Melbourne's Shortstop Coffee and Donuts Is Coming to Sydney

If there’s one thing Homer Simpson taught us, it’s there is nothing doughnuts can’t do (and that purple is a fruit). We’ve really taken that message on board, hence the population of Sydney absolutely flipping their collective lid over the announcement that Melbourne's Shortstop Donuts is coming to town.

Coveted by Melburnians and loved by Instagrammers, Shortstop will be opening their first Sydney store in Barangaroo on April Fool's Day, 2016. No one is more surprised by the insane demand for their doughnuts than they are — there are reams of interstate fans who will take special trips to Melbourne just to stock up on Shortstop in bulk. Owner Anthony Ivey says that while they had always discussed the possibility of expanding outside Melbourne, it never occurred to them how quickly their success would happen. But with flavours like Earl Grey and rose, peanut butter caramel and chocolate, maple walnut and brown butter, and cinnamon, cardamon and sugar, this ain't no regular doughnut shop. 

Someone even proposed instore yesterday:

On the (w)hole, doughnuts are having a huge resurgence in Australia — anyone who's watched the recent doughnut explosion happen in Brisbane will know. Until the last few years, doughnuts were mostly known as 12-pack shrugs from Coles or Dunkin’ Donuts. And as dense and sugary as those bad boys are, our fancy adult tastes now demand a more gourmet doughnut. "Those other places, like Krispy Kreme and Coles, use big machines and their doughnuts are perfect circles and uniform," says Ivey. "And when you look at the ingredient list, it’s really long. We only use a few really high quality ingredients, such as organic milk, cultured butter, quality flour, nutmeg, vanilla bean, a little salt and sugar — that’s it. We make it all fresh from scratch every day and we hand cut our doughnuts, so they’re never going to the perfect shape... they have character.”

Shortstop's doughnut ethos was learned at the hands of the masters. Ivey says he wanted to nail the recipe so much he took a 16-day doughnut pilgrimage around America, stopping off at all the important locations and learning secrets from the head chefs therein — in what sounds like possibly the best business trip of all time.

So what can we expect from the Barangaroo Shortstop? Market Lane coffee for one, and the same high quality doughnuts Melburnians have come to know and love for another. “Maybe we’ll have a special themed doughnut when Mardi Gras is on too," says Ivey. Prepare yourself, Sydney. Life's about to get considerably sweeter.

Shortstop Coffee and Donuts is coming to Barangaroo on April 1, 2016.