THE PIQUE STORY

PIQUE was born from a love of coffee. Not just the cup itself, but the stories shared across tables, the heaving cafes, the farmers continuing ancient traditions, the friendships made across the globe... and the knowledge that a good coffee might just make someone’s day that little bit brighter.  

We're a Specialty Coffee Roastery in Perth, created by long-time coffee industry guy Jason Millar and his long-time creative industry wife Claire. The duo have a history of working on creative projects together, mostly cooked up around their kitchen table over a bevvie or two. Looking for a new challenge, they felt the time was right to hatch a new plan that's been brewing for a while and bring a new vision to life, full of creativity and fun and deliciousness!

Our goal is simple: to pique the interest of coffee lovers, educate and stimulate their senses and instill a curiosity in coffee and this crazy world we inhabit!

Our mission is to provide a consistently excellent coffee experience for every customer. From the regulars in the burbs, to our wholesale cafe partners, it’s our goal to help grow successful coffee businesses through exceptional quality, product consistency and outstanding service. We achieve this through our commitment to training and support, using responsibly sourced green coffee with our in-house quality control program. Every step in the chain is carefully considered and respected.

In these strange times, one thing has became clear to us.... it doesn't matter if there's a world altering pandemic going on, or a lockdown or whatever else seems to be thrown at us lately, one thing people still rely on for a sense of 'normality' and daily ritual is their coffee! And PIQUE is here to provide it! :-)
  

TEAM PIQUE

JASON MILLAR
Founder, Q Grader, Coffee Brain

Jason’s 360 degree spectrum of coffee experience as a barista, roaster, trainer, Q Grader, account manager and sales manager gives him a unique viewpoint that few in the coffee industry have.

Jase began his coffee journey with a colourful backstory. A talented musician and sound engineer for over 15 years, he packed up and moved to Melbourne with Claire and the kids in 2011 to follow the bright lights of the big city. During a break in recording at the famous Sing Sing Studios, he ventured out of the dark and unknowingly into the hallowed halls of St Ali. He drank what he describes as ‘his first real coffee.’ Little did he know, that cup of coffee would pique his interest and cause a spark that’s changed the course of his life.

Eyes wide open, he set about tasting his way through some of Melbourne’s best cafes. His career took a left turn when he began working behind the machine as a Barista at Jasper Coffee in the Prahran Markets, a giant leap from the solitary darkness of a recording studio to the hustle and bustle of market life but he was hooked.

In 2014, Jase moved on and began working alongside coffee royalty Salvatore Malatesta at the place where it all started... St Ali. He began an intense training regime with 2012 World Brewers Cup Champion Matt Perger, focused on consistency and accuracy, where he not only improved his coffee making skills, but also learnt the systems, processes and resilience needed to run a high volume 600 cup a day cafe.

A year later, he moved into a Production Roaster role at Veneziano Coffee Roasters, learning everything he could from a number of mentors who saw his spark and fast-tracked his development. They taught him not only roasting but also the business of coffee, the importance of quality control and account management.

A last minute decision to enter the Victorian Cup Tasters Competition in 2015 earned Jase an unexpected second placing, which reinforced to him that he must be doing something right! By far his biggest crowning coffee achievement so far though has been training his palate to become a Certified Q Grader, one of the hardest things he’s ever done in his life [and that’s after two non-sleeper kids!].

In 2017, the Millar's threw a spanner in the works and moved back to their hometown of Perth, where Jase became Veneziano's WA Sales Manager, in a new role building relationships and providing business and tech support to cafes to help improve their businesses.

Next stop, Jase was brought into hospitality icon Nic Trimboli’s Mano a Mano Coffee as Roastery Manager to bring new ideas to their wholesale program. He developed a new house blend, then began a process of building new systems and products across the business and growing the customer base.

And now for the next chapter... After a successful two years with Mano, it was finally time for Jason to realise his dream of opening his own coffee roasting company - and here we are!

CLAIRE MILLAR
Founder, Creative Brain

Let's be honest here, Claire doesn’t know a thing about coffee but she knows about design. Having worked in graphic design, digital design and marketing for over 20 years, she is obsessive about the fact that design matters and good design can be the difference between success and failure.

Born with a creative streak, Claire started out as a musician and visual artist, painting backdrops, designing posters, flyers and album artwork and generally creating whatever her heart desired in the rehearsal warehouse space for her boyfriend [soon to be husband] Jason’s bands.

That soon morphed to designing the menus and promo at the restaurant she was working at after she got sick of looking at how ugly they were! From there, a four week stint of work experience in 2001 turned into a four year paid job with North Fremantle design legends Media on Mars, before she decided that she was ready to take a leap of faith on her own and Planetklaire, and later Millapede Projects were born.

Millapede began in 2006, specialising in working with clients who like to think a little differently about their designs. Initially only focusing on artists and musicians, Millapede continues to work with clients across a wide spectrum of industries in Australia, the US and the UK, including hospitality, tourism, health, construction... and there’s even a dog groomer in the mix!

While Claire was in Melbourne, she worked for creative ad agency Night & Day on large scale international projects and took on a new role of social media management to complement her digital design work. More recently Claire began work in the not-for-profit sector as in-house designer with youth mental health service Youth Focus. She was brought in to take the organisation through a large scale brand renewal. Her work has been instrumental in building the profile of the service and earned her the 2018 Make a Difference Employee of the Year Award! :-)

Claire’s inspiration for PIQUE has come full circle. She’s super excited to be back to her roots and getting her hands dirty creating again, bringing Jase's colourful flavour notes to life across everything PIQUE and turning a big picture vision into reality.