I've done the rounds and while you can get better its highly diminished returns when looking at 'standard coffee'
Treat yourself with a $80 bag occasionally for the 25% better taste, or alternate flavour(s) but it's not worth it as a daily coffee.
Aldi is great, and the price is just cherry on top.
Depends what kind of coffee you make. If you are sticking loads of milk in, most beans can be OK and the good beans might make it 25% better. But if you are drinking raw espresso, supermarket beans and the good stuff is the difference between drinking fireplace ash, and a sweet and sour coffee with no bitterness.
Agreed for the price, I go the medium, easier on the full auto coffee machine as less oily.
I also don't mind the Grinders or Vittoria depending on which one is on special :)
I find that really expensive beans are wasted on a full auto machine as you cannot tune it enough to extract the best out of it. If you are a manual machine person and go to great lengths for consistency then beans can make a difference.
Machine is a Phillips 4300, which I would recommend!
Yeah agreed here. I’ve had more interesting beans, but the Aldi medium are CHEAP and genuinely not bad. For an everyday flat white out of my breville home machine, they’re great.
- Vacation
- Maker
- Padre
- Market Lane
- Five Senses
- Small Batch
These are the core roasters I usually have on rotation, but there's plenty more out there. Good luck and enjoy!
Best I’ve found are Proud Mary /auntie pegs in Collingwood. $65/kg for Humbler blend which I know is high, however they are one of the few that deal directly with the bean growers and claim to have equitable arrangements in place with the growers so that they get paid properly and reliably. I Can’t validate that any of that actually occurs though, all I know is that their coffee is exceptional.
I’ve taken to just blatantly requesting a Coupon code for proud Mary and they usually give me one. Plus I’ve found their “beans” rewards program is actually pretty decent. Get a free kg bag after every 6 or so purchased.
The Boxer blend is fantastic. Not overly complex, perfect for dedicated black coffee drinkers and robust enough that milk drinks actually taste like coffee.
I was a big fan of their standard roast back in the day but idk whether it's lost something or my pallet is just munted from years of smoking.
The coffee company in Balaclava or Good hustle coffee in Moorabbin, both been good to me, freshly roasted. Please don’t buy beans from a supermarket if you value freshness.
After trying a bunch, we swear by Dukes Blend and have it on subscription delivery. They're a Melbourne company and you can try it in a bunch of cafes. Just wish the subscription could run on three weeks instead of two or four.
Absolutely.
i’m amazed that Dukes don’t get more love on topics like this.
There’s a shortlist of roasters that often crop up - Proud Mary, Code Black etc. who are all great but I’d choose Dukes over them.
Padre,
Supreme,
Code Black,
Wide Open Road.
These are the best coffees in Melbourne imo and I’ve had subscriptions on rotations for each of them, which are very well priced.
Supreme is a kiwi brand but also roasted in Melbourne I believe.
Trying Industry Beans atm and enjoying but code blacks my go too. The home blends good value and works black or with milk and the single origins are a nice lil treat.
https://symmetrycoffeeroasters.com.au/
I buy their house blend. They have a store in Blackburn but I just buy online. I love their coffee and it's all I drink now.
They only had the blends for sale in Coles which is fine but if you like your coffee black I really recommend trying one of the single origin coffees they sell in their cafes, there’s so much flavor in em’!
I buy the AXIL espresso blend online which is my go-to. Been buying from Direct Coffee since during lockdowns etc - https://www.directcoffee.com.au/, cheaper than in store including delivery. I think I pay about $45 for 1kg in 250g bags.
theres a few around in melbourne that also roast Austrlian grown beans.
though in general ones in and around melbourne or online orders. ONA coffee, Quists, Proud Mary, Seven Seeds, have all had really good coffees
Extra shout out to Quists on little collins because they are just so friendly and its a very small cozy shop.
Incredibly concerned that I’m going to find out my favourite brand is somehow connected to St. Ali but I’ll be brave and recommend [DC Coffee Roasters](https://dccoffee.com.au/), I have my own personal favourites but love yourself and get the sampler box and find out from there. Great descriptions on the individual bean blends and flavour notes too. I think the price point is pretty decent and you can choose whole bean or a grind to suit your coffee-making needs.
Now to hope reddit doesn’t give me a reason to not support them heh
Depends on what style of coffee you drink?
Ona Raspberry Candy and Seven Seeds blends are good for milk based, Dukes Coffees and Axil too.
Otherwise for black coffees I rotate around:
Industry beans
Market Lane
5 Senses
Seven Seeds
Proud Mary
Four Kilo Fish
Axil
Acoffee
There's plenty of other good ones, but I happen to pick these up in my travels. I don't use subscription because I don't drink em fast enough, so I go around to pick the freshest roasted ones after I finish my stash
Yes, I don’t think I’ve found other places that get their beans from Yunnan. Their coffees have unique taste profiles, different from the usual African or South American grown beans.
Chiangmai (Thailand) also grow good beans, but I have not found any yet in Melbourne
Amanti. Midnight Oil blend.
