Best Cafes in Canberra: Specialty Coffee, Brunch Spots and the City's Finest Coffee Shops

Canberra has a specialty coffee scene that is one of Australia's finest per capita, with the city's highly educated and well-traveled public service population creating demand for quality well above what a city of 470,000 would typically support. The Braddon and New Acton precincts have become nationally recognised café destinations, and the Canberra specialty roasters have developed a wholesale and retail presence extending beyond the ACT.

Specialty coffee institutions — Ona Coffee (multiple Canberra locations including the flagship at Fyshwick, and the CBD and Braddon locations) is one of Australia's most internationally celebrated specialty coffee roasters, with the Canberra-based business winning multiple Australian and international barista and roasting championships. Ona's Fyshwick roastery café and the Braddon and Manuka retail locations provide the finest specialty coffee experience in the ACT. Lonsdale Street Roasters (multiple locations) is another highly regarded Canberra specialty roaster that has developed significant national recognition.

Braddon café precinct — the Lonsdale Street and Mort Street, Braddon café and dining precinct is Canberra's most active and character-rich café destination, with Lonsdale Street Roasters' Braddon café, the Many Hands café precinct, and the surrounding independent cafés, specialty food stores, and design boutiques creating the most Melbourne-like inner-city lifestyle precinct in the ACT. Weekend morning Braddon café culture is a Canberra ritual.

New Acton and the civic precinct — the New Acton hotel and cultural precinct café culture and the Kingston Foreshore café operators provide Canberra's finest design-forward café environments. The Precinct (New Acton) and the Foreshore café operators serve the arts and waterfront communities.

Kingston and Manuka café culture — the Kingston Foreshore and Manuka shopping village café scene serves the inner south's professional demographic, with quality specialty coffee and brunch dining concentrated in the Kennedy Street foreshore precinct and the Manuka village centre.

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