It's common knowledge that Melbourne is renowned far and wide for its world-class coffee culture. Coffee is an integral part of the Melburnian identity, which is why we have seemingly endless options of cafés keeping us caffeinated with the finest brews. The global acclaim for our city's top-notch coffee spots continues, with a Melbourne café ranking in the top five in the whole world.
This week, the inaugural World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops Gala took place at CoffeeFest Madrid in Spain – with the rankings determined by a combination of public votes and ratings by an expert panel. Each café was judged on a variety of factors, including coffee quality, barista experience, customer service, innovation, ambience, sustainability practices, food offerings and consistency.
Melbourne’s very own Proud Mary came in at the fourth spot on the list. The super popular warehouse-style café in Collingwood are also wholesale coffee roasters, stocking some of Melbourne’s best venues and providing a training ground for award-winning baristas. Founded by a husband and wife duo 16 years ago, Proud Mary certainly takes a lot of pride in the mastery of the coffee craft. Not to mention, the café also offers a top-notch brekky menu, perfect for enjoying with a cup of delicious brew.
But this beloved spot wasn't the only Melbourne cafe to make the top 100 list, in fact, there were four other coffee shops that also ranked among the best of the best. Richmond's Veneziano Coffee Roasters came in at the 19th spot and Fitzroy's Calēre Coffee ranked at number 28. Also on the list were the CBD's Vacation Coffee and Seven Seeds, in the 71st and 87th spots respectively.
But where was the number one café in the world? Well, believe it or not, a Sydney spot took out the title of the best coffee shop worldwide. Toby’s Estate flagship café and roastery in Chippendale took home the top gong. The specialty coffee roaster's huge flagship warehouse, allows visitors to get up-close to the coffee making action. The coffee empire recently opened a new café in Fitzroy, so Melburnians can get in on the action too. Other Australian coffee shops to make the list were Brisbane's Coffee Anthology in the eighth spot, as well as Exchange Coffee in Adelaide (37) and Fonzie Abbott in Brisbane (70). You can find the full list of 100 here.
These are the 10 best coffee shops in the world:
- Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters, Sydney
- Onyx Coffee LAB, Arkansas
- Gota Coffee Experts, Vienna
- Proud Mary Coffee, Melbourne
- Tim Wendelboe, Oslo
- Apartment Coffee, Singapore
- Kawa, Paris
- Coffee Anthology, Brisbane
- Story of Ono, Petaling Jaya
- Tropicalia Coffee, Bogota
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