5 places for coffee
From a quick drive-through option, to places you can linger longer, here are five coffee spots in Adelaide to try.
Whyld Coffee
This gem tucked away in a quiet spot in Prospect certainly lives up to its brand — it’s a shop that serves coffee and not much else. Owners Jordan and Tim Harris have partnered with Canberra roaster Ona for the main offering. They have a rather wild reserve list though, using a specialist snap-freezing process to preserve their favourite high-end coffees from all over Australia. Food offerings are simple but top quality with banana bread by Abbots and Kinney and pastries from Prove Patisserie.
POGO Coffee Roasters
It’s not just the playful interior with its vivid pinks and blues that sets this Kent Town espresso bar apart — it’s also that its coffee is air roasted, rather than the traditional drum-roasted beans. For those playing along at home, that means the beans are suspended in a fluid bed and controlled blasts of hot air are used to roast them, meaning great full flavour without the acidity or burnt taste. While waiting for your espresso, batch brew, cold brew, flat white or latte, browse their brew equipment or buy a bag of one of their blends.
Elementary
Originally designed as a wholesale coffee business, the open-plan warehouse in Young Street in the city means you can wander between the roasting area and cafe area. Owner Brad Nixon worked for several of Australia’s major coffee companies before heading back home to Adelaide. Famed for complex black coffees (espresso and filter) and subtle, sweet milk coffees. If you’re not a coffee drinker, try their peanut butter and smoked hot chocolates.
First Things First Coffee
There’s a perception of drive through coffee places that they are about convenience and not about the coffee itself. These four locations — Enfield, Woodville, Holden Hill and Salisbury with Munno Para planned — are far from fast food fare. But they are fast. There are no impersonal speaker boxes, it’s personal service from the friendly staff. The beans are Code Black coffee, and the coffee is equal — and superior to some — café offerings. Grab one of their cheekily titled “probably Adelaide’s best toasties” which are designed to eat in the car.
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Exchange Coffee
Exchange has long been one of the best of the batch in the city’s East End specialty coffee scene, sourcing their house blends and single origins from Melbourne’s Market Lane Coffee since 2013. If you’ve got time, sit down in the light-bright space and order from their far-from-standard brunch offerings, alongside one of their bright fruity batch-brewed coffees. For the ultimate experience, split their one-litre carafe of filter coffee amongst your group.
The article originally featured in the 2024 issue of SALIFE Food+Wine+Travel magazine.
