I am writing this post with the assistance of self proclaimed coffee expert extraordinaire; Joshua.
Josh and I recently visited the hip & happening city of Melbourne to celebrate my birthday and our 4 year anniversary!
Among many restaurants and cafés on our to-visit list over the weekend was the reputed caffeine depot in Carlton that is Seven Seeds Specialty Coffee. Run by Melbourne coffee king Mark Dundon (also founder of successful cafes Brother Baba Budan and St Ali) Seven Seeds is a boutique perfectionist coffee roastery /plantation / café complete with its own research lab. The face of this coffee hub appears to be not much more than a hole in the wall … oh but it is so much more! If it weren’t for the many recommendations, we may never have discovered this little gem.
Inside is a workshop, decked out with all the unique yet understated trimmings you would expect from a boutique café. Exposed beams and naked brick walls create a warehouse feel to the place; characterised by hanging lights with cute & quirky red knitted teacosy-like beanies, ecclectic ammo boxes on each table which store sugar and cutlery, pneumatic piano rolls recycled into wallpaper, but most importantly, a sexy, shiny Synesso fed by three robur’s (the ferrari of coffee grinders).
To top it all off, their music of choice was Fat Freddy’s Drop – they had me at hello. They have gone to every effort to make this place the number one destination for coffee addicts (now all they have to do is find it).
Needless to say, the coffee was pretty good, although, with the beans retailing for $65 a kilo, you would hope so!
Their breakfast menu is not the most extensive, offering mainly simple, sweet items like bircher and almond croissants along with some savoury toasties which I thought lent themselves more to a lunch type menu. Add some simple scrambled eggs or hot breakfast options and we would probably have stayed all day.
After a chat with the friendly staff, a few coffees and $200 later (Josh just had to buy that shiny Reg Barber tamper – his bank called him later to check how on earth he managed to spend so much in a cafe) we scooted off very content with our new favourite Melbourne destination.
Visit seven seeds specialty coffee: 106 Berkeley st, Carlton