Captain + Stoker

The flat white is the giveaway

The flat white on this menu is not decoration. Captain + Stoker builds its drinks list on Italian coffee culture with an Australian accent, which is why the flat white sits comfortably beside espresso, Americano, macchiato, cappuccino, latte, mocha, café au lait, hot cocoa, drip coffee, iced coffee and seasonal pourovers. Behind it is a roastery. The café roasts in house daily and works with single-origin and seasonal beans, so the bar list moves with whatever has just come off the roaster. Cold coffee gets its own lane, with Nightfall Cold Brew Extract and cold brew by the can for people who want it to travel. Almond and oat milk are on the bar for milk drinks, and the matcha latte is the straightforward choice for anyone skipping coffee.

Tandem bikes over a corner room

The name comes from tandem cycling: the captain steers from the front seat and the stoker rides behind, a partnership metaphor that shows up literally in the tandem bicycles hanging above the room. The Monterey café opened in 2018 as a downtown corner coffee collective across from the Monterey Sports Center, with bright interior light and a large wood counter, and it still reads as a gathering place rather than a takeaway window. The layout is simple and airy, with cycling decor and natural light, and it absorbs people reading, catching up, working quietly or passing through for a drink. Coffee preparation happens in the line of sight, with a menu board, retail beans, honey and a to-go fridge filling out the rest. Monterey is one of three rooms, alongside Pacific Grove and Sand City.

Flat white first, then the cold brew

Start with the flat white, the drink tied most closely to the Australian side of the café’s thinking. The setup behind it is deliberate: a lighter espresso roast, Rocket machines and naked portafilters, which together push the espresso toward clarity rather than weight. If a straighter espresso path suits better, the macchiato, cappuccino, latte, Americano and mocha are all there. To taste the roastery side more directly, look at drip coffee or the seasonal pourovers built on rotating single origins. Then decide about cold brew, which is a serious lane here rather than a summer afterthought, poured over the counter and packaged both in cans and as the Nightfall extract. It is worth asking what came off the roaster that week before committing to a bag.