Coffee in Sydney has evolved. These days, the drink goes far beyond just being part of a morning routine. A much bigger proposition than an 11am pick-me-up. So much so, that if I refer to a cafe as a “caffeine stop”, my editor cries, “But it’s so much more than that!” Inner west Sydney is particularly spoilt for excellent brews, with a bunch of teams roasting their own beans. Large-scale Rozelle roasteries supply eateries far and wide, and micro-roasters keep it local. Ben Richardson, of Stanmore’s Brighter Coffee cafe, is a roaster-slash-barista. With a decade in the biz, he’s serious about coffee – but even more serious about community.
“I care for people and see hospitality in general as an amazing way of meeting people where they’re at, and sharing a little bit of what you really love,” Richardson tells Broadsheet. He co-owns the corner cafe, as well as in-house micro-roastery Made of Many, with his wife Shanndara and partner Junji Tai.
Richardson’s a black-coffee drinker, except for his daily oat flatty. “I like to taste my coffee all the time – make sure everything’s on point. If I’m out and don’t know a place, I’m definitely getting an oat flat white over a black coffee. Black coffee is much harder to get right: the roasting and brewing. An oat flatty is almost fail-proof.”
While his oat order suits his veganism, the alt-milk’s takeover has been near-citywide. If you’re a disciple, you know its creaminess gives it a dairy feel. It’s rich in texture and mellow in flavour: a winning combination.
“At Brighter, we only use full-cream and oat. No skim, no soy, no almond. Oat milk was the easiest to work with, and we didn’t want to complicate the menu. We wanted things to taste really good.”
That taste had locals ditching dairy. Mike Ico – co-owner of inner west cafes Soulmate, Superfreak and Splash – reckons some are only just discovering oat milk now, but declares it’s been top dog in the alt line-up for a few years. And for baristas, it’s specifically Oatly.
“When Oatly came out [to Australia] in 2019, it was one of the more neutral-tasting alternative milks,” Richardson says. “Soy or almond can be quite distinctive – so if that doesn’t work with a certain blend, you’ll run into issues of people thinking the coffee tastes weird.”
It also lends itself to latte art. Want a perfect rosetta? A swan friend? Oatly nails it. “It ends up being a sense of pride. Doing soy flat whites, you’d almost get a bit embarrassed at how the art doesn’t hold up. You’re putting coffee down on a table and you’re like, ‘Ugh.’”
Richardson and Ico aren’t the only local oat dealers. There’s Black Market Roasters in Enmore and Marrickville, and the charming baked-goods experts at Tokyo Lamington in both Newtown and a brand new Marrickville space.
“Honestly, people are making the trip to the inner west just to eat food and drink coffee, when they used to be going to Surry Hills and closer to the inner city. It’s booming .”
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Oatly. Between September 16–22, dial Oatly’s 1800-OATFIX hotline to leave a message for your local oat dealer, hear oats mooing or redeem a code for a free oat-milk coffee at participating inner west cafes. Find out more online.
