Coffee Anthology

The first decision at the counter is espresso or filter, then whether the pastry case is calling louder than the bar.

Rotating roasters, a Strada EP and a guest kiosk

Coffee Anthology works as an anthology in the literal sense, and in Brisbane that is unusual enough to be the whole idea rather than as a house-roaster showcase. It pours multiple Australian specialty roasters in rotation, with Padre, Proud Mary, Almanac and Passport among the names that have shaped the bar over time. The current house pour is Standard Blend by The Maillard Project, which also gives the team a nearby testing and training context rather than a service-only setup.

Espresso runs through a La Marzocco Strada EP, a machine suited to careful pressure control, while filter comes as pour-over or batch brew depending on the day. The extra thread is the Guest Coffee kiosk, where international roasters come through monthly; KAWA Coffee from Paris has taken that slot. It makes the counter useful for two kinds of regular: the one who wants a reliable espresso, and the one tracking what has changed on filter. The bar placed eighth in The World's 100 Best Coffee Shops for 2025.

Brick, brass and a CBD counter

The room carries more weight than the old quick-service city café template. Behind a heritage-listed facade, the bar sits against a large brick wall, with stone, arched brass details and warm, controlled lighting doing the work that signage often tries to do elsewhere. It belongs to Inter/Section, a broader food and drink precinct in the CBD, so the traffic is not only café traffic: city workers, visitors and pastry buyers all cross through the same rhythm.

That matters at the counter. Espresso can be a quick stop, but the room also supports a slower filter order once the strongest morning pull has passed. Walk-ins are part of the pattern. For a first visit, come before the patisserie case has thinned and before the queue has turned purely transactional.

Order the espresso first, then a Maillard muffin

Start with espresso if the coffee is the point of the walk. It gives the clearest read on the rotation, the grind and the Strada EP work without turning the visit into a long sit. If the bar is quieter, ask what is on pour-over, because that is where the rotating roaster model has more room to speak.

Beside it, the safest named bake is a muffin prepared at Maillard, which belongs to the same coffee ecosystem rather than reading like a stray counter snack. The wider pastry case comes from The Whisk, a contemporary patisserie baking sweet and savoury pastries daily and selling until the run is gone, and FIKA adds modern seasonal dishes built on native ingredients, so the food side goes further than a token croissant tray. The quiet pointer: watch the Guest Coffee kiosk, because the monthly roaster change is the clearest reason to come back.