Best Coffee Shops to Work From in Sydney

If you travel for business or are one of life's adventurous nomadic souls who earns their living online, working in your hotel room can soon become tedious. Thankfully, when you're in Sydney, you don't have to. There are some fantastic coffee shops in Sydney that also serve great coffee and welcome customers who want to set up a temporary office on one of their tables.

Go to the best coffee shops in Sydney with your laptop bag in hand, and you won't get glaring looks from the servers, but big smiles and a cheery, 'g'day mate.' That's enough to brighten anyone's day and get their creative juices flowing. No matter how much work you need to plow through before you can escape to do something more interesting, it's always easier when you have good coffee to drink.

Whether your preference is for house-roasted coffee, a double espresso on ice, or a matcha latte, down a couple, and you'll whizz through your workload twice as fast. Once you're done for the day, you'll have time to hit Bondi Beach or go shopping in Sydney.

In Sydney, you won't have to tolerate weak, three-hour-old batch brew either because the baristas believe one hundred percent in coffee alchemy and pour their soul into each cup. What they're not overly keen about is lots of luggage being dumped on the coffee shop floor. 

If you're in transit and have got stuck with your bags, store them in one of the Bounce luggage storage facilities in Sydney. You'll know your stuff will be safe in a secured locker, and by keeping the coffee shop floor bag free, you'll guarantee getting that all-important smiley g'day from your server.

The Best Sydney Cafes For Working

This city has quite a few suburbs, so the best coffee shops in Sydney for you depend a lot on which area you're staying in. No one wants to make a half-hour journey before they get their first caffeine fix of the morning. For that reason, you'll find coffee shops from some of the more popular places for visitors to Sydney to stay listed here.

Kawa Coffee Shop

Kawa is a Surry Hills cafeteria with what can only be called an enchanting, country boho-style of décor that you'll either love or hate. There's no fine line between liking the metal and wood garden furniture with colorful cushions on the sidewalk outside or the home-from-home interior and hating it. If it works for you, great.

If it's not what makes you comfortable, you may still be tempted to give it a try, as at Kawa, they serve all-day breakfasts and brunches for a very reasonable price that are lip-smackingly good. The coffee is top notch too, but even better is the fast internet connection. In short, Kawa is a relaxed spot with a slightly hippy vibe where the good internet guarantees you'll get your work done without any slow loading to drive you mad, even if the decor does.

Location – 348 Crown Street, Surry Hills

Orto Trading Co.

When you're in the Surry Hills neighborhood and want somewhere spacious to work, take a look at the premises of the Orto Trading Co. This place is big and has an indoor area as well as a roomy patio with well-spaced out tables if you prefer to work outdoors. It's also ideal if you need somewhere for a lunchtime business meeting in Surry Hills when you don't want too many people overhearing what you're discussing.

This is the perfect cafe for early birds, as they open from seven in the morning from Monday to Friday. If you had a heavy night the night before, then kick the day off with one of their highly recommended Bloody Marys, and you'll be work fit in no time. If that's too much, then stick to the cold brew coffee. It works almost as well.

Location – Waterloo Street, Surry Hills

Paramount Coffee Project

The Paramount Coffee Project is one of the best cafes in Sydney for working. This coffee shop is decked out in long wooden tables with bar stools as well as wall-mounted bar-type shelving for those who prefer to sit alone. The simplicity of the gray flooring and white tiled walls gives it a fresh but professional look without being distracting.

Here, while they do serve a varied food menu, the emphasis is on high-quality coffee. The beans are ethically imported from various growers, and the international coffee roasters rotated regularly. They also showcase guest roasters and offer coffee products. PCP also gets a big thumbs up for acknowledging that the ground the cafe is built on is rightfully Aboriginal land.

Location – Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills

Veneziano Coffee Roasters

There's nothing better than being greeted by the aroma of freshly roasted and ground coffee when you walk through the door of somewhere. That's the smell that will greet you if you go to Veneziano Coffee Roasters.

Veneziano Coffee Roasters occupies a smart, industrial-style premises where the décor isn't overly inviting, but the wafts of coffee roasting on site certainly are. Coffee means so much to the owners of this cafe that they even hold coffee tastings, so if you're feeling adventurous and want to try something different from your usual latte, you now know where to go.

Don't expect a large menu here. They don't do things like salads or poke bowls but offer a variety of sandwiches and pastries, with one day of the week, Wednesdays, being dedicated solely to donuts. That's one way to make your midweek morning special, without a doubt.

