How Aussie coffee liqueur Mr Black is taking over the US

It’s been 10 years since Sydneysider and industrial designer Tom Baker met Central Coast distiller Phillip Moore and tasted his coffee liqueur.

Back in 2013 a drink like this was not on the radar of the Australian palate but Baker’s obsession with good coffee told him otherwise.

The then 23-year-old millennial had been consuming espressos since he was 12 and assured Moore that not only would the Australian coffee drinking fraternity embrace the product, but that “every bar and restaurant in the world needed this on their shelf”.

Humble beginnings

The now prophetic assertion saw the pair set up Mr Black that same year, and for the first two years of operation it was a double act that exemplified the concept of quality over quantity.

Moore was “one of the godfathers in distilling in Australia” producing the magic brew, while Baker made it “look pretty” and hustled it — by phone, in person, from his car boot, at food markets and bars around Australia, while holding down a day job.   

“I was just him and I.