Phillip Di Bella launched the company in 2002, then started Abbotsford Road in Brooklyn with fellow former Brisbane residents Logan Kedwell and Karl Jameson. The name came from Brisbane's Abbotsford Road, home of Di Bella Coffee. The first Brooklyn cafe opened on Sackett Street in Gowanus in 2017, with an IMT roaster and sacks of green coffee in full view of patrons.
Glass walls open onto the warehouse floor of a brick pier building in Red Hook, so a forklift and stacked pallets sit in view of the seating. The cafe is one open room, and a two-group espresso machine sits on a wood-topped counter.
