With so many coffee connoisseurs in Brisbane, these days it seems you can't swing a cat without it picking up a cold press macchiato espresso on the way.
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Twenty years after nearly the entire Brisbane café society was located under the Park Road Eiffel Tower, there's barely a suburb that doesn't have its share of espresso nooks, lounges and the token coffee roaster.
In the midst of this explosion of endless coffee possibilities, some creative venues have gone to further lengths to stand out in the crowd, setting up shop on a bridge, disused war bunker, bowling green, shipping container and in the hallway of a heritage building where an infamous attempted murder occurred.
It is these, Brisbane's quirkiest coffee spots, that we've identified and listed here and it must be added that they are not just a pretty space, they all serve excellent coffee:
With the jutting out nooks with seating built in to Brisbane's pedestrian bridges, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to install a coffee cart and umbrella. Lucky they did for there is no better place to sit with coffee in hand as the sun rises over Brisbane CBD and South Bank.
The cluey dudes behind Bunker were amongst the first to get into the disused unlikely spaces trend, having spotted an old unloved air raid shelter in Milton and since turning it into one of Brisbane's most enduring and coolest coffee destinations.
Pull up a seat on the brass bed or a cushioned crate at a door-table then enjoy a top organic cup of coffee and maybe a slice of homemade cake from the kitchen amongst the plants in this charming Sandgate nursery. And on Sundays there's even an organic breakfast BBQ to go with the coffee.
You haven't done coffee in the Brisbane CBD until you've paid a visit to Glen, the quirky guy in the cap and his coffee cart. This is the only place in town where you can get a free coffee if you're good looking, not to mention the wittiest blackboard quotes around.
A Cuban cigar and coffee bar in an old bomb shelter painted scarlet red looks to have been beamed up from the streets of Cuba and even has a Che Guevara lookalike barista. At least once you should climb the stairs to the rooftop and sip coffee in the Queensland sunshine while pretending you're in another country.
Taking up a little picket-fenced nook on the edge of Red Hill Bowls Club is the local's best kept secret - a picture perfect quaint little cafe kiosk with its own 'green' of umbrella-shaded garden furniture and hanging plants under a shade cloth.
On a corner of a New Farm street is this little coffee dugout with no name, no set opening times or discernible street signage – a boho little coffee lounge in a cave-like room with a gated room of art to one side, a resident elusive cat by the name of Atticus and just coffee, juice and cookies for sale.
Occupying one elegant high-ceilinged corner of the vestibule of the old heritage-listed National Australia Bank on the corner of the Queen St Mall is the quirkily named Frisky Goat Espresso which happens to be some of the best coffee to be found anywhere in the CBD.
In the cluster of splendid weatherboard church buildings that form the remnants of old Mowbraytown, the front section of the historic hall has been converted into a little coffee shop with wicker chairs outside with Merlo coffee, muffins and cake for sale.
A shipping container not far from the historic brickworks chimney in Alderley is the local go-to for superb coffee and delicious goodies including fresh baked bread and pastries from nearby Crust & Co Baker. It comes with a cute little outdoor setting for those who want to linger.
* This post original appeared on Must Do Brisbane.
