January 01, 2026
They’re back and better than ever. The beloved Stitch Coffee is taking 2026 by storm, rolling out new flavours and opening cafés worldwide. The Sydney-born roaster has long established itself as a trailblazer in the industry with its unique blends, bold techniques, and globally inspired flavours. Now the team is taking things to the next level.
Curiosity and connection have always been at the heart of Stitch Coffee. It’s what pulled founder Nawar Adra into the coffee world in the first place and what continues to guide the team as they’ve grown from a small local roastery into an internationally recognised brand. With a little over ten years under their belt, Stitch has surpassed its early ambitions — crafting an ever-expanding product range, supporting roasters and café owners through education, and building meaningful, ethical relationships along the way.
As the coffee scene shifts and more people embrace brewing at home, Stitch sees only opportunity. Their creativity continues to draw people in — from Japanese-inspired drinks to collaborations with musicians. With a strong focus on making specialty coffee both accessible and a source of community, Stitch is stepping into 2026 with fresh energy and a vision that’s only getting stronger.
THE INTERVIEW
We eagerly caught up with Stitch Coffee founder Nawar Adra to talk about the exciting things they have planned for the year ahead, their recommendation for the perfect Stitch morning moment, and the new trends shaping the coffee scene right now
It’s been a minute! What’s been happening since we last featured you?
Stitch Coffee has had a whirlwind year! We’ve gone global with not one but two café openings in China, four more in Sydney, and moving our warehouse into a new roastery-café space.
On the product side, we released new developments like the Bonbon Drip Coffee Bags Box (processed using the wildest techniques out of Colombia), released Specialty Instant Coffee, and added India as a new country of origin to our ever-changing singles rotation. This past year also strengthened our ties with the Sydney community. We began highlighting our wholesale cafés through our Stitch Brew Stories series on Instagram/TikTok and partnered with an incredible DJ duo to kickstart their RnB café concept, Blend Theory, at Stitch Coffee Broadway. The two events received an incredible response from Sydney’s creatives and coffee enthusiasts.
Another highlight is giving back to the community through our Weave Donation Days on the second Thursday of every month. We donate $1 from every café coffee and online coffee bag sold to a Sydney charity on those days. We also introduced 100% house-made bagels and Shokupan sandwiches across our café menus (because specialty coffee needs specialty eats to match)!
Your team’s grown a lot — who are some of the new legends behind the bar or roaster?
We recently bought on a Retail Manager who is our local legend, Tony Sleiman! He has a fantastic eye for detail having been in the specialty coffee industry for as long as our founder Nawar (in fact, they both came up at the same time through Circa in Western Sydney), and he knows all the finer details about hospitality, having owned a cafe himself. With four new locations all opening within the span of a few months, it’s safe to say he’ll have his hands full installing SOPs and training our new baristas. But if anyone can do it, Tony can! :D
If someone’s visiting Sydney for the first time, where should they go for that classic Stitch morning moment?
Stitch Coffee QVB straight on opening at 7am (or 8am on weekends) is definitely a special experience; the usually busy Queen Victoria Building is super quiet prior to the commuter rush and before the retail stores open, so it’s a great time to come in for a relaxing capp ahead of a hectic day.
Or if you’re after a feed to go with your coffee, we love a bagel moment at Stitch Coffee Broadway in Ultimo. Stitch Coffee is home to our resident ‘bagel man’, Chef Shane, who works with our Head Chef, Kenny, to make in-house fresh bagels (both everything and plain) to delight customers in the mornings.
Does roasting or drinking coffee change for you in the warmer months?
We definitely see increased demand from coffee heads between October–March for iced signature drinks like Yuzu Cold Brew, Iced White Rabbit, Iced Matcha, Honey Fizz Sparkling, and the uber refreshing Bolivian Moose (made on a cáscara tea base).
For this reason, our Head of Coffee Nameru usually sources green coffee for this period that has a distinct summer vibe: think beans with lots of stone fruit or tropical notes that make for fantastic cold brews, and varieties that pair well with milk to quench the fervour for iced latte-friendly roasts.
And when the sun’s up, so are we! Yes in part due to daylight savings, but also because Sydneysiders love getting up early to exercise or go about their errands before it gets too hot…all with a coffee in hand.
What do you think is most exciting in your local coffee scene right now?
Honestly, I’m really excited about this new wave of micro-roasters popping up everywhere. There’s this fresh focus on culture, branding, and the overall experience, not just the technical side of coffee. It’s reshaping how consumers think about what coffee can be.
Signature drinks are also becoming a big thing here, and I think they’re going to be a real game changer. People are getting more experimental, more open-minded, and it’s pushing the whole industry in a really creative direction.
Another thing I love? More and more people are making coffee at home.
It’s actually one of the best things happening right now, because it forces cafés and roasters to level up. If people can already make a good flat white at home, then we have to think: what can we offer that they can’t get at home?
For us, that means bringing new experiences into our cafés, new flavours, new service styles, and new ways to share the story behind the cup. You’re seeing more brew bars, more omakase-style Japanese service, and more cafés turning into little experience hubs rather than just “grab your takeaway and go.”
