Roasters opening cafés is a formula that’s worked brilliantly so far for Carlton’s Seven Seeds, Collingwood’s Proud Mary and Brunswick’s Code Black Coffee. In fact, the café adjoining the Weston Street Code Black warehouse has proved so successful that the roaster has opened a branch in North Melbourne and another in Collins Street, in the CBD.
For a roaster, Code Black doesn’t indulge in much coffee snobbery. Staff are friendly and efficient, only waxing lyrical about the daily rotating single origin and blend when asked. You could go for the present seasonal blend (a robust citric roast of Brunswick-blended Kenyan Wakulima and Costa Rican beans), but for maximum coffee appreciation, order the single origin as a long macchiato.
There is a range of breakfast and lunch options, from chia pudding and the ubiquitous smashed avo to hearty lunchtime salads.