Three Thousand Thieves

Are cafes an essential service? Unfortunately not. But during a time when it’s all systems no, we’re lucky Three Thousand Thieves remains ‘business as usual’.

There’s something special that happens every morning within Postcode Three Thousand. The clogs start ticking when the lights go on and the display boards go out. The sounds of hissing steamers and banging portafilters echo across the city. It’s early morning and it’s dial-in time.

Like clockwork the stream of outfits make their way into coffee shops: playful leggings, casual denim, crisp navy suits and corporate greys. Every one of them headed to their respective terminals, but not without a detour for their daily fuel. Then seamlessly they reenter the streets with brighter eyes and coffee in hand.

The daily pilgrimage to coffee shops is commonplace in many parts of the world. But in the city of Melbourne, it’s more than that. It’s a ritual that’s weaved itself into the psyche of contemporary culture, and many other cities are following suit.

Similar to a French Bistro or a British Pub, Melbourne Cafes are peppered across the likes of the US, France and India. With baristas as dedicated to name and order recollection as they are to mastering the perfect pour, communal tables, rich brunch offerings and a library of traceable coffees on the menu, it’s no wonder these cafes are fast becoming a template for the rest of the world. But we’re living in peculiar times right now. It’s August 2020 and we are deep in the midst of a pandemic, meaning even the residents of Postcode Three Thousand have scarce access to their own coffee culture.

Enter Three Thousand Thieves.

Three Thousand Thieves began seven years ago by sharing Melbourne’s best coffee with the rest of the world via a monthly subscription service. Now, as specialty coffee culture continues to expand across the country, so too do Three Thousand Thieves. Nik Psalti is the director and curator, and says there’s never been a more pertinent time to be doing what they do:

“As specialty coffee entered the cafe world, going out for food became going out for good food. Now Melbourne breakfast culture has kind of exacerbated the whole thing and pioneered an association between enjoying food alongside really good coffee. People go out now and sample different types of coffee in different scenarios, and as a result they’re developing a far more discerning palate.”

Are cafes an essential service? Unfortunately not. But during a time when it’s all systems no, Three Thousand Thieves are one of the few companies to remain ‘business as usual’.

“That’s where we’ve been able to help… we make it easy for someone at home to get different and interesting coffees really easily. It’s not that we’re just bringing Melbourne coffee into peoples’ homes, we explore the diversity of what specialty coffee really is…”

In technical terms, specialty coffee is any coffee that grades 80 points or above on the industry standard’s 100 point scale. Similar to wine, appreciation for great coffee runs far deeper than basic likes or dislikes. This perspective is something our culture is slowly grabbing hold of as Three Thousand Thieves continues to make a wide range of coffees more accessible and encouraged.

“The biggest change [to coffee culture] that we’ve helped pioneer is this whole idea that having different coffees, whether they align to your palate or not, is a benefit. It’s about trying new things and discovering different angles that your palate potentially never would have been exposed to.”

If you’ve ever received a box from Three Thousand Thieves you’ll know that everything they put out is curated and packaged with detail and care. You receive bags of freshly roasted coffee along with photos and a write-up of the featured roaster for that month. For anyone stuck at home trying to muster up their own cafe-like experience, this subscription is a bit of a no brainer. Just add poached eggs, halloumi and some low-fi beats.

Every month Three Thousand Thieves brings a new roaster to the centre stage, and like commissioning an art piece they hand over (almost) full control:

“We try to do very little in terms of what [the roaster] is actually selecting. We want to focus on the objective of their brand ethos and what they’re trying to bring to the game, so we allow them to choose and develop what’s in the bag. There’s a lot of trust involved but there’s never been an instance where we’ve rejected what’s in the bag. We really put that brand or that roaster at the forefront and that empowers them to deliver as best they can to our audience.”

“Whenever we go with a roaster they always want to do it again… so I think that’s a good yardstick of how we’re going about the process!”

Such a hands-off approach gives license for every artisan to hone in on their craft and deliver a signature coffee they want to share. It’s less about catering to the masses and more about celebrating the diversity within specialty coffee.

At such a time where chairs remain stacked and doors remain closed, Three Thousand Thieves lend crucial support to cafes and roasters, and continue to propel our beloved coffee culture to the homes of sixteen different countries.

How much longer we’ll be in this state for, nobody knows. But rest-assured we have something that unites us, and continues to live on.