TREAT FOR EARLY RISERS

You don’t have to stray far from the sand for a coffee hit at Palm Beach’s newest nook, writes Denise Raward

THE folk at Palm Beach Surf Club understand that sometimes coffee can’t wait.

Where once morning beachgoers had to slog a couple of hundred metres to the many fine coffee houses along the Palmy strip, a new coffee venture under their beachfront clubhouse on Jefferson Lane delivers a caffeine hit steps from the sand.

The surf club’s executive manager Daragh Murphy says the seemingly instant take-up of Jeffersons coffee caught them by surprise. “The idea had been floating for a while,” Daragh says. “There are about 15 people claiming it so I think it’s safe to say it was a groupthink, but I don’t think anyone expected it would be so popular so soon.”

Jeffersons opened on Christmas Eve serving a blend from Burleigh-based Social Espresso coffee roasters.

Daragh says the surf club committee was keen to support a local supplier and Social fit the bill for supplying great quality coffee and providing training and support for the baristas.

There’s also a limited graband-go selection of food: banana bread, protein balls and muffins.

“Our customers are dog walkers, joggers, people training on the beach who come for a coffee afterwards, locals and holiday-makers,” Daragh says. “We’re next to a park, a good picnic location.

“We’d have to have the best outlook of just about any coffee shop on the Gold Coast. There’s great coffee in Palm Beach so we’re pretty happy that people are coming back to us. We already have our regulars.”

Palm Beach was one of the first surf clubs on the Coast to eliminate plastic straws and Jeffersons follows the environmentally responsible ethos. “There’s no plastic there,” Darragh says. “We’re mindful of where we are, so close to the ocean. We’ve tried to make everything biodegradable.

“We’re doing our best to minimise waste with the sugar sachets and so on.”

The cafe is open from 5.30am daily and there are already plans to serve heartier food during the cooler months.

“We’re pretty confident we’ll do a steady trade when the holiday-makers go home,” Daragh says. “We’re planning to be here to stay.”