15 Best Coffee Shops in Sydney
Coffee is serious business in this town. Whether you need to grab yours in a paper cup to go, or have time to sit and sip, our list has you covered.
- Alana Dimou/Courtesy Single O Surry Hillsrestaurant
Single O Surry Hills
Formerly Single Origin Roasters, but renamed Single O after customers shortened the name, in true Aussie style, this Surry Hills corner café has been pouring quality coffees since 2003. Single origin coffees are sourced from as far afield as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Brazil. But don't miss the house Reservoir blend, with painstakingly produced coffees served in-house and freshly roasted bags to take away. Whether you prefer an espresso, pourover, Aeropress, cold brew, or cappuccino, the crew has you covered. You can also savor hot chocolate, chai latte, iced coffee, tea, juices, kombucha, and craft beers, plus a few cocktails on weekends.
- Courtesy Paramount Coffee Projectrestaurant
Paramount Coffee Project
$Launched in 2013, PCP champions exceptional Australian and international roasters and represents farmers and brewers. It's the brainchild of Jin Ng of Paramount House, Mark Dundon of Melbourne roaster Seven Seeds, and Russell Beard of nearby brother café Reuben Hills. Alongside coffee—from espresso blends to espresso of the day, filter, and iced batch brew—you’ll find tea, herbal tea, milkshakes (including a PCP coffee shake), cold-pressed juice, and sodas. Iced coffee and chai lattes suit hot days.
- Courtesy Celsius Coffee Co.restaurant
Celsius Coffee Co.
$Celsius is all about lattes with a view—the aquamarine waters of Kirribilli Wharf can be seen through the open windows at this cute-as-a-button wooden-cabin café. It’s just a seven-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay, so a lot of commuters stop off in the morning for their caffiene fix. (But global foodies also seek it out, thanks to social media fame; Instagram influencer Clerkenwell Boy is a fan). Order one of two house blends from Canberra’s ONA Coffee: The Hitman and The Founder. Or, opt for cold brew, iced coffee, teas by New South Wales’s Tea Craft.
- restaurant
Reuben Hills
$This micro-roastery in Sydney’s coffee heartland, Surry Hills, roasts its own coffee upstairs and showcases the results in its ground-floor café. They pride themselves on meeting farmers in the source countries to sample and select small lots. Try their coffee black, white, or filtered, or the cold brew and iced latte options. Teas include their own black blend and Apple Native Iced Tea, while drinks get Latino (order the house-made iced horchata or Mex Coke). Quirky milkshakes span coffee and salted caramel.
- Courtesy Showbox Coffee Brewersrestaurant
Showbox Coffee Brewers
$Off the beaten track in Manly’s back streets, Showbox Coffee Brewers is a small, industrial-style café with tables indoors and window seats spilling onto the pavement outdoors. Named after iconic Seattle music venue The Showbox, it takes its cue from the grunge and punk movements, with black-and-white photos of performances and drinks named after bands. And the guys who run it are pretty deep into the coffee scene, offering a house blend (Twin Peaks by Melbourne roastery Wood and Co.), a single origin from Ethiopia, and a batch brew filter coffee from Kenya (care of New Zealand’s Coffee Supreme).
- Adriana Abararestaurant
Mecca Coffee
$Mecca started in the CBD, where it has a café at 67 King Street, before opening its HQ and roastery in Alexandria, a boom area for interiors showrooms and cafés. This industrial-chic warehouse—featuring zigzag-patterned, black-and-white tiled floors, white walls, communal blond wood tables, and skinny stools—is a short walk south of Green Square station. It's frequented by serious coffee drinkers, who drop by to refuel on quality beans or buy bags of seasonal house blends, espresso blends, and coffees sourced from Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, to take home.
- Smudge Publishingrestaurant
Bourke Street Bakery
$Surry Hills regulars and global fans make a beeline for the original Bourke Street Bakery—launched in 2004 by Paul Allam and David McGuinness—which has since spawned city-wide branches and two cookbooks. Alongside strong coffees from Sydney roaster Single O (“balanced like a Buddhist monk”) you’ll find teas and house-made drinks from cold-brew coffee to old-school lemonade, fresh orange juice, and pear and vanilla iced tea. Sit down or order to-go from the menu of daily-specialty artisan breads, pastries, gourmet pies, sandwiches, and salads.
