Located in Rutherford’s commercial hub is where you’ll find the home of coffee, and all things coffee-roasting.

Not new by any means, Bliss Coffee Roasters has been a go-to for locals looking to get their morning fix or bag of beans since the late 1990s. Owner James Conway understands better than anyone the growing demand in coffee, as the owner of Glitch Coffee Roasters, Bar Beach's HuBro and now two Biggs cafes.

Purchasing Bliss in 2022, James moved quickly to refresh the brand, building an experienced team that could produce consistently good coffee and have a lot of fun whilst doing it. 

Today what you’ll find is an energetic, emporium-like venue that’s home to an experienced team of coffee professionals who love serving up good quality coffee. Alongside  the coffee, the space also offers a range of services including coffee machine repairs, commercial barista training, and a coffee lover’s roasting experience. 

James’ journey into the coffee and hospitality world hasn’t been a typical one. He confesses that working directly with coffee is not his forte, but that finding and working with experts is.

For James, the name of the game is finding the right people for the job who, he says, “know far more about coffee than I do”.

Which is where Bliss Manager Taylor Schneider enters. Taylor has been instrumental throughout the relaunch and success of Bliss as James explains:

“Taylor had been managing the Autumn Rooms for five years before he joined the team. He looks after everything from the coffee bar, to the roasting, it's awesome to get someone onboard who’s so passionate about what they’re doing.”

One of the newest experiences that James and Taylor are pretty pumped about is the Learn How to Roast course. Regardless of your knowledge or experience, the interactive coffee roasting experience is all about having fun and learning something new. 

The hands-on experience will have you tracking the roasting process via the detailed computer graphs, and once roasted you’ll immediately get the chance to taste a range of coffees, including your freshly roasted beans in a cupping session (similar to how wine is tasted at the cellar door).

The multilevel experience will give you a new-found appreciation for the effort and skills required to produce a consistent cup of quality coffee. As a part of the course, your freshly roasted coffee beans will be bagged up, and given their very own custom label.

In addition to the coffee roasting, Bliss provides commercial barista training courses for those looking to take their skill set to another level, and around-the-clock machine servicing for both commercial and at-home machines. You can also shop for all those necessary brewing items with plenty of different options on offer.

“For us it’s all about activating the space. We want our customers to walk in and smell the coffee beans roasting, and watch our roasters working or our repair team tinkering away on machines.”

“It’s come together slowly, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so passionate about a project!” said James.