This Surrey Hills cafe brews beans the old-fashioned way

Melbourne hospitality legend Paul Mathis has opened (and closed or sold) more than 20 restaurants and cafes since the early 1980s, but the latest project has the serial disruptor terrified.

“This is so unknown, it's the scariest thing,” says Mathis, who has been out of the hospitality game for more than a decade. The fearsome entity in question is a bright, 20-seat cafe that recently opened in Surrey Hills, opposite the No. 70 tram terminus. So what's to fear from The Stovetop Sessions?

“There are 54,000 coffee shops in Australia,” says Mathis. “They all have an espresso machine. Except for this one.” The wedge-shaped corner building has clear sight lines: There's no fancy four-group coffee contraption blocking the barista's view. Instead, coffees are brewed on plates of induction in one-cup Bialetti moka pots or in cookware. brickthe long-handled pots used to make Greek (and Turkish and Arabic) coffee.

“I feel like coffee hit a plateau and became a bit of the same,” he says. “I wasn't excited to walk into a place, see a guy hunched over a mug and drink another coffee with tulip latte art. I asked, 'What's next? What's different?'”

These are questions that Mathis has been pondering for 40 years. He answered them with Joe's Garage, a collision of bohemia and buzz on Brunswick Street in 1989, then Bluetrain and Automatic on Southbank in the 1990s, energetic hangouts that helped Melbourne fall back in love with the Yarra River. He was the original restaurateur in Federation Square, opening Chocolate Buddha, Transport and Taxi in the early days.

“I wasn't excited to walk into a place, see a guy hunched over a mug and have another coffee with tulip latte art.”

Paul Mathis

Mathis voiced his environmental anguish at St Kilda's vegetarian SoulMama in 2002, then Central Melbourne's SOS (sustainable seafood) and 100 Mile Cafe (paddock to plate), both ahead of their time. He was also a founding operator at South Wharf. The entrepreneur's last venture, vegan restaurant Supercharger in Prahran, closed 11 years ago.

Since then, Mathis has pursued other projects, including a hygienic shared sugar spoon for coffee shops. But for two years, it's been all about the espresso.

“I've been making 600 coffees a month at home,” he says of his testing process. “I prefer this coffee. I think it's richer. There's more complexity and differentiation.”

After thousands of tests, he has come up with a peculiar brewing method for the new cafe.

The beans, a secret blend made by a “dark roaster,” are pre-weighed in 18 gram batches and then ground to order. Preheated water waits in insulated kettles, so the brewing process is a little faster than normal. Mathis lines each Bialetti coffee basket with a paper filter, a trick he says smooths out the brew. He heats the milk on the stove, then pours it into a French press to froth vigorously by hand. It foams very well, “but we don't make milk art,” says Mathis.

If you order a mocha pot, you'll be served a tray with the espresso pot to pour the DIY into, a jug of warm milk and a cookie. There are self-serve pastries from artisan bakery Penny For Pound and a selection of $12 toasts. Fun fillings include mortadella with pineapple, passata and mozzarella, and goat cheese with apricot jam and thyme.

A sign welcomes customers with a warning that their coffee may take up to five minutes to prepare. “It's a fast world, but hopefully people can find time to embrace the slowness,” says Mathis.

Open Monday to Friday from 8am to 3.30pm.

1125 Riversdale Road, Surrey Hills, 0438 845 302