Jasper Parker Trenfield returned to the business that shares his name in 2023. Now, alongside his mother and Jasper Coffee Co-Founder Merilyn Parker, and CEO Jeremy Boxall, he’s helping write its next chapter.
Melbourne’s coffee scene in 2026 is a far cry from what it was in 1989. It’s hardly comparing chalk and cheese, but plenty has changed in the past 37 years.
Far from the modern specialty movement the city is now world-renowned for, the late 1980s was an era still almost exclusively built on the influence of post-war immigration, standing on the shoulders of the Greek and Italian cultures that first brought espresso to Australia.
Many traces from this time can still be seen today, though. The popularity of espresso-based drinks may have shifted, but continues to reign supreme, while icons like Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar still stand tall. Jasper Coffee is another business with ‘Melbourne institution status’.
Co-founded by Merilyn Parker and Wells Trenfield, Jasper Coffee has long been a trailblazer in sustainable, organic coffee, and has captured the imagination of the city for close to 40 years.
Now, Jasper Parker Trenfield – son of Merilyn and Wells, and after whom the business is named – has returned to his namesake and a career in coffee, where he is working alongside Merilyn and the rest of the Jasper team.
Wells, a global titan of sustainable, traceable, and high-quality coffee, sadly passed away in 2024, leaving a vacuum in the business that needed to be filled. His lifetime contribution to coffee was recognised at MICE 2025, where he was named the expo’s inaugural Legacy Award winner.
Jasper, who came back to Melbourne after more than a decade living in London, leaped back into the family business upon returning to his hometown despite having a forged successful career in animation.
He contributed to film productions including Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantastic Beasts, The Jungle Book, and Gravity, alongside working on a music video for Arctic Monkeys, theme park rides at Framestore London, and a project with leading videogame studio Rocksteady.
It was due to the deterioration in Wells’ health that Jasper and his young family elected to stay in Melbourne. In just one day, they decided to pause his animation career to spend time with his family.
“I had always wanted to be an animator,” says Jasper. “Growing up, we lived in Clifton Hill and Wells hand-built a huge art studio. I’d spend all my school holidays in there making animations with Lego, I was obsessed with it and it’s all I wanted as a career.
“I wanted to go out and make a career and a life for myself away from Melbourne and not feel like I was relying on my parents’ work to make my life meaningful. I did that for quite a long time and I’m really happy with the career I had, but when I saw how rapidly my dad’s health was deteriorating, we made the difficult decision to uproot our lives then and there.
“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. It was a real ordeal, both physically and emotionally. We had a six-month-old baby in tow while stepping back into a space that had changed so much.”
Jasper grew up having sometimes taken catnaps on coffee sacks in Jasper Coffee shops and, by his own admission, turning up to school smelling of coffee after running deliveries in Wells’ van. Now, he was a key piece of the puzzle in moving the business forward.
Merilyn, as always, was there to help lead the way, now alongside her son. Jasper had also made the call to bring Jeremy Boxall back into the business as CEO.
“When Jasper came back into the business, he was conscious that he had some areas of expertise, but we also needed some help, leading to the decision to bring back Jeremy,” says Merilyn.
“He had worked in the business for 10 years, starting as the store manager in Prahan. Jasper was about 18 he first worked with him. He’d worked in operations, then as the general manager, and he ran retail operations beside me. He’s also trained as a Q Grader and has a very sophisticated palate and deep knowledge of coffee.
“That was one of the very smart early things Jasper did, we needed experts around us. We needed to rebuild from the loss of Wells, and there was probably 12 months of shock in the business after his passing. You take time to grieve, acknowledge the loss, and build on the presence Wells left behind.
“It was like an earthquake. When an earthquake happens, the world is suddenly different, but you must adapt and rebuild.”
Part of that rebuild within the four walls of Jasper Coffee has been a focus on growing its online presence.
Merilyn says it is still important for the business to have a physical presence, which it currently maintains at Highpoint, Brunswick Street, and Prahan Market, but the fast-moving consumer goods sector (FMCG) has been a priority, especially due to the recent and dramatic shift in where people consume coffee.
“A lot of the work has been on growing our web presence and our online store, and that’s been really productive and successful,” says Merilyn.
“Retail is an aspect we’re looking at closely. The corporate market disappeared a lot with the advent of COVID, and there aren’t as many people going to offices anymore. There’s been a big shift in the way people drink coffee towards FMCG since people have their own machines now.”
