Zentveld's Coffee Farm & Roastery

What Zentveld’s is

Zentveld’s is a working coffee farm and roastery at 193 Broken Head Road in Newrybar, in the hinterland between Byron Bay and Ballina. The family planted coffee here in 1987, which makes it one of the older operations in Australia’s small domestic coffee industry, and it does everything on one site: grows the cherries, processes them, roasts the beans in a solar-powered roastery and sells them across the counter.

Most visitors do not know Australia grows coffee at all. The Northern Rivers sit at a subtropical latitude rather than a tropical one, so the plants grow slower and the cherries ripen later than they would in Colombia or Ethiopia. The farm grows Arabica without pesticides and describes the result as naturally sweeter and lower in caffeine than tropical-origin coffee. Their blends carry local names: Broken Head, Byron Blend, Ernesto Roast, Reserve 01, along with single origin, decaf and low-caffeine bags.

Attached to the farm is the Z Coffee House, a counter and deck looking out over the plantation rows. It is open on weekdays and Saturday mornings, costs nothing to walk into, and is where most people end up whether or not they do the tour. When I filmed there the coffee house was as much the point as the plantation.

Who is behind it

June and John Zentveld Sr started the farm in 1987. John and Rebecca Zentveld took over in 1993 and shifted the business towards roasting and selling their own crop rather than supplying someone else’s. Rebecca is the public face of the place and leads the Friday tour in person, which is unusual at a farm this established and is the single biggest reason to come on a Friday rather than any other day.

How a visit works

There are two ways to see the farm, and they cost very different amounts.

• Just the coffee house. Walk in any weekday between 08:00 and 16:00, or Saturday until 14:00. No booking, no entry fee, barista coffee and a view over the rows. Closed Sundays.
• The public farm tour. Fridays at 10:00, one to one and a half hours, led by Rebecca. No booking required, though the farm prefers a phone call ahead, and it needs at least two people to run.
• Private and corporate tours. Weekdays by appointment, about 90 minutes, arranged by email. Corporate groups, school excursions and private parties are all taken.

What the tour covers

The Friday tour is a crop-to-cup route in the literal sense. It opens with a barista-made drink at the coffee house, then walks out into the plantation to cover how coffee is grown and harvested at this latitude. Along the way it takes in the native and honey bee hives and the regenerative planting the farm has put in. It then moves to the processing shed, where the machinery and the mechanical harvester live, and finishes inside the solar-powered roastery to watch green bean turn into the roast that is sold at the counter. The farm shop is the last stop, and beans, local honey and pastries are on sale there.

What it costs

Prices are the farm’s own published rates. USD figures are approximate.

Item	Price
Public Friday tour, adults 16+	35 AUD, about 23 USD
Public Friday tour, children 6 to 15	5.50 AUD, about 4 USD
Coffee house entry	Free
Coffee, tea or hot chocolate	Included in the tour price
Private and corporate tours	Quoted on request

The tour was free for years, so plenty of write-ups and videos still describe it that way. It is now ticketed, and the price includes a drink, which takes the sting out of it. Buying beans, honey and something from the counter is where the rest of a visit’s spend goes.

How to book

• Public Friday tour: no booking needed, but phone ahead on 02 6687 2045. Minimum two people.
• Private or corporate tour: email tours@zentvelds.com.au, weekdays by appointment.
• General enquiries: coffee@zentvelds.com.au.

If your trip only overlaps Newrybar on a weekday that is not Friday, the coffee house and the shop are still open and still worth the drive; you simply miss the plantation walk.

Getting there

• Address: 193 Broken Head Road, Newrybar NSW 2479, Australia.
• From Byron Bay: about 15 to 20 minutes by car, inland through the hinterland.
• From Bangalow: about 10 minutes.
• From Ballina Byron Gateway airport: about 20 minutes.
• From Gold Coast airport: roughly an hour.
• Parking: ample and free on site, with ramp access at the coffee house. Coach parking is available.
• Public transport: nothing useful. This is a drive or a taxi.

Before you go

• Come on a Friday if you can. The 10:00 tour with Rebecca is the version of this place worth planning around.
• Closed footwear is essential on the tour and a hat is recommended. The route is gravel with some grass underfoot.
• Sundays are out. The coffee house does not open, and Saturday closes early at 14:00.
• Bring your own food if you want a proper meal. The counter does coffee and baked goods rather than a full menu, and the farm is relaxed about guests bringing more substantial food to eat on the deck.
• Dogs are welcome, which makes this an easy stop on a hinterland drive.
• Pair it with the rest of the hinterland. The Farm Byron Bay is about 20 minutes away and covers the food side of the same regenerative-agriculture story.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version of the walk from the plantation rows to the roaster. For everything else I have filmed in Australia, open my map or browse the rest of the Australia recommendations.