Burleigh Heads looked pretty different in 2008. At the time, the specialty coffee scene was in its infancy here on the Gold Coast, with only a few independent operators beginning to branch out from the norm. Back then, Connor Burleigh Heads and The Pantry were (still are) the spots to go for a big breakfast, while the Blue Onion Cafe Bar took pride of place on the corner (now Burleigh Heads Hotel). Yes, the beachside suburb has changed a lot over the years, and Nook Espresso’s Paola and Marcus have had a front-row seat to its transformation. Nook first appeared when Paola and Marcus, both with a background in coffee, spied a tiny hole-in-the-wall space at the base of what was then Mermaids Restaurant & Bar, Pointbreak Bar + Grill and Oskars on Burleigh (now Burleigh Pavilion, The Tropic and Rick Shores) and envisioned a community-centric takeaway coffee dispensary. That in itself was visionary – back then the whole notion of ‘grabbing a coffee’ was different, too. Coffee was something you enjoyed at a table, and takeaways were largely unheard of. In fact, when they first rolled up the door, people asked where their tables were. Paola and Marcus gestured toward the nearby hill. Before long, Nook Espresso made its way into the mid-walk rituals of hundreds of thousands of coffee-craving locals and it became somewhat of a local stalwart on the Gold Coast’s specialty coffee scene. The tiny takeaway window became so popular that it was never uncommon to be greeted with a line that stretched almost the length of the building. Even Marcus often wondered what compelled people to wait. “I’m glad they did, but we weren’t the only people serving coffee in Burleigh,” he said. And yet, the people kept coming. Perhaps a testament to Nook Espresso’s consistent brews, or perhaps it was the small team’s willingness to have a yarn while you wait – either way, the people kept coming.
While it was certainly a sad day when Paola and Marcus closed the roller for the last time, they knew it wasn’t goodbye forever. “We didn’t realise how much Nook meant to people until we announced we were closing,” Paola says. It was this outpouring of love and support that compelled them to find another home close by. As luck would have it, an opportunity presented itself just a hop, skip and a jump from their original home, within the Old Burleigh Theatre Arcade. Fast-forward a couple of weeks and the new Nook nook is pouring its beloved Bun Coffee once more from a cart that rolls out to greet the caffeine-loving masses daily. The previously vacant arcade entrance has sprung back to life with the hissing of the machines and spirited coffee-filled conversations lingering in the air. Boasting a kind of Melbourne laneway vibe across the road from beautiful Burleigh beach, the new Nook Espresso is also weatherproof – a definite bonus with La Niña approaching for the third time. Nook Espresso may not be the shortest line in Burleigh Heads, but there’s a very good reason people keep coming.
Nook Espresso is now open! Skip over to our Stumble Guide for opening times.
