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