It’s not breaking news that Sydney does café culture well. And although we already knew that our breakfast and brunch offering was strong, we’ve just received further confirmation – with a brand-new award ceremony crowning a Sydney coffee shop the best in the world.
This week, the inaugural World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops Gala took place at CoffeeFest Madrid in Spain – and Sydney’s very own Toby’s Estate flagship café and roastery in Chippendale took home the top gong. The rankings were determined by a combination of public votes and ratings by an expert panel who judged each café based on factors, including coffee quality, barista experience, customer service, innovation, ambience, sustainability practices, food offerings and consistency.
Claiming the top honour in 2025, Toby Estate's massive flagship café warehouse in Chippendale (that's Sydney's 'Coolest Suburb') is the perfect place to immerse yourself in the world of specialty brews. Unlike other cafés where there's normally some form of physical barrier between you and the baristas, this place invites you to watch the coffee mastery at work. An island brew bar lets you get up close, learn from the passionate baristas and even watch the magic unfold through overhead mirrors. While sipping your brew, you can wander to the back of the café, where glass doors offer a behind-the-scenes look into the roastery. This is where all Toby’s flagship espresso blends, single origin beans and limited-edition Flavour Savours are roasted.
With more than 25 years on the bean scene, Toby’s Estate also has flagship cafés in Brisbane, Singapore, the Middle East and the Philippines – plus its newest coffee shop in Fitzroy, Melbourne (that one only opened this year).
Two other Aussie coffee shops were named among the ten best coffee shops in the world for 2025. Fourth place went to Proud Mary: an unbelievably popular warehouse-style café in Collingwood, wholesale coffee roasters stocking some of Melbourne’s best venues and training ground for award-winning baristas. Brisbane’s Coffee Anthology ranked eighth overall, with its multi-roaster approach meaning coffee aficionados will find new and exciting drops each time they visit.
Other Australian cafés included on the inaugural 100 Best Coffee Shops list were Veneziano Coffee Roasters, Melbourne (19); Calēre Coffee, Melbourne (28); Exchange Coffee, Adelaide (37); Fonzie Abbott, Brisbane (70); Vacation Coffee, Melbourne (71); and Seven Seeds, Melbourne (87). Not bad for the land Down Under. You can find the full 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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