About Coffee for Connoisseurs

CONTACT US: Phone (Australia) 0417 568 218
Letter: Coffee for Connoisseurs P.O. Box 25 Port Melbourne VIC. 3207 Australia

Email click above.

Coffee for Connoisseurs is a division of Frew International Pty. Ltd., ABN 37083 261 009

ABOUT US: Coffee for Connoisseurs started life as a ‘Coffee Shop With A Difference’ in 1984. At that time Melbourne was well served with espresso coffee bars, but there were few places where you could buy fresh beans, and even fewer (none, as far as I knew) where you could choose to have any of the beans on offer individually brewed. Having seen just this sort of setup in Japan, where the brewing was invariably done using Coffee Syphons, I pinched the idea wholesale. After three years we had a second shop running, and things were looking pretty good, but..! My wife was expecting our son, and one of our landlords, inflamed by record stock market turnovers and interest rates, was graduating in greed and bastardry. I needed more hours in the day, so we said goodbye to our nastier landlord and consolidated into a single shop. We even kept 80% of the old shop's clientel. Just as well, because the stock market crashed, and the next few years were really tough. Then things picked up again, but..!	Our second (Malvern) shop.
Way back in 1979 I had bought my first computer, an Apple II+ with 64k, twin disk drives and a CP/M card. This was followed by an 8086 with a 20 Mb hard drive (Whoo!!) in 1984, and a succession of upgrades after that. When the internet began to gather momentum in Australia (1995) I signed up, and had the first ‘Coffee for Connoisseurs’ website running in 1996. It was crude, but the orders started to come in, much to my amazement.	Coffee genius at work, 1992.
Now the internet sales were really growing, and at the same time the hassles of running a full time retail shop were beginning to get me down; staff, utilities, local, state and federal governments and long, long hours were wreaking havoc with my home life. I sold the shop (NOT the business) and launched full on into cyberspace in December, 1997. As far as I know I am still the only fully internet based coffee retailer in Australia. One thing that hasn’t changed throughout my career, though, is my commitment to my customers, which is to bring them the best that I can. This means the best coffee, the best service, the best prices and the best information.	Coffee genius at work, 2000. That was 3 computers ago.
In 2001 we moved into new premises in Port Melbourne, a little office/warehouse complex in Turner St. The extra space has given me the opportunity to enlarge both the stockholding and kinds of the espresso machines and other equipment items I sell, as well as making the coffee packaging much more efficient. Most of the coffees I sell are on their way to the customers within 24 hours of roasting, some even sooner than that!	Here we be...

MAILING LIST GUARANTEE

You know the story..order something by mail order or the internet and next minute you’re being deluged with spam and your snail mail is full of interesting offers of timeshares in Death Valley and the opportunity to let Nigerians empty your bank account. NOT FROM MY MAILING LIST! I am the only person who uses it, and I refuse absolutely to sell or rent it to anyone else.

CREDIT CARD GUARANTEE

Many people are wary of sending card details over the internet, after horror stories in the mass media. In fact, you are more at risk from the carbons used in shops or random card number generators than from hackers pinching numbers from a secure site. After I’ve printed out your order, the message on the secure site is deleted; not even I can recover it. In the event that someone did manage to get hold of your number via commerce with me, it’s my responsibility. That’s right, I’m liable for any losses, which makes me VERY careful. I keep all my credit card records off the computer, for your AND my peace of mind. With the advent of a "Gateway" system for processing your online orders, your card is charged at the time of ordering and my staff and I never get to see the actual card number.

QUALITY GUARANTEE

I stand behind everything I sell, coffee or equipment. All coffees are personally tasted by me and all equipment tested before delivery. If you get a coffee you don’t like, I’ll replace it or refund your money. If your equipment is damaged on delivery or non functional, ditto. Otherwise normal equipment warranties apply. However, I refuse to sell anything but the best quality products I can find, which sometimes means I have to stop supplying coffees or products which aren’t up to standard.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS

All prices quoted on the site order pages are in Australian Dollars and are current. Prices include Australian GST where applicable.

Information submitted via the order pages is protected by 128 bit SSL encryption.

Your personal details will not be shared with any third party. You can have these details amended or deleted at any time, simply by submitting an email request. We do not want or require any personal details other than the information needed to fill your orders promptly and efficiently.

Warranties and returns:

Coffee is a perishable product; we don't want it back. If we've made a mistake with your coffee order we'll ship you a corrected replacement free of charge and you're welcome to keep the original order. In the event of your parcel getting "lost in the mail" we'll replace it free of charge.

Equipment: please check the specifications and compatibility of the items being ordered to ensure they are what you require as we do not supply goods on a trial basis.

We are happy to advise on the compatibility or suitability of the equipment being purchased. We cannot, however, guarantee that you have the skills to get the best from it and we take no responsibility that it will meet your requirements.

We do not refund or credit for incorrect choice.

Equipment is shipped with a "back to base" warranty. You bear the costs of returning it to us for service, we bear the costs in getting it back to you.

All costs incurred in returning the product to us for repair or replacement are your responsibility.

Warranty on all equipment will be the manufacturers warranty and at the manufacturers discretion.
It is your responsibility to ensure that all products are suitably packaged in order to prevent damage during return shipping.

We accept no responsibility for returned goods lost in transit. It is your responsibility to insure them.