best coffee in melbourne

Melbourne is renowned for the passion and quality of its coffee, with roasters and baristas producing some amazing tasting coffee using innovative techniques that will ensure you get the perfect brew. Maybe some of these will even change or add a new dimension to your enjoyment of coffee. So where do you need to head to find the best coffee in Melbourne?

But where is the best coffee near me in Melbourne?

Well here is my current best coffee across Melbourne, but please note this is a constantly evolving list as I try more and more fabulous coffee. Also, my aim is to try and highlight great coffee rather than just particular cafes or locations. Knowing where the best coffee place in Melbourne doesn’t help you if it is too far away so I’m going to try and help answer the question I’m sure you’re always asking yourself, “where is the best coffee near me?”. Hopefully knowing what to look for and what beans or techniques these top cafes are using might help you get a good coffee wherever you are in Melbourne.

Best Coffee Roaster Melbourne

Right let’s start with the best coffee roasters, these are the guys that are pushing the needle in sourcing and roasting coffee beans, or at the very least quickly copying these guys to bring epic coffee to as many people as possible.

Seven Seeds

As you will quickly gather Seven Seeds are one of my favorite coffee roasters in Melbourne and will get a few mentions within the list below. Brother Baba Budan is still my favorite cafe serving seven seeds but if you find a cafe that is serving Seven Seeds coffee you are going to get an amazing flat white, latte or whatever.

Patricia

Patricia is famous across Melbourne as being the best coffee shop, with a warm friendly atmosphere where everything feels like they are receiving that special treatment and amazing coffee. See details below but originally they didn’t roast their own coffee and used beans from the likes of seven seeds, some of which was branded as there own. But nowadays although they use “wood and co” for some brews, I believe the coffee branded as Patricia Coffee is actually roasted themselves.

St Ali Roasters

Also, a roaster that supplies many cafes around Melbourne (probably more than you think) including Cocoa Bean and Bluebag which is the closest thing to a mini-chain where you can get great coffee. ST ALi has been established for over 14/15 years and it is my understanding that these guys were, and probably still are for many the best coffee in Melbourne. In-fact I believe it was the original owner of ST ALi that later created Seven Seeds.

Padre coffee roaster

Padre are another top coffee roaster with outlets all across Melbourne including South Melbourne Market, and QueenVic market as well as supplying a number of cafes such as bomboras in Torquay. This is actually where I first tried Padre coffee and I was very happy to have found amazing coffee outside of the city, also sticking with Torquay there is now a cafe called pond which serves a very nice coffee too, I’ll let you go there to find out what coffee bean they use.

Dukes Coffee Roasters

Dukes are a roasters but as far as I know they dont supply other cafes. They do a really nice coffee but a lighter taste to some others, with a fresh banana-like a hint. But unlike workshop bros(see below), it is more on the ripe end of the banana taste scale. Also for those looking for a manual grinder recomendations Duke coffe sell the Porlex Mini as their grinder of choice.
Coffee Beans: Dukes own roasted

Merlo coffee roasters

There is a Merlo coffee roaster located in Queen Vic market, but there are actually quite a few Merlo branches across Victoria, QLD and the rest of Australia. The Merlo located within the Queen Vic market actually has the coffee roasting equipment center stage in the cafe. It’s quite an impressive setup and quite interesting to watch if you happen to be there while beans are being roasted. Especially if it is the first time you have seen a roaster up close and being used.

But there are many more Merlo coffee roasters across Melbourne

Best Coffee shops Melbourne

Patricia – Is this the best Coffee in Melbourne?

Amazing coffee and probably the first place you should head for while in Melbourne, where you wont only get amazing coffee but also a great experience. Starting with a slight air of disbelief at what you are seeing…. really this is one of the best coffee places in Melbourne but it doesn’t even have a sign, how would you even know to come here, then moving to why are so many people queuing for a coffee and standing around in this side street.

The experience inside doesn’t disappoint with the great smell of coffee, lots of very friendly brewing and serving staff, and a free glass of sparkling water. Just as a side note this is the best tasing water I have ever tasted, I’m not sure why it just tastes really good for some reason.

Patricia also seems to be a bit more known and even famous in the coffee circles, so you’re more likely to get the statement “If you like coffee you should try Patricia” at which point you can reply.. actually I have, amazing coffee isn’t it, but what’s with the location and why is it so busy all the time… It also provides the perfect benchmark for your future tastings, if you say the coffee is good, what does that mean..compaed to what but if you say ” I had a good coffee the other day and I think it was better or at least as good Patricia’s then it has context.

Coffee Beans: Various + their own roasted

Brother Baba Budan

This is the first cafe on the list serving coffee from “Seven Seeds” and as mentioned earlier so far Brother Baba Budan is my top pick as best seven seeds coffee in Melbourne. It was also the first place I sampled Seven Seeds coffee so it will be tough for somewhere to raise the bar enough to take the top spot. Hopefully one day I will find somewhere up to the challenge, and I will get even better coffee;-). Anyway Brother Baba Budan (not the easiest name to remember) easily make the top Melbourne coffee picks list with the coffee at least as good as Patricia if not better….see what I did there, you now instantly understand how good it is:-)

Frankie Walter PETA

Ok ok let’s get this out of the way, next on the list is Frankie Walter PETA, and you have guessed it, this is another amazing cafe severing seven seeds coffee. The cafe is a very similar size to brother baba budan but is located on the south bank. i.e. on the other side of the city, so gives you an opportunity to get amazing coffee while in a different part of town.

Seven Seeds cafe- Supplies the beans that make some of the best Coffee in Melbourne

Sorry, last one…at least for a now anyway, but this is the mother ship and definitely the place to head if you are up near queen Vic market or want to sit in and drink your coffee…maybe have some food too. A great place to take family members, especially if having a coffee is as much about the rest and having a bite to eat(amazing brownies here by the way…)

St Ali South Melbourne

Although a roaster that supplies many cafes around Melbourne they still have the original location, which is an amazing cafe in South Melbourne (not far from south Melbourne market). This is on the larger restaurant-style size so is another good place to sit in and maybe have something to eat.

Bluebag

The main reason I have included Bluebag is because I always used to walk passed not really knowing what they did and never imagining they might serve a decent coffee. But as well as serving excellent coffee using St Ali coffee beans they have multiple locations across the city, offering a great opportunity for you to increase the likelihood of being close to a decent coffee.

Workshop Brothers Southbank

This was a very nice coffee, which I have tried quite a few times, but the main reason I am including it is that it was good but a different taste to some others. If coffee from Patricia can be described as having a chocolaty flavor this has more of a fresh “only just ripe” banana hint to it. It’s definitely worth a try anyway

LB2

LB2 is another coffee place you may have walked passed but never known was there as it is just off the main burke street on Gallagher’s Place. LB2 is another coffee worshiper bringing great coffee to people using beans supplied by Axil and Cartel.

Melbounre Coffee Summary

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the places in Melbourne that serve amazing coffee but it does provide you with a benchmark of where Melbourne coffee is at and what you can expect or aim for when trying a new coffee. It also gives you a few coffee bean roasters to look out for when try new coffee places.