It feels like the industry is moving into a space where coffee is not just brewed, it’s felt, shared, explored, and enjoyed–and that’s exciting
Stitch has always been about people and connection. How do you keep that same energy as the team keeps growing?
The Stitch Coffee philosophy is to be generous with our knowledge and our time; you don’t go very far when you go it alone! So even though our team is constantly growing, we like to stay connected through hosting community and in-house coffee events that are both educational and social opportunities; ensuring that everyone from the office peeps and online packers to cafe staff and roasters can get to know one another and knowledge-share.
Examples of community events include our Broadway Sessions and supplier cupping nights, while in-house we run lots of training workshops for our cafe staff. More recently, we ran an in-house Origami brewing competition that was a lot of fun! And the next in-house event will be our annual January Christmas party (having it a month late this year so new cafe staff can join in too).
What do you consider your most notable coffee achievements? Specifically, how has coffee shaped you and brought along some unique and awesome experiences?
Nawar Adra - "Coffee honestly reshaped my entire life."
I grew up in Lebanon drinking the harshest, lowest-grade Lebanese coffee you can imagine — the kind you have to drown in sugar just to get it down. Then in 2009, someone handed me a natural Ethiopia from Guji, and it was like the universe cracked open. I tasted berries, bananas, fruit… flavours I didn’t even know coffee could have. That one cup flipped a switch in me. It made me curious, excited, and hungry to learn everything about this world.
That curiosity is what carried me across countries and cultures. From roasting warehouses in Sydney to small cafés in China and Japan, to festival stages where I somehow ended up teaching people about Australian coffee culture in the most unexpected places.
If I had to pick my most notable achievement so far, it’s this: being able to travel the world and share our Australian coffee culture across Asia. In the last two years alone, I’ve travelled through 15 cities in China, opened two stores in Suzhou, and jumped from one coffee festival to another. The energy in China’s coffee scene brought my passion back to life. It reminded me why I started and pushed me to keep growing, keep exploring, keep learning from what the “other side of the world” is doing.
Coffee shaped me into someone who believes in curiosity, compassion, and creation. Everything I am today still traces back to that first Guji, the cup that changed everything.
THE COFFEE
Espresso Coffee:
Black Field Blend
This month’s signature espresso was the second blend Stitch Coffee ever created! Named after Nawar’s favourite rock band Blackfield, this blend was crafted as a medium-roast coffee with classic notes of dark chocolate and sweet caramel, and a clean yet velvety texture. With low acidity, it’s the perfect blend for an espresso or milk coffee.
Coffee Origin:
PNG & Ethiopia
Tasting Notes:
Notes of sweet caramel and velvety dark chocolate.
Suggested Recipe for Espresso:
Dose: 19–23g (according to your basket size)
Yield: 38–46g
Temp: 94°C
Time: 27–31 seconds
Ratio: 1:1.8
Filter Coffee:
Costa Rica, Volcán Azul
This filter coffee was a champion from the very beginning. Grown on a farm that has won the Cup of Excellence award three separate times, it delivers a naturally sweet and expressive flavour. Producer Alejo Kahle Castro’s meticulous attention to detail and disciplined processing allow these highland Costa Rican beans to develop rich notes of sweet cherry and chocolate, resulting in the light roast brew we know and love.
Coffee Origins:
Costa Rica
Tasting Notes:
Notes of rich dark chocolate, sweet raspberry, and a bright cherry-like character.
Suggested Recipe for Filter:
Dose: 15g
Bloom: 30g for 40 seconds
Water: 255g
Temp: 97–100°C
Time: 1:30–2:30 minutes
Ratio: 1:17
Espresso Dark Roast:
Dark Field Blend
keeping tradition of naming our blends “_____ Field” continued in 2022 with the introduction of Dark Field Blend, the dark roast counterpart to Higgs Field and Black Field Blend. This Italian-style roast coffee caters to the Stoics among us, with its dense and deep-flavoured characteristics like dark chocolate, toasted almond, and caramel. A blend of specialty beans sourced from Papua New Guinea, Dark Field blend is bold, rich, and goes well with as a black espresso or milk coffee. Expect minimal acidity and some subtle sweetness.
Coffee Origin:
Papua New Guinea
Tasting Notes:
Notes of dark chocolate, toasted almond and caramel
Suggested Recipe for Espresso:
Dose: 19–23g (according to your basket size)
Yield: 38–46g
Temp: 93.5°C
Time: 27–31 seconds
Ratio: 1:1.8
Premium Filter:
La Palma is situated on picturesque slopes near the town of Palestina, within Colombia’s Huila Department (an area that is famed for its specialty coffee production). The producer Luis Edgar Camacho Mateus inherited the farm from his father, who started off as a cherry picker before amassing the funds that made it possible to purchase La Palma. Today Luis resides on the farm with his wife Ledy and two children, and only began planting Bourbon trees in 2021; this lot is one of the newer fruits of these labours, which we roasted light. Expect mid-to-high acidity and tons of sweetness.
Coffee Origin:
Columbia
Tasting Notes:
notes alongside hints of blood orange and red apple
Suggested Recipe for filter:
Dose: 15g
Bloom: 30g for 40 seconds
Water: 255g
Temp: 97–100°C
Time: 1:30–2:30 minutes
Ratio: 1:17