Kettle Black crew to open Higher Ground cafe in Melbourne CBD

The team behind cafes Kettle Black and Top Paddock are hard at it, establishing a coffee roastery and starting work on their CBD cafe, Higher Ground, due to open in October.

Nathan Toleman, Ben Clark, Diamond Rozakeas and Sam Slattery have fired up their roastery, Square One, in Cremorne. "We've been using Five Senses coffee for years and thought it was time to do our own," says Toleman. They've brought on board Elika Rowell as a co-owner and as head roaster.

The enormous space will eventually include a central pastry kitchen, bean storage and a small cafe and coffee bar due to open by the end of the year. For now it's roasting and blending their namesake Square One, a 50-50 mix of Ethiopia Wote​ and Guatemala Santa Isabel that will be available at both cafes, from June 15, as well as their yet-to-open CBD venue.

The new venue, Higher Ground, is a 160-seat cafe in a former warehouse with cathedral ceilings on the corner of Little Bourke and Spencer streets. Collingwood-based studio Design Office is reworking the space, adding a mezzanine level and open kitchen, and using materials such as green marble, exposed brick and cork.

Higher Ground is co-owned by Toleman, Clark, Rozakeas and group executive chef Jesse McTavish. While McTavish's menu is still in development, Toleman says, "it will be approachable, but with an edge", including native Australian ingredients and produce grown on Toleman's farm in Merricks.