A moment in a (half-full) cup.

Photography
Justin Nacua

There is something revealing about the way Dan Kim talks about coffee.

He knows exactly what he wants from a cup - where it came from, how it was processed, how it was roasted and, ultimately, how it tastes - yet there is no sense of ceremony (for ceremony’s sake).

In fact, he has a habit that seems almost contradictory for someone who has spent years building a coffee business: he rarely finishes a serve.

“I never drink a full cup of coffee,” he says.

It is an unexpectedly charming admission, and perhaps an apt metaphor for Primary. For Dan, coffee has never been about excess. It is about the moment: the pause, the conversation, the quality of what is in the cup. Five minutes can be enough.

Now, almost a decade after opening Primary in Potts Point, Dan is taking the next step. Primary is heading to Marrickville, bringing with it something he has wanted for years - a roastery of his own.

From Potts Point to Marrickville.

“I’m Dan, founder and owner of Primary - also a barista and roaster and delivery guy,” he says. “We opened our doors in Potts Point nine, ten years ago and here we are now, in Marrickville.”

The move represents a significant moment for a business that has grown organically, but the location feels less like a departure than a return. Dan knows Marrickville well. He once lived nearby in Monterey, and his daughter went to school in the area.

“Coming back to Marrickville, it was just going to where I used to live,” he says. “It’s very similar to Potts Point. There are so many nice cafes and restaurants and people are super nice here.”

That familiarity is part of what makes the new Primary feel at home. Marrickville has its own established rhythm - creative, independent and deeply connected to food and hospitality - making it a natural fit for a business whose identity has always been grounded in people as much as coffee.

A roastery of his own.

For the past nine years, Dan has worked from a friend's roastery, using their space to roast Primary's coffee. It has served the business well, but owning his own facility has always been an ambition.

“I had to borrow my friend’s setup for the last nine years, using their space,” he says. “I always wanted my own. I’m sure everyone wants to have their own space.”

Now that space is finally his.

There is something particularly satisfying about the control it brings. Coffee can be calibrated from the beginning of the day, tasted and adjusted with an understanding of every step that came before it.

“It’s great whenever you dial coffee in the morning and taste it and you know what’s in the cup and you know how it’s processed, where it came from,” Dan says. “It’s a really important part of doing coffee in a business.”

That attention to provenance and process is fundamental to Primary. It is not about making coffee feel complicated; rather, it is about understanding the details well enough that the final experience can feel effortless.

Keeping the space simple.

The Marrickville site began as little more than an empty shell.

“It was just a warehouse, you know, nothing in it,” Dan says.

But the rawness of the building was precisely what attracted him. It had the scale, proportions and character he had been looking for, allowing him to create something that referenced Primary’s original Potts Point home without simply reproducing it.

“I wanted to create something similar to the Potts Point store - minimal, clean, but still welcoming for people to come in and sit and relax and drink coffee.”

There is an intentional restraint to the approach. Rather than designing a space that competes with the coffee, Dan wanted the environment to recede enough for the experience to take centre stage.

“I didn’t want to make it too fancy,” he says. “Just focus on the experience of coffee rather than the design.”

It is a philosophy that feels increasingly rare. In a world where hospitality spaces can become as photographed as the food and drink they serve, Primary takes a quieter position: create somewhere comfortable, make something good, and let people settle in.

The a moment of pause.

For Dan, that sense of ease is central to what a cafe can offer.

“I think for our customers, especially at the moment of pause, they sit and it doesn’t matter how busy, they come in, they sit and have a coffee, five minutes or ten minutes, relax and then it’s social,” he says.

It sounds simple, but that simplicity is precisely the point.

Coffee creates a small interruption in the day. It can be the space between meetings, a conversation with a friend, a moment alone before work, or simply an excuse to stop moving.

“It's just a way to just relax and spend five minutes at least.”

The new Marrickville space has been conceived around that idea. There is no pressure to turn the experience into an event. Instead, it is somewhere to arrive, sit down and enjoy what is in front of you.

Slow mornings, precise coffee.

For all the efficiency required to run a busy coffee business, Dan has learned that the best way to start the day is to resist rushing it.

“When I was young, I used to come in 15 minutes before the time rush to open and sometimes late,” he says. “But now I try to sort of enjoy that moment.”

These days, he arrives at least an hour before 5am.

He takes the time to prepare, plan ahead, speak with the team and, naturally, taste coffee.

That slower beginning is not at odds with the pace of hospitality. In fact, it is what allows the day to move efficiently once the doors open.

“There’s two key points. Things that I always talk about whenever we have a staff meeting,” Dan says. “Quality is the thing people come back to. Efficiency is probably the second most important part.”

It is a deceptively straightforward philosophy, but one that has carried Primary from its first Potts Point days to its new home in Marrickville.

From roaster to delivery guy.

Dan still drops the bean orders himself, another part of the business he genuinely enjoys.

“I love delivering coffee. I can go in and talk to them,” he says.

There is a particular satisfaction in seeing Primary’s coffee being prepared by someone else - coffee that began with Dan selecting and roasting the beans.

“It’s really nice when someone makes a coffee - a coffee that I roasted,” he says. “And sometimes it tastes better.”

There is humour in the admission, but also a sense of pride. Coffee is ultimately a collaborative process, and the final cup belongs as much to the barista making it as it does to the person who roasted it.

When he gets the chance, Dan likes to experience coffee from the other side of the bar.

“It’s really nice when you sit down on the other side of the bar and enjoy coffee.”

His own preferences are pared back: espresso and filter coffee, ideally black.

“I try to drink coffee that way, and I think that’s the purest way to enjoy the quality.”

And yet, despite all the attention he gives to the cup, he still rarely finishes one.

Perhaps that is the secret to Primary. The goal isn't to consume more, stay longer or make coffee feel more important than it needs to be. It is to make the few minutes count.

An honest place to pause.

After almost ten years in Potts Point, the move to Marrickville marks a new chapter for Primary, but not a reinvention. The foundations remain the same: good coffee, careful roasting, efficient service and a genuine connection with the people who walk through the door.

The new roastery gives Dan greater control over the process. The warehouse gives Primary room to grow. And Marrickville gives the business a neighbourhood with which Dan already has a personal connection.

Ultimately, though, the ambition remains uncomplicated.

“You know, I want to do this as something… I want to do that's honest and approachable for everyone to enjoy.”

It is a fitting philosophy for a place built around a small daily ritual. You don't need to know everything about coffee to appreciate a good one. You don't even need to finish the cup.

You just need to pause for a moment.

A moment in a (half-full) cup.

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