In 2015, I walked into a tiny shop in Engadine's Waratah Arcade for my first day on bar and got hooked… on all of it. The craft, the people, the pull of a shot done right. Coffee became the thing I couldn't put down, and somewhere along the way it became the reason a community started showing up. The name came later, at our family dinner table, over a plate of piperki (capsicums stuffed with meat and rice). Steam Brothers. It stuck. Fitting, really, because it started with family and it's been about family ever since.

Then it was my turn, and I made the brave decision to hire my mates. We were all teenagers essentially, running a business most people wouldn't hand to someone twice our age. No experience, no blueprint, no one coming to save us - just a roster of kids who refused to serve a bad cup. We learned the craft the only way that sticks: every single day, for the people standing in front of us.

I grew up in Menai, and I've been in Engadine for over ten years now. These aren't just suburbs we trade in, they're home. We know the faces, the orders, the regulars who turn into friends. We started roasting our own coffee shortly after. Not because it's easy (fun though), but because it's the only way to control the cup and make it ours, make it consistent, make it one of one. Passion started it. Craft keeps it honest.

We have big dreams to own what we operate in, because that's the whole point. It's what lets us back local initiatives, look after our team properly, and plant ourselves deep in the roots of these suburbs instead of just passing through them. We're not here to be another coffee shop. We're here to build something that lasts, and to leave every corner of this community better off than we found it.

- Aleks