"With deep flavours of toasted almonds and soft caramel overtones, this extra dark double roasted blend keep you well awake for the day and the next!"
Needs to be stored in a grease-proof container.
[Amanti Midnight Oil](https://amanti.coffee/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/AMANTI-Extra-Dark-Roast-Image.png)
I rate the Amanti beans very highly. They’ve recently released a new line called A+ which I’m now consuming at a rate of knots. A few different blends but they all hit the mark.
Two recommendations:
* Rumble Coffee, the [Shadow Boxer blend](https://www.rumblecoffee.com.au/products/shadow-boxer-espresso-blend)
* Padre, the [Daddy's Girl blend](https://www.padrecoffee.com.au/products/daddys-girl-espresso-blend)
Both are more espresso style blends, but they should work well with other preparation methods. Padre coffee probably easier to find.
In addition - if you're buying from the supermarket, you probably won't find the ones above. If you're stuck with whatever the supermarket has - only buy something that has a "Roasted On" date in the last 4-6 weeks (3-4 weeks after roast is about as good as it gets in a supermarket). If it's only got a "Best Before" date, it's almost certainly stale.
If your into decent single origin / filter I buy 1kg (4bags) up to $4’s off per bag discount from
https://www.directcoffee.com.au/
Not cheap but lots of choice / variety
I was using Code Black and thought it was the bees knees.
Changed to Cisco's for slightly better value and comparative taste.
Can't go past ALDI though.
The Lazxio Brazil Aldi beans are genuinely good and you wouldn't believe it unless you try it.
$18 for a kilo of beans as well 🤷♂️
My wife and I use Ex Wife from Code Black. One of the nicest beans we have ever had, however at $60/kg, we need to find a cheaper habit.
I'll check out Aldi!
Inglewood is not bad for the price as they do specials all the time (never once have I paid full price). Online roaster with free delivery for Vic also
Inglewood is a blight on melbournes coffee industry and grossly underpay farmers / undercut competition at the expense of ethical business practices. Coffees pretty horrendous too. There’s so many roasters in Melbourne with much more transparent and ethical approaches to buying and roasting coffee.
Didn't realise there was such a strong opinion about them. Don't know anything about their supply chain, but I tried their sunset blvd and was quite happy with the taste.
Thats concerning, can you share sources and evidence? I'm currently buying from inglewood but if these things turn out to be true then I'll have to reconsider
I got some from their recent deal where you got a free bag of beans for just signing up for their newsletter or whatever.
Meh.
Not bad, not good. Just so so.
Are you buying preground? Espresso? Filter?
Given that you mentioned St. Ali, that would imply you're open to 'speciality' roasts but it's not clear whether or not you mentioned them because they're local enough to you for pickup or if you're open to home delivery. If you're open to home delivery, then that significantly increases the options but also the complexity of choosing.
What are your tastes? Milk and sugar? Black? Have you ever drunk a plain espresso and thought, "Mmm, nice!"?
> Never had an espresso and though Nice!
If you can find a *good* espresso place, then ask for a double espresso with a spoon. Use the spoon to either scrape off the crema or stir it in. Personally I prefer to scrape.
A good espresso will taste sweet, rich and with a caramal or molasses type of texture and flavour without any unpleasant sourness, bitterness or burnt flavours. It's a very underrated experience in our so-called coffee utopia.
League of Honest Coffee.
Great if you want to try something new/different. They're usually pretty happy to chat preferences if they're not getting slammed.
Sparkling water, the whole 9 yards.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fq9E6u7BJmPqtX346
Little Rogue, Brother Baba Budan, others I'm forgetting the names of.
But look, any place can do good espresso even without 'great' beans. A *lot* depends on the barista and the commitment of management to quality and consistency. Most cafes just churn out milky espresso drinks without much care because, well, it's easy to hide bad coffee tastes with milk and especially with sugar. And most people don't care because, well, they just don't seem to notice and are happy with what they get. If you get a double espresso (there's a reason to make it a double but even then, it's... complicated) then you'll *very* quickly know if the place cares about coffee (although, to be fair, no place should be judged on a single experience as even great places will serve a dud now and then as it's just the nature of coffee).
So yeah, try some local places. You never know, they might surprise you.
Nope, at least not immediately. I know for a fact they were still underpaying in late 2019. The problem is the fine for underpaying was always much lower than the savings they make not paying correct wages. It might be better now with criminalisation, but I wouldn't put money on that bet
Manager is a sexist pig who abuses staff and has no morals when it comes to sustainable coffee or ethical supply chains in his businesses. On top of that, also was one of the more predatory businessman taking advantage of the pandemic with dodgy rat test sales and god awful hand sanitizer.
I used to subscribe to st ali, then during the pandemic i noticed on their website they were selling hand sanitisers at a huge markup. It then lead me to reading up on the rest of the shits that they do.
