with what turned out to be an espresso that was so enjoyable that I had to ask the owners what the coffee was. They told me their beans are supplied by Ozone Coffee Roasters, based in New Plymouth, New Zealand. In the course of the conversation I discovered that Craig MacFarlane, for whom I had worked in 1996 at the MacFarlane's Caffe in Inglewood, and who trained me as a barista, was associated with Ozone. I have since learned that Ozone has recently even opened a cafe in London, known as the Roastery Cafe, so it seems that Craig has lost none of his entrepreneurial spirit nor passion for excellence in coffee.

I purchased a 1kg bag of "espresso roast" beans from Urbano to bring back with me to California, and I have almost finished it now, unfortunately. Too bad you can't get their roasts here in the U.S.

Ozone can be found on Facebook here. And here's a link to a recent newspaper article on the Roastery Cafe in London. If you're either in NZ or London, see if you can track down Ozone coffee somewhere in your travels and see for yourself just how fabulous this coffee is.