Best of the Gold Coast 2017: Top 10 best coffees
THE results are in! Here are the top 10 best coffee shops on the Gold Coast. Did your favourite make the cut?
Best of Gold Coast
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IT’S our first fan-voted Best of the Gold Coast for 2017, so why not start off with a topic that’s close to Gold Coast hearts and never far from Gold Coast lips.
Our coffee scene is so hot right now even people from Melbourne give their tick of approval (collective gasp!).
Here are the top 10 spots to get coffee on the Coast, and remember, this is fan voted, so if your favourite isn’t on the list and you didn’t vote, you only have yourself to blame.
10. Simple Coffee House
LOCATION: Shop 2 & 2a, 91 — 99 Scarborough Street, Southport (Underneath TAFE)
Owner of Simple Coffee House Simon Shanahan says that fresh and high calibre ingredients and staff who “care about what’s in the cup” are the key to great coffee — and so is heart.
“I think the people who voted for us, they’re voting for us as their coffee shop as a whole — they get good service, they like the atmosphere, they like decor, the pricing is correct but really it’s very holistic,” he says.
“They feel connected to us and our business; they feel like they are part of the furniture and part of the family. It’s important they know how important they are to us.”
9. Lakeview Cafe
LOCATION: 100 Burleigh St, Burleigh Waters
Owner of Lakeview Cafe Dylan Rackley is so dedicated to the perfect brew he’s created his own beans.
“Basically it’s the time and effort we put into it, we’ve designed our bean from scratch and I work very closely with roaster,” he says.
“We’ve created a bean that’s smooth, clean and quite strong,
“It doesn’t follow the same fruity flavours a lot of coffee shops have gone with. We’ve stuck to those chocolatey, caramel and nutty tones — all good coffee flavours.”
8. Silipo Coffee
LOCATION: 9/54 Bailey Cres, Southport
Silipo Coffee do far more than simply roast awesome coffee. They are wholesale roasters and suppliers — their supply amount has gone from 1kg to 80kg per week in five years — they offer trainee barista courses and also don’t mind a little healthy competition. It’s lucky they didn’t deal in caffeine, otherwise they might be exhausted.
Most recently owner Richard Silipo and his team won five out of seven awards at the Australian International Coffee Awards and 17-year-old barista and wholesale manager Jacob King won a latte art “coffee smackdown” against more than 40 other Gold Coast baristas.
7. Papercup Coffee
LOCATION: 1/16 Frank St, Labrador
Located in Labrador, northern Gold Coasters rejoiced when Papercup Coffee opened their doors. Zoe Scorgie took the Papercup reigns from the Blackboard Coffee crew well over a year ago and she’s still met with people surprised such good coffee can come from a servo.
It’s no surprise, though, with Zoe brewing caffeinated goodness for more than 10 years and using quality Blackboard Coffee beans.
6. Stairwell Coffee
LOCATION: 3131 Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise
It’s the little green coffee shop under the stairs in Surfers Paradise, but what you’ll find there is far more magical than Harry Potter.
Clayton Dalton took over Stairwell Coffee just over a year ago and his own signature Windomal roast has been drawing coffee lovers like moths to a flame.
“Some of my customers are waiting for me to open before I even arrive,” he laughs.
“The space I have is actually good, it creates a sense of urgency and there’s only a couple of steps from the fridge to the grinder, so it’s quite simplified.”
5. The Press Cafe
LOCATION: 25/19 Harbour Village Parade, Coomera
Opening up in the Coomera area, The Press Cafe was met with a collective sigh of relief from coffee connoisseurs.
Since then business has been booming, which owner Damien Jacquelin puts down to a good supplier and consistent service.
“We actually use someone else on the list — Silipo Coffee. They are such great guys and you can see that through the coffee they make,” he says.
“We respect it and do it justice and every cup is the same, whether they come on a Monday morning or a Sunday afternoon. It’ll always be one of the best cups of coffee you’ve ever had.”
4. Little Mynx Café
LOCATION: 64 Ferny Ave, Surfers Paradise
If you’re not getting down to Little Mynx Cafe for their freshly brewed Establishment coffee, at least get down for the ever-changing chalkboard out the front.
Their signature sign is constantly quipping totally relatable quotes and jokes about coffee, with honourable mentions going to: “I have seen things. Awful things. Empty coffee cup things,” “Coffee is the only reason I still have friends and a job,” and “Every day I have bean salad, a coffee bean salad. Coffee ... I drink coffee every day.”
3. Crazy Cat Cafe
LOCATION: 3131 Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise
Cats, caffeine and cuddles — all good things starting with C!
This cafe caused quite the stir when it opened up last year, being the first cat cafe to open on the Gold Coast after they proved popular in places such as Melbourne and Japan.
But it’s proven this feline friendly cafe is more than simply a gimmick, with people obviously loving the coffee just as much as the kitties.
2. Blackboard Coffee
LOCATION: 7/240 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes
On the Gold Coast, the Blackboard Coffee ‘B’ is almost as recognisable as the golden arches, but the success hasn’t gone to Nick Pearce and Marc Kinvig’s head — they’re still as humble as they were in the beginning,
And while their beans are roasted and revered at a number of stores all over the Coast, their flagship cafe at Varsity Lakes has become a destination for coffee lovers of all ages. The shop recently underwent a major makeover, making the space bigger, better and giving their baristas more room to move.
1. Le Vintage Boutique Cafe
LOCATION: 2 Goodman Cl, Highland Park
This Highland Park cafe is in a league of its own, combining country service, humble food and drink that has passed the test of time with quirky, on-trend style.
While Nic Lord takes care of the kitchen, Joel Aston is out the front ensuring every cup of joe is just what their guests ordered.
“I’ve done coffee in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, New Zealand — I’m 35-years-old and I’ve been making coffee since I was 15,” he says.
“We serve Merlo as a lot of people know, and we do it how it should be done.
“It’s shipped fresh from Brisbane the day after its roasted. It’s different serving fresh coffee as opposed to long-life coffee.
“I just give people what they want — they want extra hot and strong or half-strength and caramel, it doesn’t matter.
“Some people are funny with their orders but you just give them what they want.”
And lets face it, usually what customers want is simply a big, strong coffee that tastes great and puts a pep in their step — and if Le Vintage’s 20 ounce cup with four shots is anything to go by, that’s exactly what they deliver.
“We get away from a lot of the snobbery out here,” Joel says.
“We don’t do the cold drip or anything like that — I appreciate what everyone else is doing with it and if there’s a demand for it, of course.
“I’ve probably had three people ask for a turmeric latte out here, but that’s it, it’s usually a fad and people out here don’t really get caught up in it.
“If people want something I’ll give it to them but they haven’t wanted it.”
There’s definitely a mutual love between the Le Vintage team and their customers.
“We love our customers and love the local support we’ve got out here,” Joel says.
“We’d do anything for our regulars and I think they know that.
“We’ve done the same thing since day one and it’s earned us a good following that we’re really happy with after only two and a half years.”
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