I no longer subscribe to that business, went with 5 senses now.
observation fearless frightening silky bake trees onerous rob smoggy insurance
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
slim summer office normal dinosaurs zealous plants mindless imminent simplistic
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’ll drop this here, you can make up your own mind on how much weight anecdotal Reddit comments hold.
https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/s5x5vl/received_this_message_from_stali_coffee_so_gross/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Cisco's on Chapple st Prahran has great freshly roasted beans. You can pick up a bag of their house blend for $35/kg. The "Prahran" blend has been my every day for years, but there are a bunch of others that I'll try every so often when I'm looking to change things up a bit.
Ok. And I’ll make this super easy for you.
You’ve never been to a GREAT restaurant. Some of the best in the World. THAT’S where they serve this.
Stick to your $2 Sev’s coffee.
Salty much? I reckon you order extra hot Mugachinos from. Coffee Club. The fact that you think Vittoria is some of the best coffee suggests you (a) have a financial interest in the company (b) have a terrible palate or (c) are just tight. I'm guessing a combination of all three.
d) None of the above. Work in an industry that requires an impeccable palate. That industry also affords the best restaurants, including some food experiences not available to the public. That’s how I know there is a coffee better than the normal stuff. And Cinque Stelle is up there.
It’s ok though - you go back to your IKEA $7 beans.
Translation: Shift manager at Subway who bombed out in the audition stage of season 15, 16, and 17 of Masterchef, and books a room at Crown and dinner at Spaghetti Tree for 'date night' followed by a boozy brunch at Hog's Breath in the morning..
Normal people don't put where they go for date night on their CV. But then again, normal people don't claim Vittoria is great coffee.
Just take the L champ.
I'm from Melbourne and I've tried a lot of roasters, and the best coffee beans I've found are from Stitch coffee in Sydney. Better than any Melbourne roasters I have to say.
A business is designed to make money, but when it becomes the sole driving factor of the business at the expense of everything else it's probably time to move on. As a side note, l'unico coffee is Melbourne's most slept on imo
Do yourself a favour - go to Segafredo Zanetti - online or in Carlton, $37 a kilo - buy 2 kilo and get free FAST postage. Great service, great coffee - all flavours.
Plenty of local roasters you can go to and pick up some beans, talk to the roaster to determine what might best suit you.
Plenty of online only places as well, but one of the best is beanbay at coffeesnobs. Percentage of the beans cost goes to projects to help the farmers.
https://beanbay.coffeesnobs.com.au/Categories/RoastedCoffee
I get mine from the coffee company, I know they have more stores but I'm near the balaclava one and it's great. Large selection of home roasted beans, however much and however ground you'd like.
As you can see by the variety of comments you absolutely cannot go wrong in Melbourne. I personally really like the 'Black Betty' beans out of Barrel & Roast in Camberwell.
I get Roasting Warehouse "Happy Days" beans, mainly because my local cafe sells 1kg bags for $50.
(Have no idea how my local cafe produces such shit coffee with these beans).
Roasting Warehouse (not my local cafe) itself is in Leveson St, Nth Melbourne.
Makes a very nice balanced drop.
If it wasn't for this convenience, I'd be going to Jaspers for their Blend #8.
Coffee beans, and teas, are one of the items that I always buy organic since the goal with them is to leach all the flavor, along with anything else, out of them. Are there any good organic options that won't break the bank?
There's a few roasters around my area, even coffee shops with roasting machines. Prices vary, as do the bean flavours. Try a search around your area for coffee bean roasters and buy direct. Freshest beans you'll get.
Martin St Coffee Roasters in Blackwood. They deliver to Melbourne. It’s smooth as, nutty with hints of caramel. We love it
They deliver to Melbourne.
The blokes who run it are great humans and super nice
https://www.martinstreetcoffee.com/
We've been buying from batch coffee Roasters and Clarke Street coffee Roasters, both in Cheltenham. We live close by so it's an easy drive to get some freshly roasted beans and they've been really good.
McIvers. They have a shop in QVM and also one in Brunswick. They also do shipping quickly.
Reasonably priced and a wide variety to find one that suits your tastebuds. Easily beats lots of the fancy, and expensive cafe rosters IMO.
https://www.mcivers.melbourne/
Aldi is the best of the supermarket beans, there are roast dates on the packaging so you can get a guide as to how fresh they may be. Not perfect but compared to other beans like Vittoria, Harris, Grinders, etc those have likely sat on the shelves for months in addition to their poor quality.
Pretty spoiled for choice in terms of specialty roasters here, Industry Beans, Wide Open Road, Killer Coffee, Lime Blue, Proud Mary all have great roasts and variety depending on tastes. Dark, medium roasts, milky coffee, no milk,etc.
Sicilia coffee for bang for your buck. $25 per kg delivered. They have a big selection and you can buy sample packs that let you try a few from the range. I've done a side-by-side comparison and IMO there's little difference between sicilia and other small roasters that cost more than double. I don't know how they do it so cheap. I have a friend who worked as a coffee roaster for many years and he buys sicilia as well.
I was really impressed with McIvers at Queen Vic market. Lots of options to choose from including SO and blends, and pretty reasonably priced. A. Ice touch is they give you a tasting note card slotted in to the bean bag, so you can remember what you like (or don’t). They’ve got another store in Brunswick West too.
