Melbourne Coffee Culture Guide 2026: History, Laneways and the World’s Best Scene

Melbourne coffee culture guide 2026 showing a typical Melbourne laneway specialty coffee cafe with barista at espresso machine and bluestone alley

Quick answer: Melbourne is widely regarded as the coffee capital of the world a reputation built over 70 years starting with post-WWII Italian immigration to Carlton’s Lygon Street, shaped by the flat white as a national standard, and cemented in the 2000s by a third-wave specialty scene that now influences cafes from Brooklyn to Berlin. … Read more