Do you want a rave with that? How cafes became the new hotspot for clubbing

The drinks are flowing, the dance floor is heaving, and the bass is thumping. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a typical scene in an Aussie nightclub. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll notice patrons are clutching shots of espresso, not vodka, and the time on the clock is 11am, not pm.

Behold: the cafe rave.

Taylor Gwyther, 25, founded Maple Social Club with friend Connor Cameron, 23, in October last year. Their Coffee + DJs event, held at social enterprise Wilson Cafe in inner Sydney, has been a runaway success. While their first party last December attracted about 50 attendees, their most recent event saw more than 400 patrons lining up along the Surry Hills laneway.

Taylor attributes the event’s popularity to the growing number of Australians, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, choosing not to drink alcohol or drinking less.

Save for the cost of a latte, the Coffee + DJs event also offers a cheap and casual route to social connection.

“It’s connected to the rise of run clubs last year, where people want to meet new people in a way that feels low-pressure and low-cost, but not everyone wants to run. So it’s an alternative to the run club but has the same premise or value proposition,” she says.

Around the world, from Beirut to Dublin, Amsterdam to Singapore, coffee shops, bakeries and other unconventional venues are hosting daytime parties like Gwyther’s.

Connor Cameron and Taylor Gwyther, founders of Maple Social Club, at Wilson Cafe in Sydney where their Coffee + DJs parties are held.Credit: Nick Moir

“Soft clubbing”, as coined by British writer Yusuf Ntahilaja on Substack, describes the shifting face of young people’s social lives.

It’s not unusual to hear that nightlife is dying, as bars and clubs across Australia shut down. Gen Z and Millennials often bear the brunt of the blame for this. But perhaps, as Ntahilaja writes, today’s youth (the loneliest generation) desire connection and fun just as much as their predecessors. The environments in which this happens just look a little different.

Last month, Fatboy Slim played an impromptu show to a packed crowd in a Melbourne fish and chip shop and many gyms and fitness studios now resemble nightclubs, with neon lights and the kind of music you’d expect to hear at a music festival. Everywhere, it seems, is a club – except the club.

Gwyther’s cafe raves are just one of many events on Maple Social Club’s calendar, including dinner parties and pickleball, but all have the same ethos: social connection, fun and accessibility.

She says one of the most common questions she is asked is whether it’s okay to come alone to an event.

“I reckon we probably are about 50/50 of people coming solo versus people coming with friends, but I found that a lot of people who come solo to one will come together to the next event,” she says.

Romantic connection is part of it too – Gwyther and Connor are developing a dating app.

“They’re not singles events, they’re free community events. But really we see it as finding the right people that we would want on our platform,” says Gwyther.

In the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Cremorne, a different kind of experience marrying coffee and music has emerged.

On Air, founded by Deyon Murphy, 33, and Francesca Poci, 26, is a permanent cafe where you can grab a morning latte alongside live DJ sets and radio shows.

“We thought, what could be the most Melbourne idea we could do? And we thought coffee and DJs,” says Murphy, who previously worked in the music industry.

“So remove the alcohol element, remove the club element and make it something that people can come and enjoy every weekend and leave feeling full and not hungover.”

DJ Sammy Good Times playing a set for early people enjoying their morning coffee at On Air cafe in Melbourne.Credit: Justin McManus

Murphy is careful to differentiate On Air from the heaving, caffeine-fuelled dance floors that have become popular on social media platforms like TikTok – although he acknowledges the trend has helped propel the business into the zeitgeist.

“We never wanted it to be a rave. We wanted it to be like a listening lounge or an experience, so people can come and discover different sounds and different artists in Melbourne.”

They chose Cremorne, which has been referred to as the “Silicone Valley of Melbourne” for its proximity to young professionals.

“Our key demographic are young creative entrepreneurs really, and that’s why we run the fashion series [a video series of interviews with Australian fashion designers they post on social media], and we’re going to run a series on health entrepreneurs. That’s the sort of people that we’re trying to tie in to what we’re doing,” says Murphy.

Indeed, Murphy’ hopes for On Air is for it to become bigger than just a café. Their artists are featured on a YouTube channel, while Murphy hopes to eventually develop a record label as part of the business.

“It’s about finding our community,” he says.

Melbourne’s Mix&Matcha:AM team, from left to right: DJ Shwads, Tanya Mohan, Isabelle Tan and Winzwen Tan.

Tanya Mohan, 26, co-founded Mix&Matcha:AM earlier this year after witnessing the explosion of coffee clubs overseas.

“At the time when we were planning this, no one had done it in Melbourne and Australia, and so we decided to bring it down here.”

Mohan, alongside friends Winzwen Tan, DJ Shwads and Isabelle Tan held their first “Coffee Meets Matcha Party”, in collaboration with Singapore-based coffee club beans&beats, at the end of April.

“I’ve got a passion for music and my co-founder’s [Tan] got a passion for making coffees and matchas, and so he specialises in that,” she says.

The response, Mohan says, has been huge.

“We’ve grown really quickly since launching and it hasn’t even been a month, but it’s been overwhelmingly positive,” she says.

Like Gwyther and Murphy, she thinks people her age are tired of traditional nightclub spaces.

“There’s a growing interest also in the wellness space with people wanting healthier lifestyles as well as genuine social experiences they don’t really find at clubs,” she says.

“We’ve created a space where people can enjoy a great coffee, matcha, music and meet others in a relaxed, sober environment.”

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