8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne

You can’t have a conversation about coffee without mentioning Australia. Though Aussies didn’t invent coffee, nor were they first to serve it, but the country – particularly in Melbourne – has helped make coffee what it is today across the world. 



Here are the top 8 coffee shops you must visit when you are in Melbourne:


Axil Coffee Roasters

322 Burwood Road, Melbourne, Victoria
www.axlcoffee.com.au +61 3 9819 0091 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @axilcoffeeroasters Instagram

Axil Coffee Roasters has a simple motto: to source, roast, and produce the best cup of coffee. Easy words to say by they carry weight when backed by founder David Makin, 2008 World Barista Champion runner-up. He founded Axil together with his wife (who is also the head roaster), Zoe Delany.

They stay true to their philosophy by establishing relationships with farmers, offering them 25% above standard fair-trade prices. This translates to quality beans, roasted on-site, and served in an expansive, contemporary setting. Great food (the house-made taleggio crumpet with seasonal mushrooms, poached eggs, sage truffle oil, and savory granola is a winner) and a variety of coffee classes Рlatte art to the basics of espresso making Рseal the deal on a genuinely great caf̩ run by genuine folks.




Industry Beans

3/62 Rose St., Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria
www.industrybeans.com +61 3 9417 1034 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @industrybeans Instagram

This is where coffee and food dreams are made: lovers of both could weep for joy at Industry Beans, although the establishment may seem a little overwhelming at first. Prepare to see Instagrammers standing on seats to get the best flat-lay pictures of artfully presented brunches. Prepare for the awe of the award-winning designer warehouse space, featuring a roaster and open kitchen. Prepare to repeatedly read the detailed coffee menu, with its compositional bean graphs and color-coding, paralyzed with indecision. Then prepare for a sensational seasonal meal, with your coffee matched, if you desire.

The Simmons brothers founded this ode to the palate in 2010, but rest assured that all the style is backed up with substance. Attention to detail and quality of ingredients is important. Warmed coconut chocolate cake with cherry ganache and rum-infused butterscotch? Paired with the winter espresso blend, which carries notes of Cherry Ripe (an Australian chocolate bar), blood orange, and spiced rum? There’s a single-origin or blended coffee and method (espresso, filter, cold-brew, cold-press) for everyone here, so try a few varieties. But there is only one coffee-rubbed wagyu burger with chili jam, cheddar, pickled zucchini on a brioche bun.




Maker Fine Coffee

47 North St., Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria
www.makerfinecoffee.com +61 3 9037 4065 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @makercoffeemelbourne Instagram

You could easily miss Maker when walking by – its tucked behind a roller door among a bunch of warehouses down a residential back street – but you don’t want to. Owners John Vroom and Stephanie Manolis once ran tiny Ora in neighboring Kew, which served some of Melbourne’s best café food – seasonal ingredients sourced and cooked with long attention to flavour, texture and presentation. At Maker, they have focused that passion on roasting and brewing some of Melbourne’s best specialty coffee. The clean, white space hosts a tiled bar with a big La Marzocco Strada and a range of filter gear. Outback, behind a huge sliding door, Vroom and his roaster Rafael Sans roast seasonal single-origin beans to produce memorable cups. A short black – maybe a Maven from Huila, Colombia, served in a hand-made ceramic cup – is a masterclass in specialty espresso extraction: subtle and complex, bright but not acidic. V60 brews of a weekly roaster of single-origins are equally complex. On summer days the roller door goes up and a glass of Maker’s coffee soda – spiked with orange oil and coconut blossom sugar – is the go, maybe with a pastry or toastie from the minimal food selection.





Market Lane Coffee

Shop 13, Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria
www.marketlane.com.au; +61 3 9804 7434 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @marketlane Instagram

Market Lane had five stores around Melbourne, but this Prahran Market locale is where it all began in 2009 and where all its coffee is roasted. It’s also where you’re most likely to bump into Melbourne’s coffee royalty, co-founder Fleur Studd (daughter of Australia’s cheese guru Will Studd). 





