Espresso Bars and Specialty Coffee Roasters to Start Your Day Right
The espresso bars and roasters across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide that treat coffee like a craft, not a utility.
We're lucky in Australia, good coffee is generally easy to find. The harder thing, though, is tracking down a place where coffee is the main event — not just a sidekick for brunch: house-roasted beans, ground by baristas who can tell you exactly where they came from, and why they taste like that. Some of these places will let you sit in on a cupping session, or even pour you a flight instead of a single cup.
Brisbane's Toby's Estate rotates through more than 84 different coffees a year, with a training bar where you can watch the whole process happen inches away. In Sydney, Single O's Surry Hills roastery will send out a Filter Flight — the same origin, three ways, side by side. Melbourne's Seven Seeds cups every batch it roasts, every single day, a ritual most places drop once the marketing photos are done, while over in Brunswick East, Padre Coffee runs a three-hour Espresso 101 class. Presented by Honda ZR-V, this is your shortlist for the next time your at home latte art just won't cut it.
Read other guides in our A to Z with Honda ZR-V series:
After-Work Drink Spots to Meet Your Friends and Wind Down the Day
Breakfasts That Make an Early Alarm Feel Completely Reasonable
Cheap Eats That Over-Deliver On Their Modest Price Tag
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CafeSingle O Newstead
16 Austin Street, Newstead
Queensland got its first Single O outpost in Newstead, home to an Affogato Project made with local gelato maker Allora Black.
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CafeToby's Estate Coffee Roasters Brisbane
33 Longland Street, Newstead
Almost 100 different coffees rotate through Toby’s Estate’s Brisbane flagship every year, with free public tasting sessions.
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CafeBlackstar Coffee Roasters
44 Thomas Street, West End
Blackstar has spent 19 years roasting fair trade, organic beans, planting trees for every kilo sold and running fully carbon neutral.
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CafeSeven Seeds
106-114 Berkeley Street, Carlton
This Carlton warehouse became Seven Seeds in 2007, now a 100-seat roastery running regular cupping and training sessions.
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CafeProud Mary
172 Oxford Street, Collingwood
Ranked fourth among the world’s best coffee shops in 2025, Proud Mary roasts its own beans and runs regular public cuppings.
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CafePadre Coffee Brunswick East
438 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
Padre has roasted, brewed and sold coffee under one roof since 2008, sourcing green beans from up to 30 estates worldwide.
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CafeINI Studio
225 Queensberry Street, Carlton
Croffles and experimental coffee drinks come out of an all-white converted garage at INI Studio, roasted entirely on-site.
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CafeMorning Market Prahran
579 High Street, Prahran
Andrew McConnell’s grab-and-go outpost pairs market-inspired sandwiches and gourmet pantry goods with a house blend.
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CafeSingle O Surry Hills
60–64 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills
Self-serve taps pour four different brews at once at Single O, the cafe that helped kick-start Sydney’s third-wave coffee scene in 2003.
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CafeMecca Alexandria
2/26 Bourke Road, Alexandria
Direct trade and light roasting were still niche ideas when Mecca started in 2005, now proven daily inside its own working roastery.
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CafeGood Fella Coffee
5 Celebration Drive, Bella Vista
Watch the baristas work from every table at Good Fella, where single origin coffee pairs with bagels baked fresh in-house daily.
This guide was produced in partnership with Honda ZR-V. To learn more about the ultimate car for urban discovery, click here.