Fuelling democracy: the baristas of Parliament spill the (coffee) beans

It's one of the bestselling coffee precincts in Australia, it serves one of the finest brews in Canberra, and its artistic takeaway cups are so prized, tourists take them home as souvenirs.

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Some of Australia's hardest working baristas can be found in Canberra, fuelling Federal Parliament. Pictures by Karleen Minney

Canberrans take their coffee very seriously - just ask them - but it's not always a simple proposition sourcing a first-rate cuppa.

Finding a great café can be a mission in any Australian city, and the urban sprawl of the bush capital with its infamous roundabouts can complicate the task, especially for newcomers.

But sitting in the heart of it all is one of the largest café precincts of its kind in the world, which for decades has just been doing its thing as Australian coffee culture morphed around it.

It may surprise Canberrans with no cause to regularly go there that the baristas in Parliament House make an excellent and unassuming cup of coffee.

Aromatic, smooth and with a rich golden crema that doesn't overwhelm the taste, the brew in Parliament is possibly Canberra's best-kept coffee secret.

Five cafes operate daily on Capital Hill, including four run by the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS), and the famous Aussies cafe, which rents its space in the building and is privately owned.

The results are a runaway hit. The four DPS-run outlets go through more than five tonnes of coffee beans a year.

"Last financial year, we did about 286,000 coffees across the four outlets," said Parliament House assistant director of retail operations Sophie Travis.

A small coffee is $4 with staff discount.

More than 2000 cups of coffee are brewed by the DPS cafes on a day when Parliament sits, or "order dockets to the floor" as Ms Travis puts it.

"I think the Baristas are probably the most appreciated of our staff because they fuel the building," Ms Travis said.

"People have got their favourite baristas that they'll follow around the building. They'll be checking where a certain barista might be working because they know that they might rotate around," she said.

Just six full-time baristas manage the heavy lifting across the four DPS cafes - contract staff are brought in while Parliament is in session to handle the queues.

Their espresso machines are in a perpetual state of testing and adjustment to keep the coffee consistent.

Fifteen chefs manage a seasonal menu made up of café staples like croissants, banana bread, muffins and cinnamon scrolls.

Hash browns with breakfast, vegan cookies, Korean chicken and hot cinnamon doughnuts are the hottest ticket items on the menu.

Flat whites make up almost a third of coffee orders, Ms Travis said. The order terminology "flat white" was first coined by Sydney cafes in the 1980s.

But coffee alternatives like matcha and a wider variety of milk alternatives have also crept onto the drinks menu in recent years. Non-dairy milks now make up one in four sales.

"Our chefs and staff keep up to date with what's happening and try and bring in new menu items, but a lot of the focus is just on Australian produce really and just supporting local businesses," said Ms Travis.

"Canberra, where possible."

The beans are from one of Canberra's first roasteries, Lonsdale Street, the Smith and Evans blend, which was the Braddon-born company's first, released in 2009.

Aussies cafe, which sits behind the security barriers and is exclusive to Parliament workers, recently also switched its beans from Italian brand Vittoria to Canberra roastery Red Brick.

Parliament House opened in 1988 with espresso machines throughout, but Aussies anecdotally was where people in the building went for decades for authentic Italian-Australian espresso.

Long-time owner Dom Calabria was coy about his volume of cups sold, but anyone who has visited the café on a day Parliament sits can attest it is a high-volume establishment.

Ms Travis said being a Parliament House barista was "high pressure" because of the sheer volume of sales, but popular among DPS catering staff.

"We just love the building and we love what we do," she said.

The Staff Dining Room - colloquially known as 'The Trough' - is DPS's largest, bestselling venue.

Take away cups from Queen's Terrace cafe in Parliament House regularly find their way home with tourists, while the baristas who work there pledge the same quality coffee for visitors as would be served to the Prime Minister. Picture by Karleen Minney

Queen's Terrace Café is open to the public and Ms Travis said the quality of coffee and style of service is identical whether you work in Parliament - a daunting roster of high profiles - or are just visiting.

But tourists are more likely to walk out with their takeaway cups, which are wrapped in a watercolour and pen painting depicting an aerial view of Parliament by Sydney artist Simon Fieldhouse.

"Those are probably the most popular," Ms Travis said. "Tourists who come by want to take it as a memento."

Two takeaway outlets, a café cart in the House of Representatives building and a kiosk, Standing Orders, in the press gallery on the Senate side also operate weekdays.

Standing Orders first opened in 2021 in a small room that once housed a pneumatic tube messaging hub after a pricey $420,000 renovation that prompted questions in Senate estimates.

Its queues now regularly stretch down the corridors.

Australians are among the world's top coffee drinkers according to the International Coffee Organisation, consuming 2.1 kilograms of coffee beans per head each year, while 5.5 million Australians visit a café every day.

Australian Parliament House is the largest government building in the southern hemisphere, covering more than 250,000 square metres and 4500 rooms, and housing up to 5000 workers.

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