Pardon

Hey, Melbourne, how much do you like - love, want, need - your coffee?

Heaps, it seems - enough to make selling coffee and not much else a workable business model in this town.

Witness the ventures that beat the idea of ''cafe'' wafer thin by offering just espresso and filter coffee, and bespoke cakes and pastries: Patricia Coffee Brewers, a white-tiled bar in the legal district that channels a city vibe with a capital ''C''; the pretty, new Dukes espresso bar in Flinders Lane, where a couple of sturdy La Marzoccos are supported by a custom brew bar; or A Little Bird Told Me, a clean, design-focused room just off Swanston Street North in the fantastic shadows of RMIT's newish Building 80. The morning queues at these places are long, while, after lunch, office-bound workers make detours for espresso top-ups.

One of the minimalist prototypes is Cup of Truth in the Flinders Street underpass. There really is nowhere to hide in this one-by-three-metre space, and very little to distract from the coffee. The truth really is in the espresso cup.

Courtney Patterson has spent most weekdays for the past four years brewing in this underground booth, never seeing the morning sun. His passion for coffee runs deeper than even the Slayer group head tattooed on his right biceps.

Now Patterson and business partner Jon Freeman, who has been underground at Cup of Truth for 18 months, have taken the minimal offer out of the city with a new espresso bar just off Greville Street in Prahran.

The single room is palatial by Cup of Truth standards, though it goes from empty to insta-crowd when half-a-dozen people turn up at once. Plain white walls and a bare timber floor are lifted with framed art by Patterson and Freeman's tattooists, and the white-tiled bar hosts a Spirit Triplette espresso machine (that Slayer ink will have to go …).

There's a bit of boyish quirk factor - water is served in skull-shaped bottles and a plaster gnome serves as a doorstop. Patterson's style, tattoos included, is kind of 1950s blue-collar workwear; Freeman looks like the Beastie Boys' little brother.

A tray of cakes from Matt Forbes graces the black-painted plywood counter-top - sea-salt chocolate-chip cookies, muesli slices and the ginger-bready balls with a lick of toffee cream in the centre that I'm calling his signature.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the counter is piled with Forbes' doughnuts - salted caramel, apple crumble, and raspberry and custard cream-flavoured.

A couple of sandwiches from nearby Alison's Handmade Bread round out the food menu - smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese; pork belly and coleslaw; and a vegetarian ciabatta of roasted pumpkin, capsicum and basil.

The house-blend coffee for espresso and milk-based brews is from Axil in Hawthorn. On my visit the blend was 70 per cent Brazil Milton Nagueira and 30 per cent El Salvador Plan de la Batea, but that varies with the season. In an espresso, it had a tropical-fruity nose, an acid kick in the cup and some nutty chocolate notes. It mellowed out with the addition of Jonesy's milk in a tasty magic - spot-on with a ginger and toffee ball.

Single origins from Byron Bay roaster Marvell Street and Sydney's Single Origin Roasters also feature on a small brew bar in V60 pourovers.

That's all - apart from the morning sun streaming (somewhat weakly at the moment) through the east-facing window. And Freeman says Patterson has already been seen basking in it like his girlfriend's cat.

Breakfast Magic and a Matt Forbes ginger and toffee ball ($7.70)

Lunch Alison's Handmade Bread pork belly and coleslaw sandwich ($10.50)

Coffee Espresso $3, milk $3.70

(add 50¢ for single origin)