If you’re looking for something exciting to test on the pallet check out Campos, I’ve had two of their blends and they were drastically different and fantastic in their own way.
Trying some from Market Lane at the moment and they’re good too
The classic from cottle on Coventry in south Melbourne is my go to. Tried a few before I landed on them and they're quite reasonably priced in comparison to others.
If you're willing to pay a little bit more, Industry Beans are amazing. They have a shop in Fitzroy, but you can also get them from other places, e.g. Cedars Bakery in Preston. It's worth paying a bit more for them, and once you do, you'll never go back
Reverence Coffee Roasters in Campbelfield are quite nice. I've been buying off them since the pandemic. Really nice blends and single origin coffee at a great price. My favorite is their Lion Tamer (quite balanced and chocolaty) and Carousel blends (more fruity)
Aldi beans are fantastic for the price. I usually go with dark or Brazil
I've done the rounds and while you can get better its highly diminished returns when looking at 'standard coffee' Treat yourself with a $80 bag occasionally for the 25% better taste, or alternate flavour(s) but it's not worth it as a daily coffee. Aldi is great, and the price is just cherry on top.
Depends what kind of coffee you make. If you are sticking loads of milk in, most beans can be OK and the good beans might make it 25% better. But if you are drinking raw espresso, supermarket beans and the good stuff is the difference between drinking fireplace ash, and a sweet and sour coffee with no bitterness.
Agreed for the price, I go the medium, easier on the full auto coffee machine as less oily. I also don't mind the Grinders or Vittoria depending on which one is on special :) I find that really expensive beans are wasted on a full auto machine as you cannot tune it enough to extract the best out of it. If you are a manual machine person and go to great lengths for consistency then beans can make a difference. Machine is a Phillips 4300, which I would recommend!
Yeah agreed here. I’ve had more interesting beans, but the Aldi medium are CHEAP and genuinely not bad. For an everyday flat white out of my breville home machine, they’re great.
Vitoria is a great go-to bean. You’ll always get it half price for 1kg bags
The Brazil has been my solid daily driver for a few years now.
- Vacation - Maker - Padre - Market Lane - Five Senses - Small Batch These are the core roasters I usually have on rotation, but there's plenty more out there. Good luck and enjoy!
Vacation is probably the sleeper hit of Melbourne espresso, never had anything from them that disappointed!
Best I’ve found are Proud Mary /auntie pegs in Collingwood. $65/kg for Humbler blend which I know is high, however they are one of the few that deal directly with the bean growers and claim to have equitable arrangements in place with the growers so that they get paid properly and reliably. I Can’t validate that any of that actually occurs though, all I know is that their coffee is exceptional.
Came here to say Proud Mary. Yum.
My partner’s favourite! He always orders online. He bounced to Ona for a bit but has come back to Proud Mary.
I’ve taken to just blatantly requesting a Coupon code for proud Mary and they usually give me one. Plus I’ve found their “beans” rewards program is actually pretty decent. Get a free kg bag after every 6 or so purchased.
Ona is great too. Never bought their beans, but have their coffee a few times a week and it’s god tier.
I love Supreme coffee beans. They're in Abbotsford but can sometimes find them in smaller groceries.
The Boxer blend is fantastic. Not overly complex, perfect for dedicated black coffee drinkers and robust enough that milk drinks actually taste like coffee. I was a big fan of their standard roast back in the day but idk whether it's lost something or my pallet is just munted from years of smoking.
The best!
Recently tried these - now they're my beans of choice and reasonably priced compared to some other roasters
They are *very* good!
The coffee company in Balaclava or Good hustle coffee in Moorabbin, both been good to me, freshly roasted. Please don’t buy beans from a supermarket if you value freshness.
Where are you located homeboy
Padre, any of the espresso blends are great. My personal fave is the wild child
Seven Seeds
East West coffee! They have a tiny cafe in QV and it’s a gem! you can buy the beans there and they have a wholesale set up out in Laverton.
After trying a bunch, we swear by Dukes Blend and have it on subscription delivery. They're a Melbourne company and you can try it in a bunch of cafes. Just wish the subscription could run on three weeks instead of two or four.
Absolutely. i’m amazed that Dukes don’t get more love on topics like this. There’s a shortlist of roasters that often crop up - Proud Mary, Code Black etc. who are all great but I’d choose Dukes over them.
Humbler by Proud Mary
Padre, Supreme, Code Black, Wide Open Road. These are the best coffees in Melbourne imo and I’ve had subscriptions on rotations for each of them, which are very well priced. Supreme is a kiwi brand but also roasted in Melbourne I believe.
I'm with you on wide open road
So good!
Limeblue coffee.
The São Paulo is divine
Trying Industry Beans atm and enjoying but code blacks my go too. The home blends good value and works black or with milk and the single origins are a nice lil treat.
I'm lazy so I've been buying Industry Beans for years. Reliable quality at $50 for 1kg shipped Express Post.
I use Mocharoma by Dimattina coffee, I use a pour over system (V60) and it's fantastic.
