I just finished reading an article in the Washington Post that is all about Melbourne coffee. That’s right, one of America’s most celebrated newspapers has published a piece featuring “Melbourne’s coffee obsession”.

It was kind of nice to see our American allies acknowledging that someone can do something better than they. When visiting Washington DC two years ago, I managed to buy one coffee that was almost drinkable; we had more success in New York where there are a burgeoning number of decent homes of coffee (yes, they are largely run by Aussies). It is no wonder that they flew across the Pacific, bypassing Sydney,  in order to find the place to write about coffee!

It is true that Melbournians demonstrate a proclivity toward believing we are the best at everything: we are the sporting capital, fashion capital, cultural capital, university capital, and capital of everything else of Australia, except the nation’s capital (although we did hold that title for a short period!). Humility isn’t one of our esteemed virtues, and truth be told, we have be known to exaggerate some our ‘qualities’, however when it comes to coffee, the Post has measured us with the precision any decent barista will hold in making my order.

My local coffee roaster is amazing. Freshly roasted to order every time – Five Senses

And here are five of my favourites Melbourne Cafes right now:

1. Hash, I love their house blend
2. Market Lane , their milk is truly special & I like the fact that they refuse to serve skim milk
3. St Ali , because the food and coffee is alway amazing
4. Brother Budan,  because I like drinking coffee where the chairs are hanging from the ceiling
5. Hendriks, because it’s close to where I live & they serve Five Senses

Leaving aside a certain God-phobic Government and some serious social problems writer, Will Hawkes, was pretty close to mark,

“It’s hard to be unhappy for too long in Melbourne. Life in this blossoming Australian city, it seems to me, can rarely have been so good — especially if you love coffee.”