First Look: Little Homey Is Brunswick’s Coolest New Coffee Shop

On Trafford Street in Brunswick, a purple roller door rises to reveal one of Melbourne’s coolest new cafes, Little Homey.

After 15 years in hospitality, founder Chad Camp hit a familiar fork in the road: walk away from the industry, or double down. He chose to fulfil a long-held dream of opening a cafe. “I’ve always wanted to have my own spot since I was a kid,” he says. “The style and concept changed over time, but I knew I wanted to create a space where I could host my family and friends.”

Camp calls his cafe, which is attached to Honey Bones Gallery, “an extension of my home”. It’s the kind of place where strangers end up swapping food tips or deep-diving into the new Kendrick album over coffee. “If you spend time with us, you become one of the homies,” he says. The small cafe is filled with well-curated but mismatched furniture, and the walls are lined with records by artists including Whitney Houston, Noname and Bob Marley.

The coffee offering is dialled-in and deliberate. Beans come from Saazaa, a roaster owned by David Juma, who sources most of them from his family’s farm in Kenya. There are the usual espresso drinks as well as the Little Homey special: coffee marula. Cold brew is topped with cinnamon and cream that’s infused with marula, a tart African fruit.

The weekday food offering is simple, with cookies from cottage bakery Miya and vegan bakes from Better Now. On weekends, a rotating cast of food trucks set up out front, including Aheda’s Kitchen, run by Palestinian asylum seeker Aheda Amro, and South African street-food makers Ostrich & Egg.

More than a coffee shop, Little Homey is a community space. “I’ve lived all over Melbourne, but it wasn’t until I moved to Brunswick three years ago that I really felt a strong sense of community,” says Camp. “I wanted to contribute to that and create something I felt was missing.”

Little Homey has a steady roster of events that include record fairs, art shows, Coffee & Cool (a monthly Ethiopian coffee ceremony led by Lydia Tesema) and DJ nights hosted in collaboration with Footscray Records focused on music of Black origin such as reggae, hip-hop and jazz.

At its core, Little Homey is doing more than serving coffee, it’s holding space. It’s a place for connection, collaboration and cultural affirmation. For Camp, the mission is personal. “There aren’t many Black-owned spaces in Melbourne, so a big motivation for me was to create a spot where Black culture could thrive and not be filtered or confined to a particular day or event,” he says. “It’s not just about running a successful cafe, it’s about showing up for the community.”

Little Homey
46 Trafford Street, Brunswick
No phone

Hours:
Thu & Fri 8am–2pm
Sat & Sun 9am–3pm

@littlehomey.cafe