Exchange Coffee

Exchange opened on Vardon Ave in 2013, back when the street was a quiet backlane with no other cafes or restaurants nearby. The original fit out was modest, a fifty square metre bar built from scratch, and it took real effort to convince Adelaide that a side street off Rundle Street East was worth a detour for coffee. The shop grew alongside its neighbourhood, expanding into the space next door in 2016 to add a proper kitchen, then again in 2023 when the barbershop that had traded beside it for six decades finally closed, doubling the footprint a second time.

Today the East End space is light filled, with tall windows looking onto Vardon Ave and a long bar built for filter coffee as much as espresso. The menu runs from espresso tonic through pour over to a full brunch list, and the room tends to fill with a mix of office workers grabbing a quick flat white and people settling in for a slower morning. It remains a genuine neighbourhood fixture rather than a tourist stop, run day to day by a team that has grown from four people to more than twenty since opening.