Black Market Roasters Enmore

Black Market Coffee Roasters couldn’t be more different from its name. The name conjures shonky, ship-faring merchants that sell coffee beans from the pockets of trench coats. In reality, sitting down for an espresso at Black Market feels like a pleasant Sunday afternoon in a sunlit living room.

The team behind Black Market are serious coffee veterans; before opening the Black Market cafe in Enmore and their roaster in Botany, they ran Clovelly’s acclaimed Top Hat Coffee Merchants, and Rockdale’s Swallow Coffee Traders before that.

The sweeter, heaver roast they're currently serving differs from many other specialty cafes. An impressively full-bodied Guatemalan espresso was lightly tart, buttery and rather cake-like. With it came a shot glass, not with sparkling water as a palate cleanser, but a delicate green tea and cucumber infusion.

As coffee is the focus, the cafe’s menu is relatively brief. There’s Bread and Butter Project toast with avocado, pies from Cremorne bakery Nosh and some simple and nostalgic crumpet stacks. We loved the dexterously layered banana and blueberry stack drizzled with gooey hazelnut butter.

The fit-out, like the menu, is simple but snug. It’s alley-thin and smartly decorated by just a handful of wooden tabletops and a squad of coffee gadgetry.