I’ve worked in Woden for the last 18 months plus, so I am biased towards reviewing Woden purveyors of the noble bean. My experience is:
- Coffee Guru in the Plaza (near the NAB) is the best - they are consistently good. When they have it, try the rocky road. They do real coffee coffees the best - their flat white is famous, and do try the doppio if you want a quick wake-up. The hot chocolates are wonderful, the staff are friendly and responsive, and this is the place that I am happy to recommend to friends - and I’ve recommended it to a lot of friends. Please ask after and say hello to Louise as you go through.
- Mocca in Scarborough House sometimes makes good coffee - and sometimes not. The staff are great if you are into surly teenage boys (I’m not, but your mileage may vary).
- Oxygen - well, the less said about Oxygen the better. Looking for the silver lining, I did have a great espresso in there once - but they moved that woman on, and it has been consistently bad ever since. The service blows, and unlike Guru they seem to charge more for both a strong coffee and table service. I won’t go back.
- Coffee Club has good BLT sandwiches. Let’s leave it at that.
- Gloria Jeans is everything that you would expect from an American chain - they are relatively efficient, fairly friendly, and use way too much sugar. When I need the ultimate sugar rush, I will go the Chocolate Macadamia Latte.
Does your mileage vary? If so, leave me a comment. I’ll update this post if anything changes - there is talk of a cappucinery opening in one of the new buildings down towards Scarborough.


Sounds pretty interesting about coffee stuff.Well that’s a great food stuff indeed.Gourmet coffee at http://www.coffeebreakusa.com adds to coffee and giftbaskets online.
Thanks Emily,
I think that the coffee would be pretty cold by the time it got here to Canberra
Cheers, Andrew
I’d say the person who wrote this blog is from Coffee Guru trying to give other coffee shops in the area a bad wrap so Guru looks good, Sad if true cause only says your worried there may be competition.
Dear Undisclosed,
I’d say you worked for one of the other coffee shops, which is sad, because you wouldn’t leave your name or a working email address.
I do not now, nor have I ever had, any financial relationship with Coffee Guru apart from paying them for coffee as an anonymous customer. The other coffee shops in Woden didn’t rate very well when I wrote this - they may have improved since, I don’t know, I don’t work there any more.
I’m happy to talk about where I work - I’ve blogged several times about the company I work for as a consultant - are you happy to come up with your name and where you work?
Best regards, Andrew
You obviously have to much time on your hands, what is your number and I will call you.
Dear Andrew
Do you have an idea of what it takes to borrow money put your balls on the line and try to make a business work ? yes you have the right to an opinion but you must not have a life and a very bitter man to go around and knock some one elses business. for your information to have a business thats now seven years sucessful and always busy, it’s a sign that they are doing something right. It’s a shame that you are this low and have no life….. If this is what you do for a living and you can sleep at night well good luck and hope 2008 is a good one for you .. if it’s not thats called karma.
Keep your eyes open for the opening of the Coffee Guru at Jamison
Hi Chris,
I don’t get over to Jamison very often, but thanks for the heads-up
Cheers, Andrew