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Rush Roasting Co – style, substance… and great coffee in Bowral
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The Southern Highlands town of Bowral in New South Wales is a delightful place. And, as I discovered during my first visit there recently, it’s also home to a truly excellent coffee shop. The Rush Roasting Co cafe is on the edge of the main shopping area and occupies an old service station. The…
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Smith & Deli – great vegan food & moreish drinks at the OG in Collingwood
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Smith and Deli has been a staple of the vegan food scene in Melbourne for a decade. It currently resides in Collingwood, on unassuming Cambridge Street just off the more familiar Smith Street. While it’s not a coffee shop, this café/deli operation still serves up a worthy brew. My oat latte was very chocolately,…
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King Of The Castle – outstanding coffee with industrial vibes on Pako
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King Of The Castle has been a popular coffee shop and café on bustling Pakington Street in Geelong for more than a decade. I was a frequent visitor for several years after it first opened when I lived locally. A trip into Pako gave me an opportunity to visit again after many years. I…
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Nira – great coffee with a dose of history in Castlemaine
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Looking for a coffee on a brief stop on a drive passing through the historic Victorian Goldfields town of Castlemaine, I stumbled across Nira. It turned out that this “hole in the wall” style coffee shop only opened a week-or-so before my visit. Locals were clearly discovering it for the first time as I…
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Milo – great coffee and vegan vibes in Maryborough
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The small Victorian Goldfields city of Maryborough is lucky to have a thriving vegan café. Milo Café and Store, perfectly situated on the high street, is not only serving up good vegan food but also focuses on a great coffee experience. I enjoyed at least ten oat lattes from Milo and the consistency was…
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Rusty’s – coffee with a beautiful view in Portarlington
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Daniel is a popular local chef in the pretty seaside town of Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula. He previously ran a café in the town centre and has cooked in many of the kitchens locally and in Geelong and the Surf Coast area. His latest offering is a small shop just out of town,…
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Blue Doors – great coffee with a laneway vibe in Melbourne
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I was a regular at Cartel Coffee‘s funky coffee shop on ever-improving Somerset Place (just off Little Bourke Street) when I worked in the Melbourne CBD. I was surprised when it became Blue Doors, the Melbourne offering of the popular Indonesian outfit. But the good news was that they continued to use Cartel’s beans…
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Union Kiosk – legendary vegan café in the Melbourne CBD
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I’ve been a regular at Union Kiosk in Melbourne for years. What started life as a tiny “hole in the wall” jaffle shop has become a much larger cafe space in a laneway. It has since even taken over the shop next door as well to provide additional seating. The coffee here is consistently…
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Blackbird Laneway – amazing coffee and top vibes in Cairns!
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Very occasionally, I visit a coffee shop that just nails it – and Blackbird Laneway in Cairns is one such place. On a recent trip to Far North Queensland, I did some coffee research before the trip. Blackbird Laneway got great reviews, so it was the first place I headed after checking-in to our…
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Caffiend – clever branding and good coffee in Cairns
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On a recent trip to Far North Queensland, I went in search of an early morning takeaway coffee in Cairns. Checking out local reviews, I headed to the cleverly-named Caffiend in the city centre. Caffiend is more of a cafe than just a coffee shop, with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, and it…