Axil Coffee was founded by Dave Makin and Zoe Delaney, husband and wife, and began as a single café in Hawthorn. Axil now has sixteen Melbourne sites, from the two Hawthorn cafés to Kew, Cremorne, Chadstone, the airport and a run of CBD bars, plus a first interstate café in Surry Hills, Sydney. The tagline is “Melbourne Made, Always Independent”.

The coffee is roasted and packed at the Hawthorn roastery, which is also the head office, and every roast is handcrafted in small batches. Axil works directly with producers and with importers and pays well above Fair Trade rates, with some relationships running for more than fifteen years, and the roasting team travels to farms each year. Quality is checked through daily cuppings. After a win at the 2025 World Barista Championship, Axil counts two world titles and seven Australian Barista Championships across its team, and sells the competition coffees online as a Barista Champion Selection.

The sites split into kitchen cafés with full table service for breakfast, brunch and lunch, and espresso cafés for coffee and a bite to go. Table bookings are taken by email on weekdays for groups of more than eight. Training runs at The Espresso Academy in Melbourne, from Barista Standards and Latte Art Standards to Filter Coffee Standards and a Farm To Cup workshop on growing, processing and roasting, with classes capped at a few students each. The retail range covers three espresso blends, a Swiss Water decaf, single origins roasted for espresso and for filter, a Signature Series and the Barista Champion Selection lots. The current retail range is listed below with the roaster’s own tasting notes.

Locations

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  1. Axil Coffee Burwood Rd322 Burwood Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122HawthornOpen in Google Maps
  2. Axil Coffee Kew145/147 High Street, Kew VIC 3101KewOpen in Google Maps
  3. Axil Coffee RichmondShop 1, 600 Church Street, Cremorne VIC 3121CremorneOpen in Google Maps
  4. Axil Coffee Melbourne CentralGD089, 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  5. Axil Coffee GalleriaGalleria Melbourne, Floor G, 385 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  6. Axil Coffee Flinders Gate180 Flinders Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  7. Axil Coffee Lonsdale50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  8. Axil Coffee Flinders Lane76 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  9. Axil Coffee Southern Cross LaneShop E6, 121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne VIC 3004CBDOpen in Google Maps
  10. Axil Coffee Collins Arch447 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps
  11. Axil Coffee Spring StGround Floor, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne VIC 3000CBDOpen in Google Maps

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Axil Coffee