The Path We've Trod So Far

Five Senses was born out of a boundless enthusiasm for sharing delicious coffee and the desire to create a business that would nurture all those it touched.

1997, Kundiawa, Papua New Guinea

Future Five Sense founder, Dean Gallagher, was a school principal in the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea. Being in the highlands and 1600 metres above sea level, the Gallaghers were surrounded by families whose entire livelihoods moved with the coffee crop lifecycle. When the coffee cherries turned in colour, Dean knew to soon expect the payment of school fees! In a short amount of time Dean’s oven at home was enabling his love of roasting beans and his entrenchment in the coffee growing culture was inescapable.

Three Years Later

As life transitioned for the young Gallagher family, they relocated back to their hometown of Perth, Western Australia. Dean’s strong friendships in PNG, his entrepreneurial spirit and his new dependence on this ‘liquid gold’ was the idyllic climate to grow a business which would later redefine how people imagined coffee.

2000, 1kg in a Shed

Exchanging the kitchen oven for a 1kg roaster housed in a hot tin shed, the swap was a slight upgrade, but the results were unquestionable. Fresh, direct trade, quality coffee in suburban Perth resembling the broader specialty coffee movement emerging around the world.

2001, Eastwards!

Within months our expansion took another leap, but this time interstate. In a pseudo-franchise situation, Dean's good friend Gavan Hogan grafted off a piece of Five Senses and planted a small roastery in the backstreets of seaside Mornington, Victoria. For 8 years the east coast was served by this branch until our move to bayside Cheltenham.

Clever marketing, or just honesty?

Treating coffee like fresh bread changed the game for Five Senses as we committed to bring in direct trade coffee from PNG, roast it fresh and deliver it to suburban doorsteps the next day. Our esteem for the bean was such that we knew the microlot regions of where our coffee plants were growing when others may not have been sure of the country. Such was, and is still, our respect for the chain.

Investing in Relationships

All relationships come at a cost but the expense we have undertaken to foster direct and intimate relationships with our producers has been part of the company’s strength. We have sincere and genuine connections with the families we source from and these relationships are thriving underneath the leadership of Matt Slater. The role of our Green Coffee Department is to continue to build and maintain honouring partnerships with all those in the production chain.

2006, School's In

The early 2000s were a blur when specialty coffee was developing in leaps and bounds. Five Senses supported this momentum with more than just great coffee.  The knowledge and skills that were expanding alongside the movement needed a consolidated training location. In 2006 we founded our first Barista Academy in Perth which became a vital hub for coffee exploration, education and enjoyment.

The Rising Coffee Tide

The first of their kind in Australia, we kitted out our Barista Academies with world class equipment and developed an evolving curriculum to reflect the progression of the coffee craft. We’ve since founded Academies in Melbourne and Sydney, creating spaces to foster professional coffee learning and community knowledge building.

2014, North Sumatra

In unprecedented traceability and inspiring partnerships, we funded the construction of our own mill in Tiga Raja, Northern Sumatra. Working collaboratively with local mill operators has meant Five Senses can preserve bean standards. Delicious coffee with positive impacts from farmer collectives to customer cups.

The Journey Ahead

Our founding passion for Impacting People Positively through the delight of coffee has not waned. Not one little bit. The diversity of our family of café owners and the accessibility of specialty blends for domestic sipping is a Five Senses honour. Whether in our local or international community projects, issues around sustainability, injustice and reconciliation have remained front and centre. Proudly a B-Corp certified company and with Carbon Neutrality, we know we serve a ‘good’ brew. 

The journey's just beginning and we can't wait to see where it'll take us next!