Telegram Coffee didn’t begin with a grand plan. Instead, it grew out of a long-standing relationship and a chance conversation.
After nearly two decades in hospitality, owner Luke Arnold was no stranger to the realities of running a business. His first café – which he opened in 2009 with a business partner – was busy and lively, but when a regular customer he’d known for 15 years walked in and asked how things were going, it was “one of those days”.
It turned out that customer was also a developer breathing new life into Perth’s historic State Buildings on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street. He had a spot available for a committed café owner seeking a fresh challenge.
The landmark precinct, now home to a hotel, retail, and food and beverage venues, was being reintroduced to the city as a public space – and Luke’s Telegram Coffee became part of its daily rhythm in October 2015.
Set within the ground floor of the State Buildings, Telegram is unlike a conventional café. Designed as a “room within a room”, it sits inside a publicly accessible thoroughfare, open to passers-by at all hours. The challenge, Luke says, was creating something that respected the heritage architecture while still functioning as a working coffee bar – even when the café itself was closed.
The result is a compact, considered space that feels both permanent and self-contained, yet intrinsically connected to its surroundings. It’s a design that can’t be replicated, and one that has become central to Telegram’s identity.
More than 10 years on, Telegram continues to focus on the fundamentals: excellent coffee, thoughtful service, and steady improvement. The café serves espresso and a rotating lineup of batch-brewed filter coffees from Australian roasters, with multiple filter options always available. Pastries arrive fresh each morning from local bakery, Goods Bakery, rounding out a deliberately simple offering for its on-the-run clientele.
For Luke, longevity comes down to people — both customers and staff. Retaining team members for years at a time has helped create consistency on the floor, while regular customers have turned Telegram into a daily ritual as well as a destination café.
“Without the people that we get to serve, there’s no business,” Luke says. “And without the people who choose to work here and stay, we couldn’t do what we do every day.”
Telegram Coffee
State Buildings, corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street, Perth
Western Australia, 6000
Open Monday to Friday, 6am to 4pm
This article appears in the February 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
