Someone should do a productivity study comparing office workers in West Perth with those in East Perth. Ten bucks says West beats East. Why? The suburb is much better caffeinated thanks to local cafés like Fix, Epic and Pony Express.

But as of last July, East Perth got a specialty coffee shop of its own, thank you very much.

Bench Espresso is its name and coffee is the game it plays very, very well. First, they brew coffee with unique blends of 5 Senses coffee. In the grinder is the Milk Blend, a combination of Guatemalan, Colombian and Costa Rican beans and designed to give extra body and oomph to milky drinks. For the long black and espresso drinkers, the Espresso Blend in grinder two is used to produce a taste that Bench claim is “sparkling clean”, “silky” and tasting of “warm tropical fruit”. Um, we tried it and all we could taste was coffee… but oh my, was it delicious.

For the die-hard connoisseurs, Bench also serves single origin coffee as well as filtered coffee, available via Clever Coffee Dripper, Syphon or Pour over.

The sweet teeth haven’t gone ignored. There are heaps of freshly baked goodies like muffins, brownies, cakes and slices. And a to-die-for Belgian couverture hot chocolate. Some advice for first timers: order the citrus slice with pear, pistachios and dark chocolate. It’s almost worth taking a job in East Perth for.

Where: 471 Hay Street, Perth, WA
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-3pm
Details: benchespresso.com.au/