- Alana Dimourestaurant
Edition Coffee Roasters
$Impress a work contact or please a foodie pal at this under-the-radar pit stop in Darlinghurst. You’ll feel like you’re living in the pages of Kinfolk magazine: The place is like a Zen-sleek sanctuary where Nordic and Japanese minimalist influences meet. Wooden bench tables outside are a draw on sunny days, as are the gray mid-century sofas and intimate tables for two backdropped by Scandi-sleek blond wood, a white-tiled counter bar, and snow-white walls. But it's the innovative coffee and experimental eats that are Edition Coffee Roasters' claims to fame. Cases in point: a changing roster of single origin and batch brews from Australia and Japan, including pour overs and Swedish-style open smørrebrøds, piled high on pumpernickel with pumpkin, pickled beetroot, and edamame.
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The Crabbe Hole
$Watch surfers ride waves while you sip cappuccino at this tiny outdoor café beside Bondi Icebergs' ocean pool. You’ll meet dedicated swimmers of all ages, fit folk from the adjacent gym, yoga bunnies, boxers, Bondi families, and globetrotting travelers. The coffee by The Blind Coffee Roaster is strong, but it may be just the kick-start you need before starting the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, which begins right nearby. Sip on an espresso, cappuccino, latte, or tall iced coffee as you catch up with friends, impress pals from out of town, or cozy up with your partner and consider yourselves #blessed.
- Courtesy Rising Sun Workshoprestaurant
Rising Sun Workshop
$When only a Japanese cafe above a motorcycle workshop will do, head to inner-west Newtown. The airy, plant-dotted café occupies the top floor of a two-story former hardware store on a quiet side street, frequented by bikers and Asian food lovers. Order coffee from regional roasters in all its guises, including hot or iced filter coffee, iced latte, affogato (Workshop-blend coffee over Enmore’s Cow & The Moon gelato), and Fizzy Bubblers (espresso, sparkling, and lime). When you need a bite, go for Korean-influenced Breakfast Bibimbap (with egg yolk, kimchi, and rice) or savor the panko eggplant or pork katsu burgers with gyoza dumplings.
- Nic Davidsonrestaurant
Porch and Parlour
$Delightfully distressed walls, peeling green paint, and industrial tiles create a romantic, shabby-chic atmosphere at this intimate two-room café in North Bondi. The Sydney-roasted Will & Co coffee delivers a smooth taste, as do chai and turmeric lattes and the Bees Knees tea (10 percent of profits support sustainable bee projects). Botanica juices, smoothies, and booze also tempt: Choose from local organic wines, tinned craft cider and beer, and cocktails like the Porch Mimosa (prosecco and cold-pressed watermelon juice).
- Elize Strydomrestaurant
Artificer Specialty Coffee Bar & Roastery
$Regulars and passerby get their coffee fix at Artificer, which attracts a loyal crowd of enthusiasts. Surry Hills is full of media, hospitality, and fashion types hooked on this next-level caffeine. Artificer takes its beans seriously: co-founders Dan Yee and Shoji Sasa focus on seasonal blends from Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya. Options include espresso, filter, and cold brew. You can also buy sleek black bags of house coffee to take home, plus tactile ceramic cups.
- Courtesy Black Star Pastryrestaurant
Black Star Pastry
$All the usual suspects are present—from long black to flat white, mocha, cappuccino, latte, and hot chocolate—but remember you’re here for the sugar hit! Namely, Black Star Pastry's Insta-famous Strawberry Watermelon Cake, with fragrant layers of almond dacquoise (similar to meringue), rose-scented cream, watermelon, and strawberries, garnished with pistachios and dried rose petals. Other sweet delights include orange cake with Persian figs, lemon myrtle chiffon, and raspberry lychee. Pastries span buttery palmiers, custard flans, frangipane tarts, and macadamia brownies.
- Courtesy Brewtownrestaurant
Brewtown Coffee Roasters
$On a sleepy side street off King Street, Newtown’s main restaurant and bar drag, Brewtown Coffee Roasters occupies a late-19th-century brick warehouse, with a spacious industrial-chic café on the ground floor and a roastery and bakery upstairs. Speciality coffee is the name of the game, sourced directly, roasted on-site, and served black or with milk, decaf, soy, or strong. There are also iced coffee, cold brew, batch brew, and steampunk options. Non-java drinkers can rehydrate with teas, OJ, green juice, kombucha, and lemon squash.
- Courtesy MCArestaurant
MCA Cafe & Sculpture Terrace
$$For snap-happy views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, it’s hard to beat rooftop MCA Cafe, a light, airy indoor-outdoor spot at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia overlooking Circular Quay. Set on the gallery’s fourth floor, the café attracts art lovers and tourists, but you don’t have to visit the MCA collection to come for a locally brewed coffee, T2 teas, milkshake, juice, or glass of Australian wine. Pop in before checking out an MCA art show, after touring The Rocks, or just to soak up some of the best panoramas in town.
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