Bear Bones Espresso joins Fonzie Abbott and Reverends as the latest Fortitude Valley coffee bar proving that you don’t have to venture to Winn Lane for a great cup o’ Joe. Flamingo Cafe may be the caffeine hounds’ venue of choice but the Valley is also home to a plethora of lesser known coffee joints, you just have to know where to look.

Nestled between the Luxxbox furniture store and Light Sounds on Maclachlan Street, you really do have to look for Bear Bones. It’d be easy to mistake their cavernous frontage and metal roller doors for another industrial unit – until you spot the pot plants and technicolour graffiti.

The latest venture from restauranteur Asa Boardman (brains behind New Farm’s Ponycat), the coffee shop boasts a menu of failsafe breakfast and lunch favourites (think avo on toast and pulled pork sammies), homemade cakes and a selection of T2 leaf teas. The coffee is roasted on site and also supplies Cobbler and much loved Paddington breakfast spot, Kettle and Tin.

Despite the warehouse proportions, Bear Bones exudes the cosy-yet-cool vibe that has become something of a Boardman trademark. High tables are arranged for brunch catch ups and the light bulbs that hang within glass beakers kind of make you feel as if you’re having coffee in the New York apartment of a mad scientist (which we can totally deal with). Work by local artists also hangs on the walls, firmly cementing Bear Bones in its Brisbane setting.

With rumours of an art studio out back and plans to start roasting their own beans onsite, we’ll be bearing with Bear Bones Espresso to see what else they have in store.