Seven To Try: New Coffee Shops and Cafes for Specialty Drinks and House-Made Bakes

Melbourne’s coffee scene is always evolving. Long blacks are still a hit, but at this new batch of coffee shops, you’ll find dirty peach ristrettos, cold brews with cherry foam and a dried coffee cascara spritz. 

Contraband Coffee Traders, Brunswick East

Husband and wife Jesse and Chris Legge have just opened their second Contraband coffee shop, this time in Brunswick East. The pair have been roasting coffee for 10 years, but opened their first shop, a small stall opposite the Preston Market fishmongers, in 2018. 

Most coffee roasters still rely on gas, but Contraband’s new Probat P12E is fully electric. “We’re the first in Australia to run an all-electric roaster,” says Chris, with the entire roasting process on display for customers. “Climate change is making it harder for farmers to produce coffee. We wanted to minimise our carbon footprint as best we can, plus it’s a sparkling machine that’s fun to watch.”

Espresso, pour-overs, cold brew, and a cascara spritz made from dried coffee cherries are on the menu. Plus, there’s a changing selection of pastries (cinnamon scrolls, cheesymite croissants) from Ocab Bakery and other sweets (pecan pie, lemon slice) from Cake House Collective. You can also buy beans – there are two blends, five single-origin espresso and five single-origin filter options, with bulk silos on the wall to reduce packaging.

312–314 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

Four Kilo Fish, CBD

Yi Chen and Sijin Yu are often credited with being the first to introduce Melbourne to Chinese specialty coffee in 2018. They’ve been pulling shots at Four Kilo Fish in Hawthorn since 2020 and have finally opened a second location near Collins Place. “Even in the middle of a busy workday, we want people to grab a good, thoughtfully made coffee,” says Chen.

The new shop will showcase the same Yunnan beans, though standard coffee drinks, allonge espresso – a longer extraction than standard espresso made with a coarser grind of coffee – and signature drinks including a tamarind americano (cold brew coffee with tamarind and chilli salt).

Food options are grab-and-go, with avocado toast, egg and bacon rolls, rice rolls, and a changing selection of pastries from Austro Bakery, Publique Bakery and Sot by Mork.

2/15 Collins Street, Melbourne

More Coffee, Hawthorn

Junnie Phyu worked for Duke Coffee Code Black and Ona Melbourne before opening her own shop, More Coffee, in Hawthorn in December. Phyu often runs barista workshops and has won a number of industry awards, including the 2024 Australia’s Richest Barista competition at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo. The drink that secured Phyu the win, her osmanthus lemonade black coffee, is on the menu here.

More Coffee excels in specialty drinks such as a salted honey iced latte; the Dirty Peach, with peach cream, milk coffee and orange peel; and the Refresher, which is coffee mixed with yuzu syrup and soda water. All ready to be enjoyed alongside madeleines from Madeline de Proust.

Phyu worked closely with the team at Locale to develop a More Coffee blend. Soon, she’ll host workshops and classes at the coffee shop, too.

351 Burwood Road, Hawthorn

August, Seddon

August has taken over the former Common Galaxia space in Seddon. It’s the latest from chef Eugene Lavery of Cafeteria, Proper & Son, Halcyon Days and Anthony Cozzella, who grew up in the west and has lived in the neighbourhood for the past six years. “I’ve always wanted to create something for my local community,” Cozzella says.

Standard coffee orders have the choice between the house blend and a rotating single-origin option, both from Industry Beans. Plus, there’s cold brew topped with orange cream, as well as non-coffee options such as house-made iced ginger tea and a rhubarb spritz. 

The menu has breakfast staples, as well as a “highlight reel from dishes Lavery has refined over the years,” Cozzella says. Standouts include house-cured ocean trout gravlax with a crunchy potato rosti, and cauliflower fritters with hummus, eggs and Aleppo pepper.

3/130 Victoria Street, Seddon

Acoffee, CBD

In 2017, Byoung-Woo Kang opened his first shop on Sackville Street in Collingwood. He’s now opened a second Acoffee shop, this time in the CBD, at the base of Hyde Melbourne Place hotel. The new space shares the slick, simple design of the Collingwood original, where a stark fit-out and bare white walls reflect the roastery’s philosophy of simplicity and transparency. But the city shop is also designed as “an escape from the busy streets”, Kang says, with lots of wood panelling to create a warmer feel.

There are three choices of espresso and three for filter. Acoffee’s signature espresso blend Dansaekhwa – named after the 1950s Korean monochrome art movement – has a dark roasted profile that Kang says emphasises the Brazilian beans’ rich chocolate and brown sugar flavours. Batch brew is bottled at Collingwood and comes in a beer bottle with a cup of ice on the side.

Shop 2/130 Russell Street, Melbourne

Treble, Fairfield

Everything in Treble’s impressive pastry window is house-made. On any given morning, you might find almond rose teacakes, honey cinnamon scrolls, cruffins, almond croissants, orange cake with buttercream, chocolate pecan cake, cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies just waiting for you to pick them up.

They’re the work of co-owner Vicky Avgerinos, who runs the cafe with her son Ari Avgerinos, the duo is also behind Bodie in South Melbourne. “We’ve been working side by side for nearly 10 years. Doing this with Mum is a dream come true,” says Ari.

Coffee comes from Genovese and the pastries pair especially well with specialty drinks including banoffee lattes and iced dulce de leches. For a non-pastry breakfast, the menu includes shokupan French toast with fresh fruit, coconut yoghurt, maple syrup and lemon zest; and Canadian pancakes double-stacked with maple syrup, bacon and fried eggs.

21–23 Railway Place, Fairfield

Donna’s Coffee, Richmond

The coffee window at the century-old London Tavern Hotel has technically been running since 2020, when the pub’s owner Bill Perry cut a window into the building’s wall during lockdown. The impromptu coffee counter became a place for locals to (safely) gather when going to the pub was no longer an option.

The window never closed, but at the end of last year, it was relaunched as Donna’s Coffee. There’s no indoor seating and just a few footpath seats and tables outside. 

Beans come from Clark Street Coffee, are used to make your typical lattes and espressos, but there’s also the signature Cherry Cloud (cold brew topped with house-made whipped cherry cream). For food, the pub’s pastry chef Helen Watson makes a number of classic toasties for takeaway, along with ham and cheese croissants. Now footy season has kicked off, pies from Wonder Pies are also available.

238 Lennox Street, Richmond

Additional reporting by Nick Connellan and Jackie Zhou