Local coffee providers are roasting their own brews and supplying specialty coffees to outlets across the region and country. They’re doing excellent things with beans here and as testament to that, Canberra is home to 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic, the founder of ONA Coffee. Sasa’s knack for making the perfect cup has set the standard for roasting, blending and café culture pretty much anywhere in Australia.
It may surprise you to learn that Canberra makes the country’s best coffee. But it’s objectively true. Ona Coffee’s founder, Sasa Sestic, won the World Barista Championship in 2015, and his employee Hugh Kelly has won the Australian Barista Championship two years running, in 2016 and 2017.
With their pretty miniature garden area outside, and an interior panelled in warm wood and hand-glazed tiles, centred around two striking bars (one brass; the other rich green marble, wrapped around a tiny, totally open kitchen), Mocan and Green Grout is nothing if not adaptable.
Swing by No 23 Lonsdale on a Saturday and you’ll get really close to the roasting process, with the sounds and smell of delicious coffee filling the bustling eatery. Choose from 16 humorously named blends such as Assassin (“an assault on the senses”), Honeybear (“a wild roast to bring out your inner grizzly”), Johnny Cash (“dark, deep and brooding”) and Wild Child (“a voluptuous temptress”).
Discover Time Out original video
