Awards and media features
We’re here for delicious coffee, not hype or praise. But when someone gives us public credit, of course, we feel extra thankful and confident about our everyday mission. It’s the cherry on top.
Awards
2018 - CRS Roasters Smackdown People’s Choice
2018 - CRS Roasters Smackdown Industry Award
2014 - Good Food Best Barista Award
Media features: articles, podcasts, and videos
2025
Man Of Many - 20 Best Specialty Coffee Shops in Sydney
Australian Traveller - Here’s where to get the best coffee in Sydney
Broadsheet - The Best Home Coffee Machines, According to Local Roasters and Baristas
GQ Australia - The best specialty coffee roasters to visit in Sydney
2024
Homes To Love - The best at-home coffee machines for your café experience
The Age - Espresso-meets-cocktail bars, high-tech tools at home: 10 coffee trends to tap into, right now
Broadsheet - The Best Coffee in Sydney
2023
The Coffeevine - Sample Coffee: roasting great coffee in the heart of Sydney
Time Out - The top Sydney roasters who deliver the best beans
Ordermentum - Epic night! Beyond the Bar with Sample Coffee
2022
Barista Magazine - What It’s Like To Be a B Corp: Sample Coffee Roasters
The Producers Podcast - Dani Valent chats with Reuben about sourcing, brewing and ethical production:
2021
Restaurant And Cafe Magazine - Meet the roaster: John Kaye, Sample Coffee
Concrete Playground - Sample Coffee Surry Hills: What this hole-in-the-wall joint lacks in size it makes up for in coffee expertise.
2020
Prospa - Marketing strategies during COVID-19
Time Out - One of Sydney’s best coffee roasters has turned into a gourmet grocer
Concrete Playground - Best Australian online coffee subscriptions
B Local Sydney - Best Practices: Certified B Corporations™ and COVID-19
Broadsheet - Old Gold First Look: A Sydney Coffee Roaster Opens a Cafe in a Former Chocolate Factory
To Plate - Dan Puskas (Sixpenny) chats with Reuben (our founder) about why he chose to serve Sample Coffee in his Enmore restaurant:
2019
Gourmet Traveller - The Green Issue
Inside Out - Our guide to the best domestic machines on the market
Nichigo Press - St Peters Pro Shop and cafe feature
Urban Village - Sample’s move to transparency
2018
The Upsider - Interview with Reuben Mardan
CRS Podcast - Interview with Reuben after his Roasters Smackdown competition double victory:
2017
MelbCSS Conference - Simon Wright presents ‘Caffeinated design’ or how he built the pillars of Sample Coffee’s identity and print logistics:
2015
Time Out - Sample Coffee Pro Shop
Broadsheet - Sample Coffee Opens in St. Peters: A paired-back St. Peters warehouse space that’s worth the hunt.
Time Out - Step into a coffee Narnia in the centre of Surry Hills
Big Review TV - A testament of our beginnings, featuring who would become our current head roaster at the end:
2014
Australian Bartender - All about 3rd wave coffee, batch brew and more by Sam Baygrave
Good Food - Good Food Awards 2014: Reuben Mardan gets the “Best Barista” Award
2013
Coffee Guide Sydney 6th Edition - Sample Coffee Surry Hills
Sydney Morning Herald- No skim, no soy: filter coffee back on cafe menu
2012
Broadsheet - Black Saturdays at Sample Coffee
2011
Broadsheet - Surry Hills Sample Coffee Here