Location – Bourke Street, Surry Hills

Rising Sun Workshop

The Rising Sun Workshop is an unusual place, to say the least. This restaurant-coffee shop is as much about motorcycles and fixing them yourself as it is about coffee. It's a great place to work, though, and has free wifi with a high-speed connection that won't let you down when you're in the middle of an important Zoom meeting.

Don't worry about noise; the workshop is separate, so you won't be disturbed by the spluttering revs of someone tuning their bike engine. They probably wouldn't have won a coveted One Hat award if it wasn't. Here you can set up your temporary workstation from eight in the morning and tuck into a hearty bacon and egg burger. If you’re into Asian dumplings and ramen, you’ll probably want to stay on for lunch.

Everything on the food and drinks menus of the RSW is from local sources. That includes the wine list of Australian wines and also means the coffee beans are locally roasted. This place is all about keeping it in the family. Go there, and you'll feel like one of them.

Location – Whateley Street, Newtown

One Another Cafe

One Another Cafe is housed in a corner premises that's light and bright and has a real work-friendly vibe. You'll be welcome with your laptop here as long as you consume food and drinks as the cafe has a limited capacity, so can't afford to maintain freeloaders. Digging into some of their massive sandwiches or down a couple of soy lattes won't be difficult.

Each of the small individual tables lined up against the wall is equipped with a power point so you can get straight to work even if your battery is low. If it's not and you need some fresh air to stimulate your creative juices, you'll enjoy sitting on their sun-drenched terrace, which is located at the rear of the cafe.

Location – Wilson Street, Newton

Campos Coffee

When you just want to drop by somewhere for a quick hour or two of work in the Central Business District, then Campos Coffee will suit you. Their bar-style window tables are wide enough to hold your laptop, so they are perfect for working from when you want to do some people-watching between paragraphs.

All of the coffee brewed at Campos Coffee comes from single-source origins in places like Columbia and Panama. They strive to obtain the best quality coffee possible, so go here for a morning time business meeting, and you're bound to impress.

Location – Missenden Road, Newtown

Terra Cotta Roasters

If you're someone who likes their coffee as close to intravenous as possible, then Terra Cotta Roasters will be the best cafe in Sydney for you. White walls and unvarnished pine give the spacious interior fresh appeal and make for a well-illuminated workspace. There is an outdoor seating area, but it's on a narrow balcony out front, so taking a street-side table could mean you'll have to put up with a bit of traffic noise.

At this coffee shop, the coffee is roasted on-site and then served in just about every way imaginable. Batch brew, cold brew, bottomless for a few extra dollars, iced or with gelato. They have an exceptionally good food menu, too, which caters well to vegetarians as well as folk who can't live without their morning bacon fix.

Location – Ivy Street, Darlington

Industry Beans York Street

The Industry Beans York Street is one of the best cafes in Sydney for working, and if you head there, you certainly won't be the only one glued to a laptop screen. Decorated in a minimalist style with polished wood flooring, benches, round tables, and metal chairs, it could be compared to a home office created from IKEA furniture, but one where you don't have to do the brewing.

At Industry Beans, the drinks and food menu focus is also on simplicity. Here you can partake of single origin roasts, cold brew, and filters of superior quality with a bottomless option if you need it. Their breakfast-brunch menu is great, too, and carries everything from overnight oats to pandan bubble waffles to coffee-rubbed wagyu burgers. They also serve one of the all-time cafe favorites of smashed avocado on sourdough with a poached egg.

Check this place out, and you may well find yourself taking up permanent residence during their opening hours which are from seven in the morning until three-thirty in the afternoon.

Location – York Street, Central Business District

Chapter One

If you're into self-torture then you may want to choose Chapter One as your temporary office. Chapter One is a Bondi institution overlooking Sydney's most infamous stretch of sand. Take a table almost anywhere in this cafe, and you'll be able to see the ocean. Thankfully, it's just far enough away not to be too much of a distraction.

Here they have group and individual tables, though it's better if you get there early as it can get very busy. Who doesn't want to drink their morning coffee watching the waves crash against the shore? They don't make fancy specialty coffees here, just your regular run-of-the-mill brews that are as good as they've always been. If you're missing home cooking then you'll love digging into the boiled eggs with toast soldiers for breakfast.

Chapter One is one of the few coffee houses which open in the evening. If you've been staring longingly at Bondi Beach all day while you've been working and have hit your deadline, you'll be well within your rights to have a large glass of wine as compensation.

Location – Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach

Conclusion

Now you know where the best cafes in Sydney are for working, so you don't need to be one of those remote workers who sits in their hotel room feeling miserable. Head to one of the cafes mentioned in this article, and you'll turn your work day into a social event that will be so pleasant that it won't feel like work at all.