Date2021Description2021 City Photographer, Helene Cochaud: Growing up locally in a Cypriote Greek family in Greystanes, Nicholas has been making coffee his whole life. First a barista in cafes, he has now been driving his Coffee Van around Fairfield's industrial areas for ten years. He makes over 30 stops on his daily route and starts his working day at 5.30am, when gets the van ready and puts pies and sausage rolls in the oven. I meet him at his first port of call in Yennora and follow him around.
"Believe it or not I enjoy it more and more...you have fun with people. It's almost like it's not a job. You get out there and meet people."
A one-man-van, Nicholas is an expert in multitasking; whilst taking orders and having a laugh with his customers he's grinding coffee, frothing milk, calculating costs and exchanging payments. Working quickly and efficiently there is only a short amount of time before he's back in the driver's seat and off to the next stop where he repeats the routine. It's stop-start all morning but it doesn't bother Nicholas.
Pulling into each stop he toots his horn and is warmly greeted by groups of workers. There is a strong sense of genuine camaraderie and many of his customers have become friends.
When asked if he drinks much coffee himself, he laughs and says he's down to only three or four short blacks a day now. And no, the caffeine doesn't affect his sleep, in fact he can have one just before he goes to bed!
PhotographerHelene CochaudGeolocation[1] Wetherill ParkNotesThese photographs are part of the 2021 City Photographer project.
Details
Image ColourColourTypeDigitalCopyrightPartial restriction. Please contact Fairfield City Heritage Services for image use.AcknowledgementHelene Cochaud, 2021 Fairfield City Photographer. Image courtesy of Fairfield City Heritage Collection.
Nicholas the Coffee Van Man (2021). Fairfield City Heritage Collection, accessed 07/03/2026, https://heritagecollection.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/4190
