They say you aren’t a true-blue specialty coffee lover till you make a pilgrimage to Melbourne for some of the best brews in the world. So entrenched is the city’s strong coffee culture with independent cafés and micro-roasters that even international coffee chains have struggled to make a headway here.
No surprise there: Melburnians are fiercely proud of their coffee and rightly so. We visit some of the best cafés in town for our “Down Under cuppa” experience.
Brother Baba Budan
An entire ceiling of wooden chairs floats above your head as you join the line of suits and ties waiting for their coffees to go at Brother Baba Budan, a “hole-in-the-wall” café exuding vintage-hipster charm.
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Proud Mary
Hidden in Collingwood is the warehouse-style café Proud Mary, opened in 2009 by Nolan Hirte. Enjoy espressos made with 6-group custom Synesso or fab filter brews.
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Sensory Lab
The clean lines of Sensory Lab Roastery help lend a laboratory-like ambience to their quest to experiment with “the world’s best beans, from rare single origins to award winning green beans.”
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Manchester Press
A former gallery in a side alley off the busy Little Bourke Street, now transformed into Manchester Press, an inner-city café with space to spare for coffee and bagel lovers.
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Seven Seeds
Only a block away from Melbourne University is Seven Seeds, founded in 2008 by Mark Dundon and Bridget Amor. Students flock to the coffee haven in between classes for brews made from carefully sourced single origin beans, imbuing the space with a youthful energy.
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For more cafés around the world, arranged by countries and cities, please browse our café map.