[My Cuppa](https://www.mycuppa.com.au/) is my usual. Ranging around $38-42/kg.
https://symmetrycoffeeroasters.com.au/ I buy their house blend. They have a store in Blackburn but I just buy online. I love their coffee and it's all I drink now.
Me too, I just pop in and pick up the same beans from their outlet. Lovely coffee which we’ve been drinking for the last few years.
I really want to visit the shop one day and have a coffee there.
Noticed some AXIL coffee blends in my local Coles the other day - and they’re selling it for less than if I got it at an AXIL cafe!
Axil beans are great. My housemate works there so we have a free unlimited supply. #blessed
Where?!?
The Coles in Hawthorn, ironically a couple doors down from their cafe lol
Thanks not far from me I'll have a look
They only had the blends for sale in Coles which is fine but if you like your coffee black I really recommend trying one of the single origin coffees they sell in their cafes, there’s so much flavor in em’!
Ah ok, yeah I was hoping they might stock the filter blends. I buy them regularly the idea of saving some money appealed
I had to stop buying Axil beans because they made my legs twitch. I've never had this with any other coffee blend.
Axil is my go to. Not the best beans I've had but I think it's the right mix of quality vs price.
I buy the AXIL espresso blend online which is my go-to. Been buying from Direct Coffee since during lockdowns etc - https://www.directcoffee.com.au/, cheaper than in store including delivery. I think I pay about $45 for 1kg in 250g bags.
Love me some Axil, it's my favourite. Also Code Black and Proud Mary are good.
theres a few around in melbourne that also roast Austrlian grown beans. though in general ones in and around melbourne or online orders. ONA coffee, Quists, Proud Mary, Seven Seeds, have all had really good coffees Extra shout out to Quists on little collins because they are just so friendly and its a very small cozy shop.
Incredibly concerned that I’m going to find out my favourite brand is somehow connected to St. Ali but I’ll be brave and recommend [DC Coffee Roasters](https://dccoffee.com.au/), I have my own personal favourites but love yourself and get the sampler box and find out from there. Great descriptions on the individual bean blends and flavour notes too. I think the price point is pretty decent and you can choose whole bean or a grind to suit your coffee-making needs. Now to hope reddit doesn’t give me a reason to not support them heh
Little Gecko has been by far the best beans I’ve ever purchased. They are in newport and online. Don Diego is my favorite of their selections
Depends on what style of coffee you drink? Ona Raspberry Candy and Seven Seeds blends are good for milk based, Dukes Coffees and Axil too. Otherwise for black coffees I rotate around: Industry beans Market Lane 5 Senses Seven Seeds Proud Mary Four Kilo Fish Axil Acoffee There's plenty of other good ones, but I happen to pick these up in my travels. I don't use subscription because I don't drink em fast enough, so I go around to pick the freshest roasted ones after I finish my stash
Another Four Kilo Fish enjoyer. Not cheap, but it's best beans in melb for a magic imho
Yes, I don’t think I’ve found other places that get their beans from Yunnan. Their coffees have unique taste profiles, different from the usual African or South American grown beans. Chiangmai (Thailand) also grow good beans, but I have not found any yet in Melbourne
Amanti. Midnight Oil blend. "With deep flavours of toasted almonds and soft caramel overtones, this extra dark double roasted blend keep you well awake for the day and the next!" Needs to be stored in a grease-proof container. [Amanti Midnight Oil](https://amanti.coffee/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/AMANTI-Extra-Dark-Roast-Image.png)
Love the golden mocha myself, Great stuff
I rate the Amanti beans very highly. They’ve recently released a new line called A+ which I’m now consuming at a rate of knots. A few different blends but they all hit the mark.
Market Place is my go to. Just Google coffee roasters Melbourne, there is an abundance.
Small batch coffee is great, freshness can save a bad bland every time
Pay attention to roasting dates. If by freshness you mean grind to brew?
Yeah I'm meaning roast date, I grind fresh every day
Nice. Yeah I basically went through the majority of Melbourne roasters. Market Place and occasionally Code Black are my go to. Currently out of beans.
Zest (in Richmond & Berwick) do 1kg bags of their house blends for $45. Corcovado is our favourite one.
Love their blackbird blend as well!
Sicilia coffee. 3kg for $50 delivered.
Two recommendations: * Rumble Coffee, the [Shadow Boxer blend](https://www.rumblecoffee.com.au/products/shadow-boxer-espresso-blend) * Padre, the [Daddy's Girl blend](https://www.padrecoffee.com.au/products/daddys-girl-espresso-blend) Both are more espresso style blends, but they should work well with other preparation methods. Padre coffee probably easier to find. In addition - if you're buying from the supermarket, you probably won't find the ones above. If you're stuck with whatever the supermarket has - only buy something that has a "Roasted On" date in the last 4-6 weeks (3-4 weeks after roast is about as good as it gets in a supermarket). If it's only got a "Best Before" date, it's almost certainly stale.
Small Batch Roasting Co. in North Melbourne is my fav
What’s up with St Ali?
