Coffee News
New coffee shop in East Dallas imports a taste of the Down Under
A new independent coffee spot with an international air is coming to Dallas, thanks to two brothers from Australia. Called LDU Coffee, it's located on the ground floor of a new residential building at the corner of Fitzhugh and Bennett and will open in late 2017.
LDU — which could stand for Land Down Under — is owned by brothers Adam and Mark Lowes, who have family and friends in Texas. A cousin who works in Dallas helped them scout locations and understand the lay of the land. They're going into the B&F Flats, where they'll be on the street level, with residential units above them.
"We liked that Fitzhugh is crying out for more food and beverage options," Adam says. "The area is seeing so much redevelopment, but there is currently no coffee in that area. The landlords wanted someone who was independent, right at the same time that we were looking for a unique space in an up-and-coming area. It was meant to be."
The brothers wish to import some of the fastidiousness as well as the overall style of coffee favored in their native country.
"We want to do something a little more like what we did back home in the coffee world of West Australia," Adam says. "Australia is really into coffee. If you talk to anyone from Melbourne, they consider themselves to be one of the hubs of coffee in the world, maybe second only to Seattle. They take it really seriously, it's crazy — like talking to a Texan about barbecue, that's how some Australians are about their coffee."
The Lowes will introduce a few of the coffee drinks in the style they would make back home. "Nothing like a pumpkin spice this or a lavender this, but it'll be stronger, more in the Italian style, than what you see here," he says.
The style is not so Starbucks milky, he says.
"In Australia, we connect with the coffee heritage of Italy, both in the style of the coffee and in the atmosphere," he says. "The typical coffee shop has more noise and movement. Where people here might spend the whole day studying, we're interested in activity."
Which is not to say that you can't go sit at LDU and have some coffee. "Our space is around 1,000 square feet, you can definitely come in and sit down," he says. "And we're not set up to do a drive-through, even though those are popular here. We want people to come in, and we want to remember what they drink."
Coffee and croissants at Maman.Photo courtesy of Maman
Lemon meringue tarts from Maman. Photo courtesy of Maman