Centre place and Degraves Street

Heard all the buzz about Melbourne’s hidden backstreets packed with quirky cafés, one-of-a-kind shops, and enough delicious food to keep you coming back for more? Then they’re definitely talking about Centre Place and Degraves Street. Centre Place is a fun little laneway full of hidden gems. It’s the perfect spot to try one of the many coffees Melbourne’s famous for! Many of the world’s major cities are now embracing the so-called third wave of coffee. Coffee’s become a whole thing here, just like wine. People care about where the beans come from, how they’re roasted, and the magic that goes into making them. Being a barista in Melbourne is a classy, respected profession, not just another student job. Well, they’ve got a reputation to uphold; they say they make the best coffee in the country! And Melburnians are hooked. 30 tons of beans are shipped in every day! Fun fact: Coffee actually arrived in Australia with the first settlers, who snagged some plants on a pitstop in Rio de Janeiro. But this foreign crop didn’t do too well in Australia, and the Brits were much more into tea anyway. Fast forward to the 1930s. There comes a huge wave of European immigration, and with it the love for this hot beverage! Greeks, Italians, Turks and Austrians above all, brought with them their habits and their coffee grinders. Wherever communities settled, coffee shops sprang up and the craze took off from there. In modern day Melbourne, coffee-making is basically art, and you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing your drink: espresso, latte, flat white, mocaccino, long black, and even babyccino, invented right here so kids can feel like grown-ups with their own mini-cappuccinos! Once you’ve crossed Flinder Street, continue on Degraves street, another of Melbourne’s charming laneways, lined with all kinds of terraces.