Patricia Coffee Brewers

Corner Little Bourke & Little William Street, Melbourne, Victoria
www.patriciacoffee.com.au; +61 3 9642 2237 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @pimtha Instagram

Like all good things in Melbourne, Patricia can be hard to find. The space is tiny, but look up and you’ll see ‘sunshine’ (written in fluorescent lighting on the roof). Look behind the counter and you’ll see nothing but a blue-steel-like focus on quality, whether it’s the sourcing of caneles from artisan bakeries or beans on rotation from Melbourne’s best roasters. It has a loyal, discerning clients, but you’ll still feel at home thanks to impeccable service. The Colombian long black is worth queuing for.




Proud Mary

172 Oxford St., Collingwood, Melboune, Victoria
www.proudmarycoffee.com.au; +61 3 9417 5930 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @proudmarycoffee Instagram

Proud Mary has been the go-to for caffeine connoisseurs since Nolan Hirte opened the business in 2009. His attention to sourcing and purity is evident, from his annual trips to bean producers’ farms to the way he customized two of his three-group Synesso machines to create Australia’s only six-grouper; each single-origin has its own extractor so there is no cross-contamination of flavor. The nitrogen-infused cold-press is excellent, but go for a single-origin espresso for potentially the purest coffee of your life.




Seven Seeds

114 Berkeley Street, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria
www.sevenseeds.com.au; +61 3 9347 8664 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @eriekakosha Instagram

The named Seven Seeds, takes inspiration from Baba Budan who, legend has it, smuggled seven seeds of fertile coffee out of Yemen into India in the 16th century. Until then, coffee was highly regulated and protected within by the Yemenis and only sold baked or roasted. Today, the cool warehouse vibe of Seven Seeds is the scene for tasty brews. On any given day, you might find one of several Kenyan single-origins sitting alongside Brazilian and El Salvadorian varietals as filter coffee or cold-brews. Wee-rounded espresso-based coffees are also offered. 




St. Ali Coffee Roasters

12-18 Yara Pl., Melbourne, Victoria
www.stali.com.au; +61 3 9686 2990 (map here)

8 Must-Visit Coffee Shops in Melbourne
Photo credit: @st_ali Instagram

Destination café is the term that probably best defines St Ali. In 2005, Mark Dundon opened one of Melbourne’s first café-roasteries in a warehouse on a quiet street in South Melbourne. It didn’t take long for word to get out, and queues became commonplace. St. Ali is also popular for its seasonal food, so much that local paper The Age awarded it Best Food Café n 2013. During its themed food nights, St Ali teams up with an eatery for dinner with wine pairings. 


Have you tried exploring these coffee destinations in Melbourne? Let me know which one is your favorite!


PS. Why are those baristas in Melbourne are so cute?


xoxo, Blair


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17 comments :

  1. Nice one! We actually know the owners of Market Lane, great little joint!

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  2. Yeah, right you are. Australia is not the origin of coffee but it contributed much to spread the popularity of coffee throughout the world. Blair, you really input a vast resources with quality text. My most favorite drink is coffee and love to start my morning with a cup of coffee. You have also done a great job throwing very renowned coffee shops to your numerous readers that must be helpful to make their choose to take a tour into those when they are in Melbourne. Surely pretty loving stuff.

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  3. Kristine Nicole AlessandraDecember 3, 2019 at 12:42 AM

    My good friend just left for a vacation in Melbourne. I will let her know about these coffee shops. Sending her the link to this post right now. She will be thrilled to experience enjoying coffee in any of these shops.

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    Replies
    1. That's awesome! I will be in Melbourne starting this month for 3-months :D

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  4. Now I need to travel to Australia, I do love coffee and have to have two first thing in the morning for my day to stop being blurry lol. They all look like such nice places to have and get some coffee.

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  5. I will let my cousin know about them. She is coming there in like 2 weeks

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  6. My favourite is the Industry Beans because who doesn't want a warmed coconut chocolate cake with cherry ganache and I also love that it has an open kitchen!

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  7. I am a coffee addict and just like you said coffee is life!I am definitely going to visit some of these place when i will be there!

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  8. Wow! That's a nice list! Very timely, my friends and I are about to visit Melbourne next year, and this is a great guide where best to go for a coffee! - thank you!

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  9. Many of my friends totally love coffee. Much better than having alcohol, so why not visit cool coffee shops - love this x

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