The Grounds Coffee Factory, Sydney

The Grounds is a small chain of coffee shops in Sydney with over-the-top, very Instagrammable decor. Since it’s not too far from Sydney’s airport I like going there for a “bye Emma, see you next time” breakfast with my Mum before I hop on a plane back to Tokyo. Their original store in Alexandria opened in 2012, while their Coffee Factory is a more recent addition, having opened in 2024. It reminds me a little of the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Tokyo which integrates all the coffee roasting equipment with a large cafe space. At the Coffee Factory, they have big silos where they store their coffee beans before roasting. We got to see it in action - one of the staff was hoisting a bag of beans over their feeder. The beans get moved up towards the ceiling in tubes, and then plop into the silo specific to that bean. I’m a big fan of the decor too with all the green and orange. I only got into pour-over coffee just this year, so pre-2026 Emma would have just stuck with a cappuccino (which…