Vella Nero

When you're hustling for a living in the city, you don't walk a block further than you have to for caffeine. But with a chunky 12 kilogram roaster parked by the door, and chalkboards proclaiming daily single estate beans, cold drip and Swiss Gold filter coffee, Vella Nero pulls even the time-is-money crowd from blocks away. There's plenty of coffee geekery to look at as you linger over a malty, sweet and mellow caffe latte ($3.50) made with the house-roasted designer blend espresso, and perhaps a mid-morning coconut-lemon slice, breakfast eggs on Sonoma bread brekkies, or a sausage-roll lunch.