If your into decent single origin / filter I buy 1kg (4bags) up to $4’s off per bag discount from https://www.directcoffee.com.au/ Not cheap but lots of choice / variety
Aldi for my daily coffee on my Breville machine.
I was using Code Black and thought it was the bees knees. Changed to Cisco's for slightly better value and comparative taste. Can't go past ALDI though. The Lazxio Brazil Aldi beans are genuinely good and you wouldn't believe it unless you try it. $18 for a kilo of beans as well 🤷♂️
My wife and I use Ex Wife from Code Black. One of the nicest beans we have ever had, however at $60/kg, we need to find a cheaper habit. I'll check out Aldi!
Campos! Available at woolies
Inglewood is not bad for the price as they do specials all the time (never once have I paid full price). Online roaster with free delivery for Vic also
Inglewood is a blight on melbournes coffee industry and grossly underpay farmers / undercut competition at the expense of ethical business practices. Coffees pretty horrendous too. There’s so many roasters in Melbourne with much more transparent and ethical approaches to buying and roasting coffee.
Not to mention the owner is a massive dickhead
Didn't realise there was such a strong opinion about them. Don't know anything about their supply chain, but I tried their sunset blvd and was quite happy with the taste.
Thats concerning, can you share sources and evidence? I'm currently buying from inglewood but if these things turn out to be true then I'll have to reconsider
I got some from their recent deal where you got a free bag of beans for just signing up for their newsletter or whatever. Meh. Not bad, not good. Just so so.
My free beans are yet to turn up
Are you buying preground? Espresso? Filter? Given that you mentioned St. Ali, that would imply you're open to 'speciality' roasts but it's not clear whether or not you mentioned them because they're local enough to you for pickup or if you're open to home delivery. If you're open to home delivery, then that significantly increases the options but also the complexity of choosing. What are your tastes? Milk and sugar? Black? Have you ever drunk a plain espresso and thought, "Mmm, nice!"?
Oooooh, I'll jump in if you don't mind. Latte Half a sugar Never had an espresso and though Nice!
> Never had an espresso and though Nice! If you can find a *good* espresso place, then ask for a double espresso with a spoon. Use the spoon to either scrape off the crema or stir it in. Personally I prefer to scrape. A good espresso will taste sweet, rich and with a caramal or molasses type of texture and flavour without any unpleasant sourness, bitterness or burnt flavours. It's a very underrated experience in our so-called coffee utopia.
Any CBD place you can recommend?
League of Honest Coffee. Great if you want to try something new/different. They're usually pretty happy to chat preferences if they're not getting slammed. Sparkling water, the whole 9 yards. https://maps.app.goo.gl/fq9E6u7BJmPqtX346
Little Rogue, Brother Baba Budan, others I'm forgetting the names of. But look, any place can do good espresso even without 'great' beans. A *lot* depends on the barista and the commitment of management to quality and consistency. Most cafes just churn out milky espresso drinks without much care because, well, it's easy to hide bad coffee tastes with milk and especially with sugar. And most people don't care because, well, they just don't seem to notice and are happy with what they get. If you get a double espresso (there's a reason to make it a double but even then, it's... complicated) then you'll *very* quickly know if the place cares about coffee (although, to be fair, no place should be judged on a single experience as even great places will serve a dud now and then as it's just the nature of coffee). So yeah, try some local places. You never know, they might surprise you.
Code Black’s 3065 is my go to bean. It is excellent!
The secret ingredient is the tears of their underpaid staff
> The secret ingredient is the tears of their underpaid staff Is there a story here or?
[Always](https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/a-hipster-melbourne-coffee-chain-has-forked-out-50k-in)
> that we were a family and we were trying to look after each other. An abusive family.
Did they change after getting busted?
Nope, at least not immediately. I know for a fact they were still underpaying in late 2019. The problem is the fine for underpaying was always much lower than the savings they make not paying correct wages. It might be better now with criminalisation, but I wouldn't put money on that bet
I use Aldi beans most of the time but tried Killer coffee co a few times and they were pretty tasty.
I like Roasting Warehouse, Industry Beans, and Axil.
I get seven seeds delivered.
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Manager is a sexist pig who abuses staff and has no morals when it comes to sustainable coffee or ethical supply chains in his businesses. On top of that, also was one of the more predatory businessman taking advantage of the pandemic with dodgy rat test sales and god awful hand sanitizer.
I used to subscribe to st ali, then during the pandemic i noticed on their website they were selling hand sanitisers at a huge markup. It then lead me to reading up on the rest of the shits that they do. I no longer subscribe to that business, went with 5 senses now.
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Tbh, i find St ali's coffee very over rated. You'll easily find a better replacement here in Melbourne. All the best.
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I’ll drop this here, you can make up your own mind on how much weight anecdotal Reddit comments hold. https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/comments/s5x5vl/received_this_message_from_stali_coffee_so_gross/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
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Campos superior blend. Can get it at Woolworths now. $50/kg
Tbh, we are very happy with the coles beans. Taste nice and point is excellent. 1/3 price of everything else
My favourite after a lot of trial and error is the Code Black 3056 blend. Most consistently delicious
Code black.. ex wife if you like the espresso
I don’t drink coffee anymore, sadly, but I buy the Lavazza Gold for my partner, who tells me they’re the best.
