Coffee number 6

Brunetti
City Square
Corner Swanston Street and Flinders Lane


Cafe Latte - $3.30

I’m meeting my cousin at the corner of Swanston and Flinders Lane. We’re supposed to go to some rocking newspaper party and mingle, but I know we’ll end up in the corner laughing our heads off. I’m trying to have coffee only every other day (today being a non-coffee day), but it’s cold and windy, and for once, Cuz is running late. I walk across the street to Brunetti, order a latté and park myself under one of their gigantic heaters. As with most Italian coffees, the first sip seems too strong, but after that, it’s exactly what I want.

Coffee number 5

El Churro
Shop KK04, Northland Shopping Centre, 2-50 Murray Road, East Preston 3072 VIC
(03) 9471-3244

When you have a busy-yet-boring day running errands, there comes a time when you can go no further without caffeinated refreshment. I received my refreshment, in the middle of suburbia, at a chain store called El Churro. They call it a “Spanish Latté”, but it is actually a bon-bon, (i.e. a long black with sweetened condensed milk). That’ll put hairs on your chest! The coffee itself wasn’t that great, but condensed milk can make anything delicious.

Hilariously, when I ordered, the guy asked me if I knew what condensed milk was. Please! I eat that stuff straight from the can!

Coffee number 4

Flavours of Lakhoum
175 Swan Street, Richmond 3121 Vic
(03) 9425 9805


Cafe Latté - $3.20

Dontcha just love that coffee art?

Flavours of Lakhoum’s Barista, Chris Phillips, draws the cutest little faces in his coffees. I think his regular picture is a curly-haired female face, but we got a special one – a face with a hat, just like my lovely friend Markii who was also wearing a hat. You should have heard the excited squeals we gave when it arrived. What dorks! It tasted good too – very important. I’ve heard that during busier periods, not every coffee comes decorated. We’re lucky it was quiet when we went. One of the benefits of not working 9-to-5!

Coffee number 3

A Minor Place
103 Albion St, Brunswick 3056 VIC
(03) 9384 3131


Cafe Latté - $3

Brunswick is quite far, but after seeing this gorgeous photo on Where’s the Beef?, I just had to go. We made an expedition down to A Minor Place this week and enjoyed lunch in the sun, seated on surprisingly comfortable milk crates. Very boho chic.

Our lunch included scrambled eggs with caramelized onions and feta, and a wonderful meatball sub that tasted like lasagne. The coffees were delicious but not quite as dreamily creamy as Michael’s photo had led me to expect. Perhaps next time?

And because it was nearby, we stopped by El-Faiha for baklava on the way home.