Our story
From a coffee cart to a corner of the neighbourhood.
Amberleaf is run by Nadia and Sam, two friends who wanted a café that felt less like a queue and more like a living room.
How it started
It began with a borrowed cart and a bag of beans.
In 2016 we wheeled a second-hand coffee cart onto Maple Row with one machine, a milk jug, and absolutely no idea what we were doing.
The idea was simple, and a little stubborn: make one thing properly. Pull a good shot, steam the milk with care, and actually learn people's names. Regulars turned into friends, the queue outgrew the cart, and the little shop behind us happened to come up for lease.
We took the keys, kept the cart in the window, and started roasting our own beans a year later. Nine years on, we still bake every morning, still remember your order, and still believe a café should be the calmest part of your day.
Whether you're a first-time visitor or the person whose flat white we start making when you walk past the window, welcome. You're one of ours now.
The roastery
We roast a five-minute walk away.
Our beans are roasted in small batches at our Salt River roastery, rested for a week, then ground to order. Come by on a Friday and you can usually smell it from the door.
What we care about
Four things we won't cut corners on.
Coffee worth slowing down for
We'd rather pour fewer cups properly than rush a hundred. Every shot is dialled in each morning and tasted before the doors open.
Made here, made today
Our kitchen bakes from scratch daily. Nothing arrives frozen in a box, if it's on the counter, someone here made it this morning.
Sourced with a conscience
We buy beans through direct trade, pay above fair-trade rates, and know the farms by name. Milk and eggs are free-range and local.
A welcome for everyone
Dogs, laptops, prams, first dates and long solo afternoons, all equally at home. No minimum spend, no hovering, no rush.
Milestones
The short version.
One cart, one machine
Nadia and Sam start pulling shots from a second-hand cart on Maple Row, open three mornings a week.
We take the keys
The little shop behind the cart comes up for lease. We move indoors, add a kitchen, and start baking our own pastries.
Roasting our own
We open a tiny roastery in Salt River so we can control the beans from green to cup. The house Amber blend is born.
The garden opens
We knock through to the courtyard out back, twelve more seats, dappled shade, and the neighbourhood's most relaxed corner.
Still on Maple Row
Same corner, same values, a few more regulars. No franchise, no second branch, just the café we always wanted to sit in.