Does the ‘world’s best coffee shop’ live up to the hype?

In 2025, Toby’s Estate Chippendale cafe and roastery was awarded the title of world’s best coffee shop by a new organisation called the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops. It’s a bold claim, and I’m intrigued.

In a city − nay, a country − teeming with coffee devotees, lauded roasters and an ever-flourishing cafe scene, can the flagship Sydney cafe for Toby’s Estate live up to the hype?

There is no doubt Toby’s Estate takes its coffee seriously – it’s sourced from 22 countries and served in more than 50 cafes worldwide. But its namesake, Toby Smith, who founded the roastery in his mother’s Woolloomooloo garage in 1997, is no longer involved in the Australian arm of the company.

Nowadays, it’s 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.

The Chippendale cafe, opened in 2005, fronts a large warehouse roastery, visible through floor-to-ceiling windows, and it’s an olfactory jamboree from the moment you enter.

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.

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.

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’s exacting and precise process.

Over three separate visits, I watched the science, choreography and exactitude of more than 30 brews being made, from flat whites using the Toby’s 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.

Here’s 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’t taste like I’d given up the soulful joy of caffeination. It was malty, rich and full-bodied, even without an increased heartbeat afterwards.

The award categories for the world’s 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.

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’s busy most days and customers queue along the footpath at weekends, it’s worth sticking it out – I never waited longer than a few minutes for a chair.

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.

But coffee’s 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’s alluringly good coffee in a strikingly theatrical warehouse space, and I want more barista voyeurism via ceiling mirrors.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.