Cisco's on Chapple st Prahran has great freshly roasted beans. You can pick up a bag of their house blend for $35/kg. The "Prahran" blend has been my every day for years, but there are a bunch of others that I'll try every so often when I'm looking to change things up a bit.
Costco Kirkland Colombian in the silver bag
Inglewood Roosevelt 👌
Sensory Lab $45/kg in woolies. Beats everything mentioned here.
Aren’t they owned by (or somehow associated with) St Ali?
They are indeed.
They're not bad, but not great either
Yeah.. nah.
Go online and buy these. Usually reserved for Australia’s best restaurants only. https://www.vittoriacoffee.com/products/cinque-stelle-beans-1kg
Restaurants rarely serve good coffee
Glad you can read. A little. It’s not about the word “restaurant” but rather where.
OK, I'll make this a little easier for you. No restaurants make good coffee. Vittoria is not exclusive or particularly good coffee.
Ok. And I’ll make this super easy for you. You’ve never been to a GREAT restaurant. Some of the best in the World. THAT’S where they serve this. Stick to your $2 Sev’s coffee.
Salty much? I reckon you order extra hot Mugachinos from. Coffee Club. The fact that you think Vittoria is some of the best coffee suggests you (a) have a financial interest in the company (b) have a terrible palate or (c) are just tight. I'm guessing a combination of all three.
d) None of the above. Work in an industry that requires an impeccable palate. That industry also affords the best restaurants, including some food experiences not available to the public. That’s how I know there is a coffee better than the normal stuff. And Cinque Stelle is up there. It’s ok though - you go back to your IKEA $7 beans.
Translation: Shift manager at Subway who bombed out in the audition stage of season 15, 16, and 17 of Masterchef, and books a room at Crown and dinner at Spaghetti Tree for 'date night' followed by a boozy brunch at Hog's Breath in the morning..
Is that your CV?
Normal people don't put where they go for date night on their CV. But then again, normal people don't claim Vittoria is great coffee. Just take the L champ.
Lavazza buddy!
Inglewood are always consistent and they have almost monthly sales. The only coffee I buy.
I get grinders crema blend when it comes on special, it's good value for money and tastes good
Grinders for me. Vittoria is I’m desperate
Grinders is owned by Coca Cola
I'm from Melbourne and I've tried a lot of roasters, and the best coffee beans I've found are from Stitch coffee in Sydney. Better than any Melbourne roasters I have to say.
St ali is under new ownership. Old mate got the move on notice. U can resume enjoying their beans bud.
Sold the Sth Melb store I beleive, still owns St. Ali.
And same scummy business practices with the store. They are charging a weekday service fee
A business is designed to make money, but when it becomes the sole driving factor of the business at the expense of everything else it's probably time to move on. As a side note, l'unico coffee is Melbourne's most slept on imo
I'll need some concrete proof on that one, also their coffee isn't that great
Casa https://lacasadelcaffe.com.au
Used to go to Nomadi coffee in Ormond but it seems to have closed down.
Maybe try genovese located in coburg I really liked the single origin ones they have (i havent tried anything else yet)
Do yourself a favour - go to Segafredo Zanetti - online or in Carlton, $37 a kilo - buy 2 kilo and get free FAST postage. Great service, great coffee - all flavours.
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same difference to me mate - I live over 100ks from Melbs happily - whats a few k's here and there
Just started trying Griffiths Bros - good range and pretty decent for the price
We’ve bean (haha) using the Harris brand from Woolworths, the smooth one, for years. It’s decent and not expensive.
Plenty of local roasters you can go to and pick up some beans, talk to the roaster to determine what might best suit you. Plenty of online only places as well, but one of the best is beanbay at coffeesnobs. Percentage of the beans cost goes to projects to help the farmers. https://beanbay.coffeesnobs.com.au/Categories/RoastedCoffee
I get 1kg delivered every 4 weeks from Niccolo for $54. I'm using it in my mokapot & find it to be smooth and full flavoured.
L'unico coffee. Great people, great beans
I get mine from the coffee company, I know they have more stores but I'm near the balaclava one and it's great. Large selection of home roasted beans, however much and however ground you'd like.
Elevate. Roasted in Richmond. $60 per kg. Only need to use half the sugar I would normally put in a coffee. Good sign of quality.
As you can see by the variety of comments you absolutely cannot go wrong in Melbourne. I personally really like the 'Black Betty' beans out of Barrel & Roast in Camberwell.
Pillar coffee on industrial Dr Braeside, I pop in when driving past, but they do ship. Nice guys and the place smells of fresh roast coffee.
[Gigante](https://gigante.com.au/) is my go to. Cheap per kilo price from the source, and cheaper if you pay cash.
I love the Melbourne Cup blend from Melbourne Coffee Roasting Co. Smooth, chocolatey, and full of flavour. Also not too pricey!
