Overlay Coffee Melbourne (First Impression)

Today, I went out with my friend Kayli (a.k.a @eatswithkayli), it’s been a while since the last time I saw her! We planned on getting lunch together, and in the middle of deciding, suddenly she mentioned that there’s a new coffee shop in the CBD called Overlay Coffee. All of a sudden I wasn’t feeling hungry anymore, I just wanted to go and visit right away!

Overlay Coffee is located in Lt. Lonsdale St, in the heart of Melbourne CBD. They’re literally just two days old when we visited, I felt quite superior, lol! (all thanks to Kayli!) The shop is pretty tiny, although it’s not hidden, it’s also not quite noticeable, but it’s definitely not impossible to find. When we were in the area, there was a police car parked right in front and we almost couldn’t find the shop for a second, haha..

There were only two people working in the cafe at the time of our visit, and there were also two customers inside. Since me and Kayli are both content creators, the first thing we did when we got there was not ordering any coffee from them, instead, WE TOOK *a lot of* PHOTOS! LOL. We saw this as an opportunity, because it’s definitely harder to take photos around when the shop is full of customers.

The size of the space at Overlay Coffee is on the smaller side of a coffee shop. They have a long bench that might fit 5 people, and there’s a standing area alongside their window that could fit another 5 people. So in total, Overlay Cafe can accommodate roughly about 10 people in their space.

Overlay Coffee has a pretty cute setup. They chose an all-white interior, even with the coffee gears, from the grinders, the espresso machine, the PuqPress, and even the pour-over kettle, they’re all in white color too. They picked wooden floors and fluorescent lights to warm up the tone of the space, which is a good choice as well. This color combination, with the glass wall and the little stools that they repurpose as a table, did successfully make the space looks somewhat more spacious than it actually is.

When it was finally time for us to order, the one thing that got caught my eye from their menu was this ‘Cream Latte’. As a naturally born curious kind of girl, I knew I just got to try it. I’ve seen a lot of ‘Cafe Vlog’ type of videos in Korea where they have an iced latte drink, and they would pour some cream on top, so I guess this might be similar to that.

After trying it out, unfortunately, this Cream Latte didn’t win my heart. Although the idea was pretty cool, the execution was not up to expectations. I mean, it looks pretty appealing, but I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I wanted to. I feel like you have to mix them all together to get the full taste of it. I personally would love to scoop up the cream on top, but I didn’t get a spoon, so I was quite struggling to try to scoop with my paper straw.

On the other hand, Kayli opted for a Matcha Latte. She was a little bit skeptical about it but in the end, she said it was quite alright.

Overall, we had a good time at Overlay Coffe. I’m not going to give any ratings just yet, because they have just opened the store, so there are many aspects that they can definitely improve here. If I may give some suggestions :

• Get a better workflow system in between the two staffs. There were only 5 customers to serve at the time, yet I noticed that the staff looked pretty overwhelmed. It took more than 10 minutes for me to get my coffee and the barista sent out two orders to the wrong person (including mine), I had to remind her what my order was, and that the coffee she sent to me belonged to the other customer that sat a couple of seats on my left.

• I would suggest swapping the metal coaster into a cork one for the iced drink. The metal coaster is aesthetically pleasing, but the water droplets from the condensation of the ice make the glass and the metal coaster often stuck together. I found myself having to separate the coaster from the glass a couple of times when I wanted to sip my drink, and I accidentally dropped the coaster as well when I lifted the glass. Also, every time I grabbed the glass, all the water droplets were dripping all over my pants, and Kayli experienced the same thing too.

These are minor things, not a big deal I guess, but would definitely be great if improved. All in all, I’d like to congratulate you on the opening and all the best to Overlay Coffee! I’ll see you soon!

Overlay Summary

• Business Hours :
• Mon – Fri : 7 AM – 6 PM
• Sat – Sun : 9 AM – 6 PM
• Coffee : Yes
• Brunch : No
• Dessert : Yes (Pastry)
• Indoor Capacity : +- 10
• Outdoor Capacity : –
• Total Capacity : +- 10
• RSVP / Walk-In : Walk-In Only
• Waiting Time : 5-10 minutes
• Range Price : $5-$10/person
• Ambiance : White
• Toilet : Yes
• WiFi : Not Sure
• Vegan / Vegetarian Options : Vegetarian