Even though we’re known for our facilities in Alexandria, ECRE isn’t just a place where people can roast coffee beans. We’ve evolved into a community focused on delivering the tools to help our industry become more environmentally, socially and monetarily sustainable. This not only makes it a better place to work in but also produces better coffee.

What exactly is “better coffee”, anyway?

Anyone in coffee knows it has its problems: information isn’t openly shared, farmers are closing decades-old plantations, pickers are moving on and commodity coffee thrives on unsustainable practices. To complicate matters, most consumers don’t realise their latte is in crisis or why a $1 coffee at 7-11 does far more harm than good.

From picker, to roaster, to barista, to consumer, we believe anyone who loves coffee can help make things better. By sharing what we know—from sourcing green beans to using the roasting machine that gives you near perfect roasts consistently—we hope to highlight openness and inclusivity, and trigger a desire for change.

“What’s this ECRE business? Wasn’t your name CRS?”

Since 2016, we were a co-roasting facility known as Collective Roasting Solutions, short name CRS. Our transition from a roasting solution to an industry response—that includes education and research alongside roasting—prompted a change to Ensemble of Coffee Research and Education (ECRE). It stands for everything we want to be.