The League of Honest Coffee

THE League of Honest Coffee is an apt name for Marinus Jansen's new city cafe. Jansen, who owns the Brunswick East Project and South Melbourne Market's Padre cafes, likes to be upfront about his coffee blends and business.

In Jansen's words, the League is a more mature cafe than his other casual outlets. It's a bright, spacious place with two ports of call - one for coffee and one for beans. With a polished-concrete floor, timber benchtops, two customised Slayers, a bevy of grinders, multicoloured crockery and a striking painting of a cherry tree that starts in the coffee bean corner and snakes its way up the ceiling, the cafe is a warm and welcoming space.

Jansen keeps his focus very much on coffee and spreading the third-wave message. For espresso coffees, he rotates his three blends, a brave move in that the standard coffee will be changing every few days. But the cafe is all about engaging people and getting them to try new coffees, including the two featured single-origins.

While Jansen thinks the expensive Slayers are the bees' knees for making espresso, he will be spruiking Chemex coffee, a simple filter method invented in 1941 - looks a bit like a chemistry beaker - for single-origins. Part of the cafe is devoted to the retail side of things, where coffee equipment and beans (eight single-origins and two blends) will be on sale. Gito Gondowarsito, a trained sommelier, will be on hand to discuss the tasting notes of various beans.

''There's no one doing a great job of retailing coffee in the city,'' Jansen says. ''There's definitely room for improvement.''

Sitting at the long counter, I watch my latte being made. Everything is open for inspection here. The Padre blend produces a rich, smooth, creamy drink that lives up to expectations.

For those who like to experiment, the Chemex coffee, made from Tanzania Tuntze AAA, is a revelation of spicy, chocolate tones. The $5 serve is easily enough for two.

Armed with three iPads, a team of three baristas headed by Shane Farrell will take orders, make coffees and check bean descriptions.

If you're feeling peckish, you can choose from sweet and savoury muffins (made to Jansen's wife Julie's recipe), cakes, biscuits and pastries from Noisette. There's no cooking here so the smells don't interfere with the coffee aromas.

The cafe, on a quiet corner of Exploration Lane and Little Lonsdale Street, is a few steps from Trunk Diner. ''I wanted an accessible spot in the city and wanted to steer away from the speciality scene,'' Jansen says. ''There are lots of places where there's lots of attitude.''

The League is a stylish, spacious cafe where you can have an honest coffee and trace it to its origins or, if you have the time or inclination to stray into the coffee menu, you can let your caffeine-fuelled imagination run wild.