About Clandestino
Our Story
Back in the 70's, our founder's old man Perry was a 17 year-old pilot in Papua New Guinea. His flights were in and out of remote jungle airstrips throughout the highlands and islands of PNG. His cargo? Gold, silver - and the elusive coffee bean.
The gold was flown clandestine (secretly), only very few knew the flight plan. Most of it was flown back to Lae or Port Moresby — the two main airports — before being handed off for international transport. Those early runs were dangerous. Flights were risky, weather was unpredictable. Weight and balance were calculated manually — the pilot's survival depended on getting everything right. If a forced landing happened, the terrain wasn’t the biggest threat — cannibalism still existed in those regions. There was an emergency pistol on board. The saying was: if you ever have to use it, save the last bullet for yourself.
Every morning, Perry would brew a black coffee — no milk, just straight to sharpen the senses. PNG coffee is known for its deep body and low acidity, so up in the Highlands, the locals squeezed in a little lime juice to balance it out. That became Perry’s habit. During the airline strikes of the '80s, he bought a café on Hastings Street in Noosa, and years later, his son Jaxon would watch him squeeze lime into his long black. “This is what we used to do in New Guinea,” he’d say.
It made a difference — this trick added clarity, structure, and a clean finish to coffee. That stuck. When we started roasting our own beans in Noosaville as Clandestino Coffee, we carried that philosophy forward: start with boldness, then layer in acidity to complete the mouthfeel.
That pursuit hasn’t stopped — we’ve been chasing flavour ever since. From jungle airstrips to the cupping table, it’s always been about crafting complete coffees — clarity, sweetness, structure, finish.
Everything we do is built around Magneto
Magneto is our first house blend and we've been roasting it since our inception back in 2011. It’s the reference point — the blueprint for what we love in a coffee. Every roast decision and every new origin on the menu gets benchmarked against it. We’ll make the roast profile lighter, darker, sharpen the acidity, drop the body, or stretch the sweetness — but it all starts with Magneto.
If you’ve never tasted our coffee before, Magneto is where to begin. It captures our signature: flavour, acidity, mouthfeel, finish, and sweetness — all dialled in for espresso. From there, we can ask: What landed? What didn’t? And then we’ll help you find your coffee — the one that fits your palate perfectly.
That legacy still guides every roast we pull today — purpose, precision, and a bit of wild.
The Cafe
We opened our roastery and flagship store in 2011 in Noosaville’s industrial neighbourhood. It’s a space with great coffee, good vibes and baristas keen to answer all your questions.
It was here we built the first brew bar on the Sunshine Coast with anything a coffee nut could desire - syphons, clovers, pour overs, batch brews, cold drip, cold brew, chemex or nitro brew on tap.
Our full espresso bar with four grinders always offers Magneto blend and Colombian decaf, alongside two single origins from our seasonal offering. If you're after an unforgettable coffee experience, ask our baristas about the pour over menu with a curated selection of exceptional coffees scoring 88 points and above. Our team behind the counter are ready to help you make the right choice for your preferred brew method and the flavours you desire. Have we mentioned there is a plane hanging from the ceiling?
The Roastery
We roast on the German engineered Probat 25kg drum roaster. Working with the best equipment makes it possible to maintain our highest priority - consistency.
Following our ‘Environmental, Ethical and Sustainable’ values, we powered our roastery with 100kW solar panels installed on the roof.
Delicious coffee doesn’t happen by accident. We strive to bring out the natural sweetness and intrinsic flavours from each origin. In roasting, every step is just as important as the last. All the flavours are already in the green coffee bean so through the roasting process we work out which flavours we want to highlight and how best to bring them out.
We never roast our blends altogether at the same time in the same batch, but roast all our origins individually then create the blend. This ensures each individual coffee has been developed to reach its peak flavour profile. That's why our organic house blend Magneto has such great flavours that are very defined, balanced and consistent.
The Cube
Welcome to The Cube – our purpose-built, multi-functional space where science, craftsmanship, and obsession collide.
This is the engine room behind the consistency and quality our wholesale partners rely on. It’s where every coffee is put to the test, and where we ensure your customers get the best cup – every single time.
At the core of The Cube is cupping – a sensory process used to evaluate coffee on the attributes of coffee: fragrance, aroma, flavour, aftertase, acidity, body, sweetness, and balance. We cup daily. Not just to assess quality, but to maintain consistency across blends, detect any variations in roast or green profile, and fine-tune for the seasonality of coffees. The Cube is where we detect small changes before you do – and adjust accordingly.
We have two certified Q Graders on our team – internationally recognised coffee tasters who’ve passed the Specialty Coffee Association’s rigorous testing across 19 disciplines, including sensory triangulation, olfactory recognition, and roast ID. Becoming a Q Grader requires exceptional sensory acuity, deep technical understanding, and relentless calibration. Fewer than 8,000 Q Graders exist globally – and we have two of them, right here in Noosa.
Their skill ensures we can triangulate and substitute coffees in your blend without disrupting its flavour profile. So when seasonal coffees rotate out, we replace them seamlessly, maintaining the signature taste your customers expect – without missing a beat.
But The Cube isn’t just about protecting what’s already great. It’s also where we search for what’s next. We’re constantly roasting, cupping, and assessing new green coffee samples from origins across the world. Whether we’re upgrading a single origin or elevating a blend, the pursuit of better is relentless.
Beyond cupping, The Cube is also home to our barista training sessions, equipment prep, and technical workshop. It’s a place for learning, calibrating, servicing, and experimenting – a behind-the-scenes guarantee that the coffee you serve is supported by people who care just as much as you do.
If you're a wholesale partner, The Cube is working for you every day – even if you’ve never stepped inside it.
