Toowoomba, much like Karen Smith’s hair, is full of secrets. Laneways and nooks and crannies and random facts like we’re the site of Queensland’s first brewery.
So here’s another one. In the main street there’s a tiny hole-in-the wall coffee place selling Wagon Wheels. They do coffee too, but Wagon Wheels are my first priority.
Cool Beans Espresso is on Ruthven Street, wedged next door to Crazy Goat Espresso. Previously Bounce City, in November last year it changed owners and is now in the experienced coffee-loving hands of Ben Apsey.
“Cool Beans Espresso is a hole in the wall coffee shop, literally a roller door on the street, very hot in summer and very cold in winter,” he says.
“I used to work at Bounce so I know what it’s like to stand out in the street at winter. Lots of layers and thermals, occasional dancing to regain feeling in fingers and toes.”
From Monday to Saturday the Cool Beans team are on the street from 7am to 1pm handing out their specially roasted blend, chatting with locals and giving directions to lost visitors.
Cool Beans Espresso offers a unique, specially blended roast from Melbourne.
“Some days I feel we’re more of a tourist information centre than a coffee shop but that’s not a bad thing,” Ben says. “It’s great to be able to talk to people in the street about what’s going on. It’s fun.”
This involvement in the community is nothing new for Ben, who ran for Council last year at the age of 24.
“I wanted to give a voice to youth and young adults in the region,” he says. “40% of our region is aged under 30 and I feel like they deserve to have a say in what happens in the political realm and how our city progresses in to the future.”
Ben Apsey
Ben plans to run again in the future, but at the moment is busy dealing with the lack of sleep that comes with having a newborn baby.
“Thank God we have a coffee shop,” he says.
Cool Beans Espresso offers a unique, specially blended roast from Melbourne.
“It’s shipped up when we need it; when we get it it’s fresh from the roaster in four days, which is why it has such a nice flavour to it,” he says. “It’s a nice smooth dark roast and performs really well in the climate up here.”
Ben says they offer a range of sizes for coffee but are famous for their extra large. And they also have the full complement of milk options – from full cream to lactose free. They even do decaf.
For snacks and treats, they have my number one Wagon Wheels, but also offer a simple range of banana bread and brownies, supplied by locals, Jo and Co Espresso.
He says working with local suppliers is important.
“Our chai and our milk hot chocolate are sourced from Darling Downs Coffee, our decaf, our cappuccino chocolate and our syrups are all sourced form Total Coffee, milk is from Betros Brothers, so as much as possible is local.”
Ben says in addition to future dreams of local Government they may look at opening a couple of other Cool Beans Espresso sites across South East Queensland or even potentially grow their existing site into something bigger.
In the meantime the team will continue supplying the beans to Toowoomba from their hole-in-the-wall. Ben says people come to Cool Beans for their daily caffeine hit because they know they can rely on getting a quality coffee.
“Most of the feedback on our long blacks has been they are consistently good, very smooth, not overly powerful, they’re not that kick in the face you get from other coffee shops,” he says.
“The coffee is consistent. When we took over we changed where the coffee came from so we were getting better quality products and then we decided to drop the prices so it’s affordable for every man and his dog. We are a different business, so try us or re-try us now we are Cool Beans.”
Cool Beans offers a pre-paid card – buy nine coffees in advance and get the 10th one free. You can pick up a 1kg bag of Cool Beans Espresso house blend for $45 too. If you work in the CBD you are able to pre-order your coffee and snacks via email (coolbeanstoowoomba@gmail.com) or through the Skip app.
Follow them on Facebook and Instagram and you can have a look at their menu here.
