Gold Coast coffee: the city’s best coffee as voted by you
With restrictions easing, there's never been a better time to catch up over a coffee. Check out the ten top coffee shops on the Gold Coast as voted by you.
Best of Gold Coast
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With restrictions easing, there's never been a better time to catch up over a coffee. Check out the ten top coffee shops on the Gold Coast as voted by you.
10. No Name Lane
Elizabeth Ave, Broadbeach
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No Name Lane has used Black Sheep coffee beans from day one and owner Simon McCloy says they always will. “We’ve used them for six years now, we’re never changing,” he says. No Name Lane is known throughout the Gold Coast for making a great coffee and regularly wins industry awards. “We’ve won the best coffee on the Gold Coast the last two years in a row in the Peer To Peer Awards,” Simon says. “We get a lot of people from Melbourne or the city, they compare it to a Melbourne style coffee. The flavour is very consistent, it’s not really bitter at all, its really chocolately and smooth. We have such a regular clientele, they don’t go elsewhere.”
9. Bear Boy Espresso
66/502 Hope Island Rd, Helensvale
This cafe only opened a couple of months ago but has already amassed a loyal fanbase. Bear Boy Espresso Brodie Howard says the cafe filled a gap for specialty coffee on the northern Gold Coast. “The southern end is saturated with cool places to go,” she says. “We’re almost pioneers to bring something a little bit different here, something new and fresh, and I think everyone jumped on board.” The blend is called killer bee and has notes of honey, tropical fruit with a creamy body. “It’s quite sweet, it doesn’t leave that bitter after taste,” Monique says. “It’s quite a smooth coffee to drink in both milk-based and on black. It works well on both.”
8. My Local Espresso
213-215 Universal St, Oxenford
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My Local Espresso co-owner Monique Marshall can tell how a coffee is going to taste just by looking at it. “The colour is really important, you have to make sure your blondes come through,” she says. “Our perfect coffee is like a caramelly colour, with maybe 2mm thick of crema, but it also has a tiger tripe through it. If it doesn’t have the tiger stripe then it’s not a good coffee. Sometimes the machine might stuff up and we can tell just by looking at the coffee it’s made.” My Local Espresso uses All Press espresso blend, which is specially made by air roasting. “It’s really smooth, easy to drink coffee — not too weak, it’s not too strong,” Monique says.
7. Blackboard
7/240 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes
Blackboard in Varsity Lakes is where baristas go for coffee. The cafe is the showroom for Blackboard Coffee, a leading roasting company from Burleigh Heads. Owner Marc Kinvig says customers have the option to choose between the house or rotating limited release blends in their cup of java. “The house blend they’ve been doing for a couple of years and it’s perfect. It suits everybody, it’s a people pleaser,” Marc says. “It tastes good black and with milk, people love it. It has flavours of chocolate, fruit and sweetness, it’s really delicious. The limited release coffee we run is different every week. We’ve got the latest espresso machines, they have built in scales and know how much coffee is going in and out. We measure every shot. It’s super consistent, always tastes exactly the same. We have really good baristas we love.”
6. Double Barrel Kitchen
64 Karbunya St, Mermaid Waters
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There’s a lot of variables that go into making a quality cappuccino or latte. “People think you stand behind a machine, press a button and it comes out,” Double Barrel Kitchen co-owner Peter Tutton says. “It’s all about weight and times. We’re tweaking the machine all the time — we tweak the amount of weight that goes in to the basket, that can change with humidity, with the weather, when the machine cools down a little bit. We also check the time that water pours through. That’s what I think good coffee is about: consistency. Our baristas are passionate about coffee.” Double Barrel uses local Yatala company Supreme Roasters for its beans, described as flavours of caramel, chocolate and hazelnut. “It’s quite a rich blend, that’s why people like the long backs in it,” Peter says.
