Naked Espresso Bar

A delightful café with staff who are friendly and courteous, but unobtrusive. Grab a seat by the window, imbibe your coffee, sip the complimentary mineral water, savour a salmon omelette that’s just perfect on the plate and in the mouth, and quietly rejoice in the civilized cosiness of it all. Emerge calm and optimistic.

I get a coffee from this place every single day. Need I say more?
Sometimes you get the new barista who isn’t up to scratch yet so if I were to critique them on something it would be inconsistency, but really it’s never bad just less awesome.
This is one of maybe 4 places that set the standard for melbourne coffee.

Unfussed little spot. Good to get window seat to watch passersby. Tasty toasted sandwiches.

I am at Naked Espresso almost every day. It’s no fuss, welcoming and consistently good quality. It’s as Melbourne as Melbourne cafes come, condensed into a neat little package of goodness. Expect tattoos, beards, pretty staff, vintage clothing and all that. Resistance is futile, just savour the caffeine.
It’s one of those places where you can have a long chat to the staff about all things coffee, from the climate variation and soil acidity in Ethiopia and it’s impact on flavour, to the technical specifications of a Mazzer Kony coffee grinder and everything else in between. Or, like me, you can just get your fix and get back to pushing the mouse around.
It gets rather packed with suits and flannelette around mid-​morning and early afternoon, which is rather telling of the broad diversity of business in the area. If you can wait, then it’s going to be worth it, but if not you won’t have to look very hard for caffeine alternatives in this part of Little Bourke.
Research has also shown that their unmistakable bright yellow take away cups will reduce your risk of pedestrian injury by 23%. So if you dislike injury and like coffee, do yourself a favour and drop into Naked Espresso.
Try their jaffles too. Although the jaffle revival of circa Q1 2014 appears to have come and gone, Naked Espresso are flying the flag high and I am still a fan.

Great service. Mediocre coffee. Cool snacks (yummy pistachio lemon olive oil thingy). Its fine but I was not as amazed as some of the other reviews. Ganache still the best.

Several times I’ve entered the warmth of Naked Espresso Bar and had my glasses flash opaque with condensation. It is so nice inside when it’s cold out.
I’ve read their breakfast and brunch menu many times but always gone with one of their jaffles. These are made with Noisette bread and all feature cheese. They’ve also had vegan cupcakes from Mister Nice Guy.
Their coffee menu is extensive featuring blends and single origins that they roast themselves. I enjoyed their filter which came in a Hario jug along with a small cup of sparkling water.

The best, yes I said THE BEST, café on Little Bourke St.
First, the people you find here are extremely friendly, charismatic and genuinely enjoy what they do and it definitely shows in the product.
Second, the product is not only the coffee, it’s the experience you get from drinking coffee at Naked. Every time I rock up there, I feel a little bit more educated about the coffee — ranging from the flavors, origins and variations. As a brewer, I’ve grown to appreciate the smell, color, taste and texture of a beer. These elements could also be used to describe a coffee and the baristas here ensure an incredible experience opposed to a daily fix.
The space could be characterized as tiny, but I would like to think of the space as cozy and intimate. In any other café, you would be treated as another ticket number or dollar lost in the pretentiousness that is barista culture. Here, you’re a regular in a community where the character of the individual reflects that of his/​her order.
Remember the three Cs you get from Naked — Courteous, Charismatic, Coffee.

So many, many cafés in the city. There’s about half a dozen good ones within 100m of this place.
It really came as a shock to me that this lovely little shop had flown under my radar for a good couple of years. I really like finding a place like this when it had a much more laid back approach than other cafés in the area. Manchester Press, Brother Baba Budan and Hardware Societé are all within walking distance but let’s be honest, they’re probably swarming with businesspeople and tourists.
Naked Espresso hasn’t quite got the reputation of it’s nearby neighbours but that doesn’t mean it is any less impressive. I find that I would much rather come to a café that cares about each of its customers than it does to get them in and out as quickly as possible. I’d much rather my coffee being made by those with ample time than those trying to pump out twenty ¾ soy lattés in two minutes.
If you’re after a solid coffee and a nice place to relax, Naked Espresso Bar is the place for you.

There are so many cafes cropping up in Melbourne, that its really hard to keep track of the good ones.
One of my work colleagues detoured us away from the usual Brother Baba Budan coffee experience in a quest to discover a new coffee joint.
Naked Espresso was just that. Simple coffee, simple food, average price and overly done well.
Being a reformed coffee drinker I folded this one time, and ordered myself a flat white — see photo. It was delicious right down to the very last drop. :) Recommended for those who are not willing to wait for a coffee from Brother Baba Budan down the street.

The team at Naked Espresso have had a tough journey getting to where they are. From being kicked out of their perfectly placed Elevenses in a wasteland of CBD nothingness to their current site at the heart of Melbourne coffeeland I salute the lads and ladies who have made the journey. And you should too, as they have a fantastic lunch special that I have been unable to surpass in the CBD for quality and quantity. Not knowing anything about the deal, I entered and ordered a coffee and one of the fantastic bagels (pulled pork, bbq sauce, cheese and pear chutney) I had heard so much about. I was then tapped on the shoulder and told it would cost about $ 13 but if I was willing to pay $ 14 then I would get a homemade cookie and piece of fruit. No brainer. If you don’t go down and pay these happy baristas a visit — then you have no soul. There, I said it.
So — did we get it right or are there some you would say were better?

What a find! Just around the corner from Hardware Lane, this little café is run by the folks who used to operate Elevenses, Tom & Shanny.
Amazingly, they both ACTUALLY CARE about their food and customers, always working on new creative sandwiches, never settling. They know so many of their customers name’s and orders by heart, and show great passion for the products they make and stock, including macarons and cupcakes for a sweet treat with your coffee.
They use Toby’s Estate coffee here, and actually gave me a little «shot» of mineral water to cleanse my palate after my espresso. The barista was also friendly and chatty, taking time to explain what sorts of flavours I can expect to taste from the coffee blend.

Finally tried some of their bagels, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I succumb to the Roo-​ben, a play on the Rueben, which consists of kangaroo, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. I can’t resist a tasty pun. And this one was really tasty. So is the Sardine Melt with sweet mustard and cheese. Well, if they keen on like this, Naked Espresso may have to become part of my afternoon routine too.