17 March 2024
We think of coffee being very Melbourne, and largely because post war Italian migrants got us hooked, but coffee has been around a lot longer that that ! Coffee was actually more popular in Britain than tea until the 1850s, but I’m not sure exactly how it was made, though probably a few different ways. In late 19thC Melbourne, coffee was most visible at coffee stalls, where they seem to have made it like tea – in big tanks kept warm with coals or similar. It was especially popular at night, some stalls serving both toffs heading home after a very late night and early shift workers, as in the sketches (and one from the 1850s goldfields). There were also of course huge coffee palaces, but I don’t know how much actual coffee they sold. Then in 1902 Luigi Bezzerra patented a machine that pushed hot water and steam through the grounds for an improved brew. The earliest mention of such a machine in Melbourne is 1928, when Florentino had one, set up on the stairs ‘in some splendour’. Images from the internet, very steampunk. I’ll do another post about the arrival of modern postwar machines, which rapidly multiplied in Melb from 1954 on. Info from a little booklet by Andrew Brown May published by @museumsvictoria in 2001.
16 May 2025
Who introduced the modern espresso coffee machine to Melbourne ? There’s a great little booklet ‘Espresso ! Melbourne Coffee Stories’ I got from the Museum in 2001 that has researched the topic, so here’s the history :
The first to go into operation was a Feama machine at Brunelli’s grocery in Lygon Street (later Sport cafe) on New Year’s Eve 1953. The second was at Varrenti’s, 95 Elgin Street, and the first photo is its first day, Easter Sunday 1954, and that’s Fernando and Sandra Varrenti behind the counter operating the Faema, photo 2 is a couple of months later.
The next was perhaps more important since it introduced espresso to the wider community – and perhaps surprisingly it was in St Kilda, at a new place called Il Capuccino upstairs in Fitzroy Street (pic 3, 4), that had a decor of wrought iron and potted plants and a big opening window to catch sea breezes, and a ‘chromium’ machine producing coffee that the Herald said ‘lifts almost like raw spirits’. The venture was by father and son Harry and Peter Bancroft (a Jewish family), inspired by the new espresso bars that Peter had seen taking London by storm in 1953. They were mostly using the new Gaggia machines, and Peter wrangled the first import license for them. The cafe also offered exotic delights like open sandwiches, parfaits, even nasi goreng prepared by their Indonesias Dutch chefs (it closed in the mid 70s).
Later in 1954 Pellegrini’s opened, with an interior that’s mostly perfectly preserved (pic 5) and the University Cafe in Lygon Street installed a Gaggia, which is now enshrined in a glass case (pic 6). In 1955 Don Camillo’s in Victoria Street West Melbourne opened (pic 7), and in 1959 Sila Cafe in Brunswick Street, which is also perfectly preserved, complete with its original Faema (pic 8). The last pic is just labelled 1955, from the Herald possibly, no location, but might not even be Melbourne (shiny suit!).
All old pics are from the booklet, most in turn from CoAsIt, one from Peter Bancroft himself, colour interiors David Wadlelton, the last from the Nillumbik library website, but possibly originally the Herald. The booklet is by Andrew Brown May, seems to be out of print.
Storey of Melbourne 