Coffee connoisseurs: Melbourne’s rurban coffee jungle

Café culture in Melbourne is increasingly turning towards rurban values and revivalist ways of thinking, as discussed in our Melbourne Safari.

As the focal point for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, the installation appears as a jungle that has sprung up out of the city, removing city dwellers from the busy central business district for a moment and into an exotic landscape. 

The piece is designed to demonstrate the journey that coffee beans take, from where they are grown to the cup they end up in. It comprises 120 coffee plants along with shipping containers, crates and timber pallets. As part of the experience, visitors can relax beneath the trees and sample the coffee. 

With the jungle aesthetic there is a sense of spontaneity and haphazardness, and an unexpected rural landscape has been introduced to the city. 

The Melbourne Food and Wine festival will run until 17 March.