Common Ground Espresso is a small batch coffee roastery at Unit 11/4 Strathallan Street, South Dunedin, supplying coffee to local cafes and to the wider public. The roastery began in 2014 after the founders purchased a 5kg roaster and started learning the craft, initially roasting around 150kg a week to supply their own two cafes.
Since then, growth has been purely organic, and the team is proud to now be supplying beans to good places run by good people. Common Ground now runs three roasters, with a group of kind and talented people working around the roastery. Many customers come by each day to get a brew, pick up beans for home, and connect with the team and other like-minded regulars who frequent the space.
The roastery's stated values have stayed consistent throughout: a focus on quality product, produced by hand and delivered with genuinely good service. As the team puts it, "We care, we are kind, we are never complacent and we love good coffee." Customers have echoed that experience, with reviewer Tim writing, "If I could give 6 stars I could. The team here are the best. Always friendly. GREAT COFFEE," and Joseph noting the aroma of coffee beans while waiting for a fresh espresso is "100% a great experience."
Common Ground Espresso started small — literally. In 2014, the founders purchased a 5kg roaster and began learning the craft of roasting from scratch, working up to roughly 150kg a week to supply their own two cafes. From that starting point, growth has been entirely organic, and the roastery at Unit 11/4 Strathallan Street, South Dunedin, now runs three roasters with a team of kind, talented people working the space daily.
What sets Common Ground apart from a purely wholesale operation is how many people show up at the roastery itself. Customers come by each day not just to buy beans for home, but to get a fresh brew and connect with the team and other regulars who frequent the space. It's a genuine community hub built around coffee, not just a production facility that happens to sell direct.
Throughout its growth, Common Ground has stuck to the same core values it started with: a focus on a quality product, produced by hand, and delivered with genuinely good service. As the team puts it simply, "We care, we are kind, we are never complacent and we love good coffee." That philosophy shows up in customer feedback too — one reviewer, Tim, wrote that the team is "always friendly" and serves "GREAT COFFEE," while Joseph described the aroma of the beans while waiting for a fresh espresso as "100% a great experience." Reviewer Adrien summed it up as "great tasting coffee, roasted on location by a passionate team."
Common Ground's bean range spans everyday blends and more distinctive single origin options. Grunty and House Blend serve as the everyday house blends, while Fair Trade Organic and Colombian Decaf round out the ethically-minded and decaffeinated options. For those chasing something more specific, the single origin range includes Timor 'Ermera' Anaerobic Natural, Kenya 'Ngomano AA' Washed, and Indonesia 'Pango Pango' Extended Natural — each named for its growing region and processing method, giving coffee enthusiasts a genuine variety to explore.
Common Ground doesn't just serve individual customers — it supplies coffee to local cafes and to "the good people of New Zealand" more broadly, positioning itself as a wholesale roaster as much as a retail destination. That dual role means the beans roasted at Strathallan Street end up both in home coffee grinders and behind the counters of other cafes around the region.
Common Ground Espresso's roastery is open Monday to Friday from 7am to 2pm, and Saturday from 8:30am to 12:30pm, closed on Sundays. Those relatively early hours reflect its roots as a working roastery first and a cafe second — but for anyone wanting a fresh brew alongside the smell of coffee being roasted, it's worth timing a visit within that window.