Each Friday, residents excitedly await the arrival of a coffee van whose operator is kept busy making up to 50 coffees at the aged care facility.

Resident Philip Pugh famously called out to staff “I’ll have three” after he tasted his first cup.

Not one to stray from routine, Mr Pugh orders a flat white each week without fail.

“If it’s coffee, I drink it,” he said.

“It’s real coffee.”

Resident Elizabeth Brooks agrees.

“It’s number one – the best coffee ever,” she said.

“I look forward to this coffee each week.”

Uniting Mayflower Gerringong service manager Sharon Lockard said the idea of the coffee van sprang from the concept to maintain “normal” everyday experiences in the resident’s lives.

“Last Christmas the coffee man came and we brought everyone a coffee, anyone who wanted one, got one,” she said.

“It was so popular, people were saying how lovely it was and that they hadn’t had a proper coffee in years, and it grew from there.”

With construction due to start soon on stage two of a $20 million redevelopment at Uniting Mayflower Gerringong, staff are keen to introduce more activities, outings and social events.

“We take a bus and do a shopping trip,” Mrs Lockard said.

“We go to Shellharbour Shopping Centre and one woman brought herself a new handbag, or they buy their own clothes.

“It’s those things you or I take for granted and the things they miss.”