Single O Newstead

Overview

A coffee roaster opening its own cafe is the caffeinated equivalent of a beloved movie or TV character scoring their own spinoff. This version sparks a different kind of buzz, though. Australian favourite Single O is no stranger to slinging its own brews, thanks to cafes in both Sydney and Tokyo — but finally launching in Brisbane is a new and welcome leap.

If you're a fan of the 20-year-old brand, then you might be familiar with its self-serve tap system in its cafes elsewhere. In more excellent news, that's now in place in the River City as well. Single O is currently pouring — and getting customers to — on Austin Street in Newstead, where it opened at the end of August.

Since 2019, coffee lovers nabbing their caffeinated brews from Single O's Surry Hills cafe in Sydney have been getting their cuppas themselves — basically, it's the coffee you make when you're not actually making the coffee — which Brisbanites can also enjoy at the first coffee-on-tap setup in the Sunshine State. The filter brews on offer will rotate through single-origin batch options. Crucially, Single O's beloved oat iced latte has earned the tap treatment, too.

Also among the standout sips made on La Marzocco machines, then drunk from Malcolm Greenwood's ceramic cups: Single O's Reservoir signature blend for espresso fiends, which customers can pair with either dairy or plant milks. With local gelato makers Allora Black, the roaster has also brought its Affogato Project to town. The Brisbane version starts with coffee-infused-gelato — favouring Kenyan and Costa Rican beans — then pours on a shot of the same brew.

Teaming up with Newmarket's Allora Black is just one of Single O's local collaborations. Working with Agnes Bakery is another, in an excellent development for pastry fiends. Plates come from Noosa's Kim Wallace Ceramics, while Brisbane-born artist Gemma O'Brien has given the Austin Street spot its bespoke artwork, including her first-ever hometown large-scale mural.

For bites to pair with your caffeine fix, Single O owner Dion Cohen has tapped into nostalgia. Sandwiches and toasties might sound rather standard, but Cohen has taken cues from his time spent as the chef at Single O's OG location in 2003. From Surry Hills, banana bread with espresso butter makes the jump north, as has the brunch favourite that is the Avo Show (yes, it's avocado on toast, but Single O's eye-catching version).

While you're eating and drinking, you'll be sat in space that heroes eco-conscious practices both in making its coffee and in decking out its cafes. Design-wise, think: raw materials aplenty, and Defy Design whipping up bar tops and stools made from recycled plastic.

The venue is also Single O's new distribution and training facility for its wholesalers, aka the places you've been drinking its coffee at before now.