Adelaide has long been known for its food and wine, but what about its coffee? Well, luckily for us morning brew addicts, there are a bunch of quality cafes pouring top-quality coffee in the centre of Adelaide. There are some that even roast their own beans, others that offer multiple beans, and most giving multiple extraction methods to choose from. So whether you’re on your way into work in the morning, stepping out for a breather, or needing an afternoon pick me up; here’s our guide to the best coffee in Adelaide city centre.
1. Sibling
📝 After eight years living and working in Melbourne, owners Caitlin Duff and husband Nathaniel Morse transformed an empty space into a family-run cafe serving up a no-fuss menu of bagels, toasties, and a number of vegan dishes. Make Sibling your regular and you’ll be on a first-name basis soon enough.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30am – 3pm, weekends 9am – 2pm
📍 96 Gilles Street
2. Leisurely Coffee
📝 Leisurely Coffee offers a contemporary space where chats over one of the best brews in Adelaide is more than welcomed. Heaps of natural lighting illuminates Leisurely’s interior and the sleek, polished concrete floor. An age-old Synesso espresso machine produces the beany goods, with three grinders serving two different blends and rotating single origins. Filter and batch brew are also up for sips, thanks to ACT roaster Ona Coffee.
🕖 Monday – Saturday 7am – 2:30pm
📍 219 Gilbert Street
3. Mascavado Café & Pâtisserie
📝 With an uber modern fit-out, Mascavado is first and foremost a patisserie offering a stunning range of pastries, cakes and tarts behind a terrazzo countertop which is a sight for sore eyes. The coffee on offer is equally as delightful, however; supporting and procuring beans from local and fellow CBD business, Elementary Coffee for fresh cups is great coffee at Mascavado.
🕖 Weekdays 7am – 4pm, weekends 7:30am – 3pm
📍 175 Hutt Street
4. Soho Coffee Roasters
📝 Roasting their own single blends, Soho Coffee Roasters keeps it lowkey and minimal in all aspects of their business – less is more. Tucked away in one of Adelaide’s laneways, you’d only come across it by ear – secrets out. Soho operated in Hindmarsh for a decade prior to their 2019 move to the CBD, so it’s safe to say you’re in good coffee hands. Soho’s Dark Horse blend is their most popular product if you like your coffee with milk, followed by the Barranidi if you like your brew straight up.
🕖 Weekdays 8am – 2pm
📍 Addie Place
5. My Kingdom For A Horse
📝 From strength to strength, even during a pandemic. My Kingdom For A Horse has opened a satellite cafe to save you the cross-city trek to their operation on Wright Street, which is where they roast coffee and prepare their fabulous toasties, salad bowls, and breakfast burritos. The Wright Street cafe, a 120-person licensed venue, offers a seasonal, all-day a la carte menu. Book in advance for an inside seat or walk-in to snag a spot outside.
🕖 Both locations open weekdays 7am- 4pm, Wright Street open weekends 8am – 4pm
📍 191 Wright Street
📍11 Waymouth Street
6. Coffylosophy
📝 Coffee at this Adelaide cafe is life. Not only have they been finalists in The City Awards 2019 for the Best Coffee Spot Adelaide, but they’ve also been listed as one of the top cafes on Beanhunter—not all reviews agree, however. In terms of food, they’ve got a load of on-the-run deli items, a large breakfast menu including a number of benedict options as well as catering to the lunch crowd with a few burgers and other items.
🕖 Everyday 7am – 3pm
📍 198A Hutt Street
7. Cafe Troppo
📝 Cafe Troppo is a vibe. A quick scroll through their Instagram feed and it’s hard to say No, I don’t want to go. Why? It just looks like everyone there is having a good time. They’re relaxed and having a good time, surrounded by good food, good coffee, and natural and reclaimed materials. The corner store also offers delivery within a 10km radius for a great range of home supplies. Fancy a pizza night at home? They’ve got you covered with all the ingredients you need to make your own pizza at home, including the bottle of red wine.
