A converted living room on Haven Road, Nelson. A coffee roaster fixed to the inside wall. Dan working the machine by day, roasting through the night. People walking past would slow down, drawn by the aroma, the warmth through the window, the sense that something was happening inside that cottage.

They'd wander in. Order a flat white. Watch the roast. Chat with whoever was around. Then come back.

That was Dan's original idea, and it turned out to be the right one: coffee roasting belongs close to the community. Not hidden in a factory. Not behind a wall. Right there, in front of you, smelling extraordinary.

Emma was still teaching full-time then, moonlighting as a barista on weekends to help keep the lights on. Their kids — Hinemoana and Zeb — were already involved, taking orders from behind a counter they could barely see over. Bean blending. Packing. The whole operation, tiny and entirely family-run.

The regulars came because they were curious. They stayed because the coffee was  good just like the people. That combination — quality and community, craft and belonging — became the thing Sublime was built on. Not a marketing strategy. Just what it actually was.

As demand grew, they did what the Sublime approach has always demanded: don't accept a limitation, build the right solution. When Haven Road couldn't keep up, Dan built their first proper roaster from the ground up.

Eventually, they outgrew that, too. Java Hut first, then Gloucester Street in 2013. New Street in 2019, six good years, the roaster visible from the street, the brew bar open to anyone who wanted to get close to the process. Then in 2026, home became Bridge Street Studios, the creative laneways in the heart of Nelson CBD, where Sublime sits as the anchor among a community of makers, artists and independent businesses. The roaster is still where people can see it. The door is still open. Dan's original belief — that coffee roasting should happen close to the community — has never been more literally true.

The current roaster isn't one Dan built from scratch, but it might as well be. He's modified and customised it so extensively that it's barely recognisable as the machine it started as. The care that went into two flat whites a day in a converted living room on Haven Road goes into every batch that leaves Bridge Street Studios now.

Same vibes. That's Sublime. Custom-built from the beginning.