Very Melbourne Coffee Van

The Verdict

What do you reckon, guys, best business name in Melbourne?

The Very Melbourne Coffee Van does pretty much what it says on the tin. It’s a shiny chrome Airstream camper that sells coffees in an extremely Melbourne way. You’ll find it parked in the forecourt of Hayden Real Estate on Toorak Rd in South Yarra.

So how did this happen? Well Hayden had some space out the front, they bought the retro camper and leased it to Phil and Chris (who also run the vegan food truck Pita This Pita That).

Hayden basically told the guys, “Do something cool.” And they did—they started selling uber-cheesy toasties and coffees from Rosso Roasting Co. For locals who’d been driving past thinking, “What the hell is that camper van doing in front of a real estate business?” the mystery was solved. Very Melbourne Coffee Van had arrived.

At the moment the van is only open during the week, but Chris says they’ll be launching Saturday service from 21 July.

You can choose between three, toasties, two homemade salads and a variety of naughty treats. Personally, the Smokeback Mountain sanger with triple smoked ham, smoked tomato relish, basil and a triple cheese blend is hard to beat. But the Thai-Anna Ross is also smashing (roast chicken with lemongrass, cashews and a pickled Asian slaw).

Coffee-wise it’s the Abbot Kinney blend from Rosso, a Melbourne roastery based out in Tullamarine. There’s a big sustainability focus too: if you bring your own cup you get 50c off, and everything else is biodegradable. “We’ve taken advantage of Biopack’s new composting initiative,” says Chris. “They compost all the leftover coffee cups and any other organic waste we’ve got.”

In keeping with the ‘very Melbourne’ name, Chris and Hayden are doing their bit for the local music scene. There’s a different Melbourne DJ set playing each day (with the artist’s details written up on the van). “We’re also going to have DJs squeeze into the van and play some chilled afternoon sets starting next week,” says Chris.  

It’d be hard to cram more ‘Melbourne’ into a single van. Well played, boys. 

Image credit: Jenna Fahey-White