Extract Espresso Bar

Yes Doctor Who fans welcome to your new Tardis. I have tried very hard to keep this coffee spot a secret as it’s near impossible to grab a comfy table at peak hour as it is. The coffee is really why you come back, its at, strong and as punchy as you like, the food is a bonus it’s basic but always delivered with a smile. I particular love taking clients here because so many have walked past thinking it is a hole in the wall, it’s only when you take the left turn you really appreciate the enormity and quality of this prime CBD real estate.

Nice quiet space to write read or think. Very basic menu, a lot of pre made rolls, quiche, cakes wrapped in glad wrap etc. Coffee is always nice. Staff are excellent, really nice people. I’d really love this place if their food was a bit more special so that’s why it only gets 3 stars.

I used to drink coffee here on a weekly basis, back when I went to uni and the city more often! It hasn’t changed much. The coffee is still better than most places in the city (let’s face it, the coffee in the city is not a great benchmark). The flat white I had was smooth, strong and just what I was looking for. Sure you have to pay more to sit down, but I’m used to that and rhe difference is only 20c. There was a bit of a wait, but I can only see that as a problem if you only leave 2 minutes to grab a coffee. And if you want one that isn’t burnt that is a little unrealistic.
The seating spreads into the foyer of the office building it was in (next to?), and there are comfy couches to sit and enjoy in.
I haven’t ever been in peak times, but staff have always been the right amount of friendly.
If you want a more than decent coffee on Adelaide St this is where you should head!

Love this place, love the coffee and they have a great selection of tea. A little haven from the craziness outside. We had the cookies and banana bread which were pretty good as well. I can’t say I have ever had a bad coffee there which is a great thing because I love my coffee.

DiBella beans and consistently good coffee make this a reliable stop for a takeaway coffee (and the cups are an artwork).

I have a coffee conundrum brewing on Adelaide St. It relates to Extract espresso bar and Sugar ‘n Spice café. Two coffee shops, so close to each other, but so far apart in so many ways.
Extract makes a mean flat white — strong and tasty, a coffee to return for. But drops the ball with unfriendly staff, charging more to ‘drink in’, and excuding about as much atmosphere as a dimly lit alley at night.
Sugar ‘n Spice café is the antitheses of Extract — a homely, welcoming place, with friendly staff but pretty unremarkable coffee.
In a perfect world these two coffee shops would get together and give birth to Extract Sugar ‘n Spice. That is a coffee shop I’d give 5*s to. In the meantime I’ll just have to get take way from Extract and drink it in Sugar ‘n Spice.

Extract Espresso Bar is a little piece of Melbourne in Brisbane. It’s a long, thin, very cool space that has amazing coffee.
The food is also very good and I had an extremely tasty pumpkin soup recently on a cold rainy day that warmed me up down to my toes. The sandwiches look fresh and have interesting fillings, and I love the sourdough bread options.
There’s a wide range of gluten free and vego options too which is very handy these days (I’m sure we all know someone who’s having issues with gluten).
All up a really good addition to the pretty miserable breakfast and lunch offerings on Adelaide St, definitely gets my vote.

A few years ago I had a horrible job pushing paper and working for «the man». I was absolutely miserable and found it difficult getting out of bed knowing exactly what my day would entail. Funnily enough, it was around this time that I started drinking coffee. And luckily for me, Extract was the nearest espresso bar to my work and was my hideaway from the reality that was my job. So naturally it holds a special place in my heart.
This place doesn’t look like much from the street, but once you venture in to the hole in the wall, you find a great café that not only serves excellent coffee but also decent food. Di Bella is their roast of choice, and despite not being my favourite, I have never had a bad coffee made by an Extract barista. I always used to linger in the mornings for a latte and some fruit toast, and despite the fact that staff have almost all changed, the great quality of service and coffee hasn’t.
If you’re in need of a coffee in the city that you know won’t disappoint, Extract comes with a thumbs up recommendation from me!

This literal hole-​in-​the-​wall café exudes the most enticing aromas every time I rush past it on the way to somewhere demandingly important. The aroma subliminally lodged itself in the back of my food-​controlled mind and resurfaced one day when I was not within time constraints. So I ducked in and was welcomed with a relaxed grin and a «how’s your day going, what can I get you?».
Things were off to a cracking start. I ordered my obligatory long black and eyed the selection of homemade banana bread, freshly baked muffins and variety of focaccias. I was also pleasantly surprised to see an assortment of gluten-​free treats — it can become tricky for people who suffer from intolerance to find a damn-​tasty morsel in the city.
The barista encouraged me to take a seat and said she’d bring the coffee over to me. So I grabbed a newspaper and settled into a table, surrounded by other city folk who were busily completing the day’s Sudoku and nutting out business deals. I felt that I could spend the whole day tucked away in this café, as the coffee machines shield you from the mayhem taking place on Adelaide Street. The chilled out music transports you to a happier place (think Dido, Jack Johnson, Angus and Julia Stone).
The coffee arrived quickly — beneath the thick, dark crema lurked a robust, and perfectly strong quality coffee. I would definitely have ordered another one, though I feared my blood pressure may not have so willingly accepted another rush of caffeine.
Newspaper read, crossword complete and optimal energy levels for the rest of the day restored. With a wave from the baristas on my way out, I felt ready to conquer the hustle of the outside world.