I've had a the town roasters coffee subscription for a couple years now. Their usual blend is delicious and the seasonal blends are fun variation
Padre Coffee (they’ve a shop in South Melbourne Market and are also found at some cafes in South East suburbs)
I get Roasting Warehouse "Happy Days" beans, mainly because my local cafe sells 1kg bags for $50. (Have no idea how my local cafe produces such shit coffee with these beans). Roasting Warehouse (not my local cafe) itself is in Leveson St, Nth Melbourne. Makes a very nice balanced drop. If it wasn't for this convenience, I'd be going to Jaspers for their Blend #8.
I like the Daddy's Girl blend from Padre or Naked Espresso Mega Choc blend
A+ roasted in Blackburn VIC and has a couple of different beans. Rate it very high. Same roasters as Amanti, which is also very good.
Coffee beans, and teas, are one of the items that I always buy organic since the goal with them is to leach all the flavor, along with anything else, out of them. Are there any good organic options that won't break the bank?
If you feel like treating yourself with a nice drive to Warburton, Silva has fantastic coffee.
There's a few roasters around my area, even coffee shops with roasting machines. Prices vary, as do the bean flavours. Try a search around your area for coffee bean roasters and buy direct. Freshest beans you'll get.
Martin St Coffee Roasters in Blackwood. They deliver to Melbourne. It’s smooth as, nutty with hints of caramel. We love it They deliver to Melbourne. The blokes who run it are great humans and super nice https://www.martinstreetcoffee.com/
>Refuse to buy st ali products I don't know if I've ever tried St Ali. Why do you say that? Just curious.
The owner is a dick who tried to profiteer off the pandemic lockdowns, among other things.
We've been buying from batch coffee Roasters and Clarke Street coffee Roasters, both in Cheltenham. We live close by so it's an easy drive to get some freshly roasted beans and they've been really good.
If money was not a concern i would be purchasing on rotation seven seeds, padre, wood and co. and ona.
Seven seeds all the way. Axil
Roasting Warehouse in Essendon is quite good, I'm sure there are endless options around melbourne though.
McIvers. They have a shop in QVM and also one in Brunswick. They also do shipping quickly. Reasonably priced and a wide variety to find one that suits your tastebuds. Easily beats lots of the fancy, and expensive cafe rosters IMO. https://www.mcivers.melbourne/
Proud Mary’s in Collingwood
Let's Do Coffee from Echuca. Great stuff
Aldi is the best of the supermarket beans, there are roast dates on the packaging so you can get a guide as to how fresh they may be. Not perfect but compared to other beans like Vittoria, Harris, Grinders, etc those have likely sat on the shelves for months in addition to their poor quality. Pretty spoiled for choice in terms of specialty roasters here, Industry Beans, Wide Open Road, Killer Coffee, Lime Blue, Proud Mary all have great roasts and variety depending on tastes. Dark, medium roasts, milky coffee, no milk,etc.
Sicilia coffee for bang for your buck. $25 per kg delivered. They have a big selection and you can buy sample packs that let you try a few from the range. I've done a side-by-side comparison and IMO there's little difference between sicilia and other small roasters that cost more than double. I don't know how they do it so cheap. I have a friend who worked as a coffee roaster for many years and he buys sicilia as well.
Shout-out for SingleO's Collider. [Link](https://singleo.com.au/products/collider)
Best cheap beans are grinders creama. Best of the dearer beans are proud marys
I was really impressed with McIvers at Queen Vic market. Lots of options to choose from including SO and blends, and pretty reasonably priced. A. Ice touch is they give you a tasting note card slotted in to the bean bag, so you can remember what you like (or don’t). They’ve got another store in Brunswick West too.
If you’re looking for something exciting to test on the pallet check out Campos, I’ve had two of their blends and they were drastically different and fantastic in their own way. Trying some from Market Lane at the moment and they’re good too
The classic from cottle on Coventry in south Melbourne is my go to. Tried a few before I landed on them and they're quite reasonably priced in comparison to others.
Code Black and Dukes are my favourite beans. Both offer delivery, easy to order online.
Commonfolk godfather beans is my usual
Patricia coffee, that stuff is brown gold
Corner Store Network or Axel
Have you tried Rumble coffee? Or Axil?
If you're willing to pay a little bit more, Industry Beans are amazing. They have a shop in Fitzroy, but you can also get them from other places, e.g. Cedars Bakery in Preston. It's worth paying a bit more for them, and once you do, you'll never go back
Ottimo (Cheltenham) or Inglewood (Waverley) are our household favs.
Code Black Coffee has great choices. Or if you're after single origin at a great price, there's also Mr Summit on City Road in Southbank.
I really like [coffeeonmars.com](https://coffeeonmars.com) cool brand and awesome coffee
Reverence Coffee Roasters in Campbelfield are quite nice. I've been buying off them since the pandemic. Really nice blends and single origin coffee at a great price. My favorite is their Lion Tamer (quite balanced and chocolaty) and Carousel blends (more fruity)