🕖 Tuesday – Sunday 7:30 – 3pm
📍 42 Whitmore Square
8. Crack Kitchen
📝 Tall, light, and airy. With a roastery operating on the mezzanine and plants hanging from the ceiling, Crack Kitchen is a lovely space to spend some time sipping on your favourite brew.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30am – 2pm, weekends 8am – 2pm
📍 13 Franklin Street
9. Elementary Coffee
📝 Not just another cafe roasting no. Nope. Elementary Coffee is first and foremost a wholesale coffee roaster where visitors and diners are able to partake in the coffee ritual in pretty much the same space their coffee was roasted in. If you’re looking for food too, no sweat, they’ve got some food too.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30am – 3pm
📍 9-17 Young Street
10. Fiefy’s Specialty Cafe
📝 Unassuming. Not that hip or cool. But do you need to be when the coffee is this good? No. Fiefy owner Sineenart (Fiefy) Anuwatanaphorn, has been slinging coffee from Pirie Street for almost a decade now and with a number of international barista awards to her name as well as the South Australian Barista Championship in 2010, it’s clear that this is a place that knows what it’s doing. Like, just look at that latte art.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30am – 2pm
📍 50 Flinders Street
11. Please Say Please
📝 Brewing Melbourne’s Proud Mary Coffee and serving up macarons and bronuts in all sorts of fun and fanciful flavours, Please Say Please is right to be proud of their cult following.
🕖 Weekdays 6am – 4pm
📍 50 Grenfell Street
12. Larry & Ladd
📝 A custom-built matte black Synesso machine is the centrepiece at Larry & Ladd and the cafe has now completely updated the outdated 1920s Regent Arcade. Before you get your hands buttery or dirty with any one of their great sandwiches, check out the records in store.
🕖 Weekdays 7am – 3pm, Saturday 8am – 2pm
📍 Chesser House, 95 Grenfell Street
13. Exchange Specialty Coffee
📝 A loyal following continually fills the tables inside and out of Exchange Specialty Coffee. And, it’s easy to see why when their coffee, provided by Market Lane Coffee and locals Monday’s Coffee Co, is that good. Veg and vegan options round out the tight yet impressive menu.
🕖 Weekdays 7am – 4pm, Weekends 8am – 4pm
📍 12-18 Vardon Avenue
14. Coffee Branch
📝 Coffee coffee coffee and some food. But if you’re going to Coffee Branch, coffee is the way to go since these guys are probably the ones to thank for kicking Adelaide’s love for coffee into high gear.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30am – 3pm
📍 32 Leigh Street
15. Bonobo Espresso
📝 More of a grab-and-go style cafe than anything else, Bonobo Espresso does have a few seats where you can, well, sit down and enjoy your caffeinated drink.
🕖 Weekdays 6:30am – 3pm, Saturday 8am – 12pm
📍 16 Bank Street
16. Peter Rabbit
📝 Walk through the garden and past all the foliage and you’ll be forgiven that just minutes earlier you were strolling through the centre of Adelaide. The freshest of foods, the tastiest coffees, and good people all round make Peter Rabbit a welcome escape.
🕖 Weekdays 7:30 – 3pm, Weekends 8am – 3pm
📍 234 – 244 Hindley Street
17. La Moka
📝 Italian by day, Italian by night. Need we say more?
🕖 Monday – Wednesday 7am – 3pm, Thursday 7am – 12am, Fridays 7am – 2am, Saturday 4pm – 2am
📍16 Peel Street
18. A Prayer For The Wild At Heart
📝 It’s the sophisticated sibling eatery to the multi award-winning cafe, My Kingdom For A Horse. The corner shop is humble in size, but is enlivened by a retro-esque fit-out, complete with a mesmerising lava lamp and an iconic, multi-coloured coffee machine which is said to live up to its My Kingdom For A Horse counterpart.
🕖 Monday – Tuesday 7am – 4pm, Wednesday – Friday 7am – 10pm, Weekends 8am – 10pm
📍44 Hurtle Square
19. Dayjob
📝 Super casual, outdoor seating, brilliant coffee by Kindred, roomies with a flower market, and a vibrant mural. It’s a huge vibe and it gets the tick of approval by many an Adeladian and beyond.
🕖 Weekdays 7am – 3pm, Saturday 8am – 2pm, Sunday 9am – 2pm
📍 83 Halifax Street