Here are a few that I'd recommend. I tend to prefer a more traditional style of espresso.

• Proud Mary: Humbler. Works great black or with milk and easy to dial in. Haven't tried any of their others yet.
• ONA: Raspberry Candy, but most of their milk-based coffees are a pretty good bet. On the more expensive side.
• Lime Blue Coffee: Their blend is good. Also a cheap way to try out some single origins. On the more affordable side in general and they'll often have sales on ozbargain.

I'm a fan of Inglewood... They are pricey but they often have half price sales if you're patient

I've used greenbeanroasters.com in the past. I've played around with roasting green beans using an old air pop corn maker, which is fun - interesting explorer how the flavours change as you go from light to dark. I think air fryers can work too for small batches.

As for varieties, I generally like Colombian beans for their rich chocolatey flavours.

At home I usually buy from Twin Peaks.

I tend to shop around (online) a fair bit, but my short list for good beans are (in no order):

• Industry Beans
• Academy Coffee - My rotation generally always has these every 2nd or 3rd
• Seven Miles
• Villino Coffee Roasters
• Dukes Coffee
• Ritual Coffee

No one suggesting Axil? They have the current world barista champion and other past champions (AU, Vic) in their employ.

Generally whatever roaster is local to you if you're in one of the big cities. I also tinker with roasting my own beans and highly recommend it. A hive roaster is a good way to get started (no need for the temperature logged one, just the dumb one for some simple stuff will do). I get really good results out of it, and green beans are cheap

If the subscription service has a retail shopfront I can visit and sample the coffee at, I'm more comfortable signing up. But for me it's moot because I buy beans in person anyhow. I would say freshness and roast type (espresso versus filter) is just as important in determining whether you'll like a given coffee. I used to be bigger on single origin bags (still like them) but it's possible to get used to a versatile, consistent blend.

Perky Joe blend by 1961 coffee order here! It is divine..

I’ve been really enjoying Redbrick Coffee, they are based in Canberra and have a wide range of espresso and filter roast selections.

I use beanhunter subscription delivery service. Keeps me it interesting with new beans every delivery. Over the 5ish years I've used them have had maybe 2 deliveries of beans that were either stale or burnt (could not get fine enough for good espresso aka woolworths beans). https://www.beanhunter.com/coffee-club

I get my beans from Coffee Snobs. I've only bought green beans from them, but they roast twice a week. Based in Geelong but they sell via post. The website is a bit clunky, but never had any issues with the actual orders and delivery.

I really enjoy tattooed sailor based in Cairns. I go in person to buy beans, but you can also order online. Ice breaker is my favourite so far, it's their dark roast for espresso. Great to drink black.

I'm partial to BlackStar and Wolff (the Edelweiss blend in particular) in Brisbane.

Hyper Hyper Coffee in Nowra

Love both the house and the Sicilian beans

this will sound snobby, but none of those posted thus far do any real work with their bean sourcing. A 'world class' barista is literally worthless if you don't have world class coffee beans.

The best coffee I've found after YEARS of trying is from Jasper's Coffee: they do real work with their growers which ensures that they are getting really beautiful coffee beans. Far and away the best in Melbourne(imo best in Australia)

Specifically, the Ethiopian Beans they get are AMAZING