5. Caffeine Kings
1920 Gold Coast Hwy, Miami
With a name like Caffeine Kings, coffee lovers are in for a treat at this dark, grungy, Melbourne-inspired venue. The Miami cafe offers a signature house blend of coffee called ‘Caffeine Kings’ Custom Espresso Blend’, made with beans sourced from Columbia and El Salvador. The tasting notes are described as dark chocolate, date and panela and have attracted a fan base from far and wide. The beans are from a boutique local roaster, customised to create a smooth yet strong coffee. Caffeine Kings says the team are constantly experimenting with a variety of coffee beans and brewing methods to offer new ways of coffee enjoyment to our caffeine-lovers.
4. Helena’s Espresso
5/2-4 New St, Nerang
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Helena Jaffar of Helena’s Espresso says making a great cup of coffee takes three ingredients — the beans, the machine, and the people who make it. “We use Supreme Roasters and we use their beach blend for our milk coffee,” Helena says. “We use one of the best machines, I’ve got some of the best baristas in the cafe and they’re all passionate about what they do. It’s about the team I’ve got as well.” Helena says she’s humbled her cafe has been voted among the best on the Gold Coast after such a short amount of time. “My little cafe is in Nerang, we’ve been open for just over two years now,” she says. “To make the top 10 has just made blown me away.”
3. Nook Espresso
43 Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads
Another unassuming coffee haunt that lets the brew do the talking, Nook Espresso is located in the southern wall of the Burleigh Pavilion building. The takeaway shop serves up coffee made with Bun Coffee beans, poured with almost every type of milk you can imagine. “It’s a smooth blend, and we do, like, every different possible milk as well, that’s why people come to see us,” owner Marcus Wilkins says. “We go through almond milk, skinny milk, soy milk, lactose-free milk, coconut milk.” While the shop faces the Burleigh Pavilion car park, it’s only a few quick steps to the beach for sipping with a view. “Our number one thing is our location,” Marcus says.
2. Vector Coffee
18a Young St, Southport
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Vector Coffee in Southport says a good cup of joe is less of an art, more of a scientific process. Owners Tom Palmer and Kirsten McGilvray are scientists-turned-baristas and its their knack for crunching formulas that sees them pour a near perfect cup of coffee time and time again. “Me and my partner, we’re form a scientific background — I’m a physicist and she was a science teacher,” Tom says. “Everything we do is measured and we aim for consistency with our equipment and processors from a scientific perspective. That’s how we achieve the exact same cup every time.” Vector Coffee uses St Ali coffee beans, which Tom describes as a “nice, smooth and sweet” blend with no bitter aftertaste.
1. Seadog
8/50 James St, Burleigh Heads
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It’s the small coffee shop that’s made a big impact on the Gold Coast.
Operating out of a 2.8sq m hole-in-the-wall (the former home of an ATM), Burleigh Heads’ Seadog cafe proves it’s not size that counts but what you do with it.
Owner Brodie Green says his takeaway coffee shop is not just unique in dimensions but also flavour.
“The company that we’re using (for our roast) is Marvell Street, they’re based in Byron Bay,” Brodie says.
“It’s got a Milo and jam aftertaste to it. It’s roasted a little bit lighter than you’d normally have on the Gold Coast, it brings out the different flavours in the milk. It’s quite delicious.
“The Gold Coast has traditionally quite a strong coffee, with this blend made from Arabica beans, it’s super light and tasty. When people try it it’s something they’ve never tasted.”
Opened just over a year ago at the end of 2018, Brodie’s business is a continued passion for coffee that began with his grandfather 50 years ago.
“I was born on the Gold Coast, so was my dad and grandpa. My grandpa had one of the first coffee distribution companies on the Coast,” he says.
“We’ve got some of the most iconic cafes in Australia here, seeing them all and then winning this award has been really nice.”
Seadog has become more than a pit stop for a caffeine fix — Brodie says his customers have made a community on the bustling James St foodie strip.
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“The reason why I started this is to bring people together, it sounds cheesy but because it’s so small you’re forced to interact with each other,” Brodie says.
“The customers come in at a particular time each day and know each other and have a chat. What we’ve got now is just so beautiful.”
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