Traveller

As a rookie barista and wannabe espresso bar owner, Caitlin was so very helpful explaining the coffee style and how I could get more info on the brand.

Little tiny Traveller café is worth popping in for a traveller back to the office. The iced latte is oh so tasty. The space here is small. Like carry on luggage small.
Typical of the Seven Seeds you’ll find beautiful woodwork, a small cabinet with dainty treats and a good offering of coffee beverages.

Traveller is a cosy little hole-​in-​the-​wall, providing good coffee for those on a laneway jaunt.
The decorations are sparse, leaving the room to focus on what they do best: coffee, and a few cakes.
Seating is on wall-​mounted benches & stools. There’s little room to hang out inside, so this is definitely the place for a small mid-​morning meeting, or a Traveller on the way to work.

Rushed here to get in before closing time (5pm) and wasn’t disappointed. It was extremely quiet and I’d paid and moved on in a matter of minutes.
Exactly what I’m assuming this little space is intended to do. Seven Seeds coffee and some brew gear sits on shelving along the wall so at-​home brewing is taken care of if thats your thing. Pretty clean use of the space, the interior didn’t feel overly cramped.
The single gent in here just before closing was cheery and friendly and pulled a pretty enjoyable espresso. Definitely fills a specialty coffee void in this corner of town and is somewhere I’d return.

I have a love hate relationships with Traveller. I love that the coffee is from seven seeds which I still believe is one of the best coffee roasters in Melbourne. I also love that the that these baristas know how to get such a great coffee from their beans.
I usually like tiny little cafés where you can feel it’s all there just for you (and sometimes is if the café a small enough) but what I don’t like anymore is standing room only cafés that charge a sit down price. Yes the coffee is wonderful but unless your taking it back to the office or to go (as most people do, hence the name) it sucks to visit here and have to stand up with your $ 4.5 coffee. I visited on the opening week and was told I could sit on their door stoop — last time I visited they don’t even allow this anymore. If your on your way past definitely duck in for a coffee (it’s great) but if you are after something more from a café like I am then give it a miss.

Every time I look at the photo for Traveller I’m thinking «Why is there a concert Piano
on red carpet?» Then I look closer and realise it’s am espresso machine. No wait,
concert piano-​espresso machine– sitting on red carpet? Ah, Who knows?
As far as I can tell, Traveller is unmarked and un signed, but it is easy to find
if you’re familiar with the hip coffee shops. Great Cold drip from Columbia I think,
and of course retail beans to take home by seven seeds. They also feature all the
other regular espresso machine offerings. Traveller can be a place of extremes; Either
stupidly busy or dead quiet. But good coffee if the queue at pellegrini’s has locked you out.

If you’re a fan of coffee roasted by Seven Seeds, and if you should ever find yourself on this side of town, do yourself a favor and pop into traveller for a takeaway coffee because there is nothing else around the area which will give you as much of a kick.
They have batch brewed filter coffee in addition to their usual espresso offerings. Also, the cutest gingerbread men and women reside in the pastry case. Get one, dip it in your coffee and eat it. I promise you won’t regret it, and your gingerbread buddy would thank you for letting it have a soak in the good stuff.

A little hole-​in-​the-​wall that delivers. Well, they don’t «deliver», but they make good coffee. That’s delivering in my book.
I don’t mind the neighbouring Von Haus, but I find their coffee quite strong. I don’t actually know the supplier off the top of my head, but I recall it having a bit of a robusta «strong» coffee effect.
Traveller is from the Seven Seeds stable and naturally uses their beans and blend. I prefer their milder, more subtle flavours.

My first experience here was disappointing. They’d been open a couple of days and the coffee just wasn’t hitting it.
A month or so later and I found myself wanting to give it another go. Before I arrived I got a phone call and so I paced up and down the laneway outside chatting. After about 10 minutes of this, the guy inside the shop held up a little sign that said:
«would you like a coffee?»
I kept on talking but looked at him and nodded frantically, a big smile on my face. Minutes later, I had coffee in hand and walked away continuing my phone call.
How’s that for service?! And yes, it was a damn fine coffee.

The latest café that Seven Seeds has to offer and wow have they done a good job of it.
A Traveller in Crossley Street is located exactly where its name implies. About half-​way up the little street and not the easiest place to find. The first time I came here I did two walks of Crossley Street up and down before I found it. Traveller is a tiny little espresso bar, much smaller that even Patricia. They serve Seven Seeds naturally as it is the third café the company has opened. They do an amazing coffee typical of Seven Seeds. I’ve had my fair share of their coffees over the years and this place is no exception to the reputation.
The staff are friendly with usually just one or two working at any one time. You can’t order a meal here but they do have a nice selection of snacks to choose from. There are no table except for the espresso bar that runs down the side of the shoebox room. Traveller is a café for the takeaway fans on their way to work.
I like this little place. It has only been open a month or so but I think it has a big future ahead of it.

Another week, another fancy-​schmancy coffee shop opens in Melbourne. Traveller’s heritage is good; I’ve spent many hours drinking coffee and eating in Seven Seeds, the larger, older dine-​in sibling, located in Carlton. There, given the lack of competition, I was happy to accept the full fat only milk option, as the guys and girls behind the machines turned out a great brew. Despite a great fitout and location, at Traveller, I’m not so sure it gets my vote.
With strong (bad pun intended) coffee competition within a few minutes’ walk from the likes of League of Honest Coffee and Black Velvet, both of who are happy to offer skim milk options, and better brewed coffee to boot, I’m going to give Traveller the miss for now.
After three visits this week, I’ll wait until they find their feet when it comes to making coffee to the same standard as its nearby rivals or that which you’d expect of a place owned by Seven Seeds.