About Only Coffee Project
Only Coffee Project is a specialty coffee roaster based in Sydney, Australia, operating minimalist espresso bars in the Victoria Cross metro precinct and Crows Nest on the lower North Shore, with an online shop shipping nationally. The project is known for a transparent quality-tiering system applied to traceable single-origin lots, and earned a finalist placement in the Good Food Guide's Best Coffee awards for 2025.



About
Only Coffee Project operates a pair of minimalist espresso bars on Sydney's lower North Shore — one inside the Victoria Cross metro precinct, another in Crows Nest — with an online roastery shop that ships nationally via Australia Post. The founder and precise founding date are not publicly documented, but the project has established itself as one of the more quietly serious specialty operations in a city with no shortage of either. Its defining characteristic, visible even in its product catalog, is a transparent quality-tiering system applied to every coffee it sells.
The two café locations reflect a deliberate restraint: a relaxed, uncluttered environment that keeps the focus on what's in the cup. Victoria Cross, a redeveloped transit hub on the North Shore, gives Only Coffee Project a daily-commuter audience; Crows Nest, a neighbourhood with a long café culture, provides a more residential one. Neither site appears to be positioned as a destination roastery experience in the conventional sense — the project lets the coffee do the announcing.
On the roasting side, the product range is built around single-origin, washed-process lots with named producers and traceable farms. Recent offerings have included a Guatemalan field blend from Juan Rodriguez Cano, a Kenyan peaberry from Kapsaos station (SL-28, Ruiru 11, Batian varieties), a Guchienda Estate AA Kenya, and a Mejorado variety from Vicente Regalado's La Capilla farm in Ecuador. Coffees are graded by tier — two to four 'R' marks — suggesting an in-house scoring rubric rather than a single-tier menu. Roast dates are published on each listing, emphasising freshness over shelf convenience.
In the Press
Third-party coverage of Only Coffee Project.
- World's 100 Best Coffee Shopstheworlds100bestcoffeeshops.com/locales/only-coffee-project-crows-nest
- Comwww.vicx.com.au/retail/eat-drink-play/only-coffee-project
Coffee & Beans Review
Only Coffee Project earned a finalist placement in the Good Food Guide's Best Coffee awards for 2025, recognition cited by The World's 100 Best Coffee Shops in its Crows Nest listing. The vicx.com.au retail directory, which covers the Victoria Cross precinct, flags it as a must-visit for coffee drinkers in the area — modest language, but notable given how many cafés compete for that descriptor along the new metro corridor.
Both café locations are described as minimalist espresso bars: expect counter service, a focused menu, and an atmosphere that doesn't try to be anything other than a very good place to drink coffee. The online shop at onlycoffeeproject.square.site carries the roasted single-origin lots and, at time of writing, a collaborative box set labeled 'Apax Lab' — a 100ml three-pack format suggesting a cold-brew or concentrate offering. Orders ship via Australia Post with no returns accepted, a standard posture for fresh-roasted coffee sold direct.
Coffee at a Glance
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