There also appears to be a regearing of the brand looming, which Jasper has taken the reins of.
It’s a tough balance to bring a fresh and modern twist to one of Melbourne’s most significant and longstanding brands, because, after all, Jasper Coffee is not some new upstart café, it’s part of the fabric of the city.
“We’ve been doing a huge amount of work to get the business into a space where we want to make sure we’re taking Jasper into the future in a positive way, but also reinforcing that core of Melbourne coffee we have been part of for a long time,” says Jasper.
“The biggest things we’re working on is refreshing the look and feel of the brand. We go out into the world with a mix of old and new and we want to marry up the sense of modern Melbourne with our legacy in the city. We’re not going to pretend we’re something we’re not – but we want to bring a new feel while maintaining our approachability.
“We’re also doing a huge amount of work on our coffee quality behind the scenes. A lot of that’s roasting, so we’re making sure we’re cupping every day, and Jeremy is leading that quality assurance process with a team of cuppers here.
“We’ve been really happy to see customers so happy about it, and we’re getting some great reviews.”
Perhaps the most notable of those public reviews has come from mainstream media outlet The Guardian, which ran a test of 41 ground supermarket coffees alongside Condesa Co.Lab, which scored Jasper Coffee’s Ethiopia Yirgacheffe the winner.
The metrics in this test were to score the coffee out of 10, with scores for milk and black coffee based on bitterness, acidity, sweetness, aroma, and flavour.
Reviewer Nicholas Jordan labelled the Yirgacheffe “a reminder of what coffee can be”.
Jasper says the recognition was unexpected but welcome news, not just to the team at the roastery, but also to the growers.
“It was amazing to tell our growers in Ethiopia about that,” says Jasper. “Our green bean buyer, Abdul, is from Ethiopia. He went back recently and took them some coffee, and it was amazing to be able to connect them with that and show them people really like their coffee.
“We’ve had relationships with them for decades, and it’s important to build long-term relationships like that. Knowing who we buy from year after year is crucial. This Ethiopian coffee was one of the earliest organic and Fairtrade coffees we sold, and it’s crucial to help these growers have stable incomes year after year.”
Merilyn believes hundreds of people have worked for the business over the years, many of whom have gone on to start their own roasteries, cafés, or other businesses within the community. The influence of Wells, Merilyn, and the Jasper team snakes through Melbourne’s coffee community like a network of tree roots, giving life to its everchanging landscape.
Staying true to the pillars Jasper has been built on – helping people, driving sustainability, and quality coffee – is still critical to the business, and will remain so for as long as Jasper and Merilyn are steering the ship.
It still holds close affiliations with a host of non-profits and NGOs that were started years ago, including with the likes of Outback Academy and the Red Dust Heelers, and Café Femenino in Peru.
Jasper Coffee became Australia’s first licensed Fairtrade roaster in 2003, Australia’s first carbon neutral coffee brand in 2009.
Jasper says those certifications, along with the likes of B Corp – they were Australia’s first roaster to be certified back in 2016 – are just as important now as they have ever been.
“It’s a huge part of what we do. It’s crucial to have an eye on making sure you are progressing things like Fairtrade constantly, because it’s so critical to why we do what we do. This has always been a business to help drive change in a tangible way,” says Jasper.
“Because my parents first came at this with an artist’s perspective, not a business perspective.
“They didn’t let people tell them what coffee should be; they went out and made coffee what they wanted it to be, and that attracted people.”
Wells’ influence still permeates every nook and cranny of Jasper Coffee. From photos he took from early trips to Papua New Guinea adorning the walls of its Abbotsford roastery, to his art being featured some of the brand’s coffee bags.
Now, after that 12-month shock to the business following the loss of Wells, Merilyn says having Jasper and Jeremy alongside her helping lead Jasper Coffee is a uniquely positive experience.
“Wells was really excited to see Jasper stepping back into the business, and he felt like it was the right move,” says Merilyn. “The 12 months we all had together with Wells were really important.
“It’s been one of the good outcomes, everybody was together after being apart for more than 11 years. We had travelled to London to see them, but there was still a sense of missing important moments. Even though Wells’ condition was getting worse, there was a lot of joy in the fact we were together.
“To see Jasper, the contribution he’s making to the business and the thoughtfulness he brings, as well as the long history of knowledge about where we think from and what we’re doing, is incredible.”
This article appears in the April 2026 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
