Gesha

Coffee-obsessed Fremantle has more than its fair share of cafes and coffee roasters, and Gesha ranks among the best. It’s owned by two friends.

Daniel Pano looks after the running of the restaurant side of the business. Tuscan native Carlo Landucci takes care of the coffee roasting. He’s often found chatting with customers about the restored, 85-year-old Italian roaster in a corner of the cafe. It’s fire-engine red and tricked out with all manner of cranks, wooden handles and gauges.

The guys named their cafe after the prized Ethiopian bean (otherwise called Geisha, depending on which side of the debate you fall on), which they occasionally serve. Their everyday house roast is pulled through a shiny and very Italian Etnica coffee machine, or offered as a cold drip.

The breakfast menu offers the usual suspects such as Bircher muesli, and eggs on toast and baked beans. There’s also a selection of cakes, pastries, salads and wraps.

Choosing where to sit can get tricky. Inside, the light-drenched warehouse sports polished-concrete floors, exposed beams, cushy armchairs and shelves selling olive oil, biscotti and bags of freshly roasted Gesha beans.

In the courtyard, the communal tables overflow with groups and families surrounded by their pets and prams. It’s a minefield of water bowls and wheels.