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Save<\/p>\nWith expert baristas, carefully sourced beans and a warehouse roastery, there\u2019s no doubt Toby\u2019s Estate takes its coffee seriously. So how does it rate? Good Food visits its flagship Sydney cafe to find out.<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Toby’s Estate, Chippendale<\/p>\n Cafe$$$$<\/p>\n In 2025, Toby\u2019s Estate Chippendale cafe and roastery was awarded the title of world\u2019s best coffee shop by a new organisation called the World\u2019s 100 Best Coffee Shops. It\u2019s a bold claim, and I\u2019m intrigued. <\/p>\n In a city \u2212 nay, a country \u2212 teeming with coffee devotees, lauded roasters and an ever-flourishing cafe scene, can the flagship Sydney cafe for Toby\u2019s Estate live up to the hype?<\/p>\n There is no doubt Toby\u2019s Estate takes its coffee seriously \u2013 it\u2019s sourced from 22 countries and served in more than 50 cafes worldwide. But its namesake, Toby Smith, who founded the roastery in his mother\u2019s Woolloomooloo garage in 1997, is no longer involved in the Australian arm of the company. <\/p>\n Nowadays, it\u2019s run by Japanese coffee conglomerate Ueshima Coffee Company, which acquired the brand as part of a $229 million deal with Suntory Coffee Australia in 2022.<\/p>\n Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/a><\/p>\n The Chippendale cafe, opened in 2005, fronts a large warehouse roastery, visible through floor-to-ceiling windows, and it\u2019s an olfactory jamboree from the moment you enter. <\/p>\n A redesign in 2022 reversed the typical cafe layout, putting the barista station on the customer side of a vast and curving central counter, surrounded by bar stools, chairs and tables. <\/p>\n Personal space permitting, it means you can mosey up to apron-wearing baristas working between a large La Marzocco machine, bean grinders and a rack of weighed and labelled canisters of single-origin options. <\/p>\n When you realise you can look up and watch their every grind, tamp, extraction, milk steam and pour reflected in large oval mirrors suspended above, it almost feels a bit wrong. But the overhead view reveals each barista\u2019s exacting and precise process. <\/p>\n Over three separate visits, I watched the science, choreography and exactitude of more than 30 brews being made, from flat whites using the Toby\u2019s Estate house blend Woolloomooloo to single-origin macchiatos made with La Chumeca & Corazon De Jesus from Costa Rica. It was engrossing. At one point, the machinations of a barista creating latte art in a cup showcased a method as fastidious as a jeweller finessing a diamond.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my verdict. A flat white, made using the Woolloomooloo blend, is fruity, strong, nicely intense and creamy like dark chocolate. An espresso made with a natural Ethiopian single origin is deep, smooth and stone-fruity. A decaf macchiato didn\u2019t taste like I\u2019d given up the soulful joy of caffeination. It was malty, rich and full-bodied, even without an increased heartbeat afterwards.<\/p>\n The award categories for the world\u2019s best coffee shop award, which the organisation says is decided by votes from the public and a panel of experts, consider everything including quality of coffee and level of customer service.<\/p>\n In my book, the Chippendale cafe wins on service. A fleet of well-trained staff serves an almost perpetual crowd of students, tradies, tourists and commuters with knowledge and panache. While it\u2019s busy most days and customers queue along the footpath at weekends, it\u2019s worth sticking it out \u2013 I never waited longer than a few minutes for a chair. <\/p>\n Food-wise, there are roughly 16 breakfast and lunch dishes including a top-notch cinnamon and coconut porridge laden with caramelised banana, blueberries, granola and maple syrup, and good wraps and sandwiches (go the smashed egg and basil mayo or the spiced pastrami sauerkraut and pickles varieties). Pastries come from Organic Bread Bar and biscuits from Butterboy. <\/p>\n But coffee\u2019s the thing. Is it the best cafe in the world? Impossible to confirm, by any measure. But after years of reviewing cafes, I reckon it stacks up against some of the greats, like Skittle Lane in the CBD or Single O in Surry Hills. It\u2019s alluringly good coffee in a strikingly theatrical warehouse space, and I want more barista voyeurism via ceiling mirrors.<\/p>\n Three more coffee-centric cafes to try<\/p>\n Ickle Coffee<\/p>\n A bastion of feel-good coffee, Ickle Coffee\u2019s beans and blends, sourced from sustainable farms, are served with cartoon-framed printed info about each brew\u2019s origins. Get fruity with the experimental Colombia strawberry wine variety, made by fermenting coffee cherries with strawberries and wine yeast.<\/p>\n 251 Kingsgrove Road, Kingsgrove, icklecoffee.com<\/a><\/p>\n Artificer Coffee<\/p>\n Founded more than a decade ago by Dan Yee and Shoji Sasa\u2019s, this specialty coffee bar and roastery is entirely about the bean, the brew and the art of pulling up a stool to savour some truly magnificent ways with caffeine.<\/p>\n 547 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, artificercoffee.com<\/a><\/p>\n Primary Coffee<\/p>\n After establishing his bean prowess in Potts Point, Dan Kim\u2019s second Primary Coffee location in Marrickville expands his exceptional range of specialty coffee brews to a sleek, mildly stark and timber-lined warehouse space in the inner west\u2019s industrial streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n 38 Chapel Street, Marrickville, primarycoffee.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can\u2019t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e95897bf6ba287c7929ff6e2646e414e575c49b5.jpeg\")
The queues aren’t always prohibitive at Toby’s Estate.Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3383d3914dcbd000d9d54f84ca7f09dbda5ee7c4.jpeg\")
A redesign in 2022 gave customers a front-row seat to the filtration and extraction process.Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d089f525a1dcb964d6b4f1d7fb9d6395bcc6b042.jpeg\")
A fleet of staff serves customers with panache.Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n