The Top 10

1. Dandelion & Driftwood (Brisbane)
2. Proud Mary (Melbourne)
3. Coffee Alchemy (Sydney)
4. Canteen Coffee (Gold Coast)
5. No Name Lane (Gold Coast)
6. Cartel (Breakwater) (Geelong)
7. The Good Bean Espresso Bar (Sunshine Coast)
8. The Baron Coffee Shop and Small Bar (Sydney)
9. Axil Coffee Roasters (Melbourne)
10. The Birds & The Beans Espresso Bar (Sunshine Coast)

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John “Hannibal” Smith was noted as often saying in the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together,” however it is often just as good when the plan goes totally and utterly pear shaped!” as I discovered in relation to Urban Social.  I had attended the Manningham Prayer Breakfast at the Manningham Club in Bulleen and being a complete nube when it comes to Melbourne – when leaving I did the Adelaidean thing and avoided the line up of traffic, that was obviously not going where I wanted to go and went around them, only to discover that they were lining up to get on the Eastern Freeway, which is where I needed to be.  Next thing I knew I was over the Eastern and into a leaving green hilly suburb that was completely unfamiliar. So I turned down the nearest street, grabbed my phone to find my bearings.  Once satisfied that I hadn’t fallen through the looking glass and could quite easily make it back to the office by another route, I grabbed Beanhunter to find the best coffee along my way – and that is how I found Urban Social in the back streets of leafy North Balwyn, but 10 minutes from my desk.

This is a very trendy place to hang out – perhaps skewed toward the upwardly mobile soccer Mums – with good parking and plenty of space between tables for pushers – its comfortable, clean, stylish – and I am sure, a mecca for the two wheeled lycra set on the weekends.  I liked this place!

Latte Quality – Excellent – very smooth, with a palate that reminded me of roasted pine nuts (or perhaps it is just that I am nuts?)

Ristretto Quality – Excellent – syrupy dark chocolate and burnt orange

Cost – $3.50 latte $3.00 ristretto

Coffee Supplier – Urban Social – roast their own beans on site – double certified organic – I had their ‘seasonal blend’ as the ristretto and their ‘kit-kat’ ‘blend as the latte

Fair Trade – Yes, absolutely.

Customer Service -  - memorable – you talk about this place – this is how everyone should be, but few are – and I am going back with a colleague on the first Monday in November (so there may be a follow-up).

Venue Suitable for:

• Quiet Chat,  Deep and Meaningful, and/or Study and Reflection – All of those possible uses – but you may need to figure out the best times to go.  My first visit was mid-morning on a Friday and it was comfortably busy, yet not massively loud. You could always grab a take away and go for a walk and reflect upon life, the universe and everything.

As my first review in my new home town, I thought it best to start close to my new ‘patch’ and work outwards as time and opportunity allow. So that then raised the question about where do I go first?  So I did what any reasonable coffee snob would do and consulted the oracle that is “The Beanhunter” and searched for coffee near Doncaster.  After crunching the numbers, twiddling the dials and channelling the algorithms, it told me that Coffee Hit was the best place nearest me (location and highest average score of 7.4 in the area). So, on my first day on-site (two days before I actually started) I arrived an hour early and wandered down (about 2 minutes walk) to Shopping Town to secure a coffee hit.

Coffee Hit is located on the ground floor of the Westfield in a Kiosk type arrangement in the centre of a produce themed area (Fruit, Vegetables, Butcher, Fish Monger etc). When I arrived the place was comfortably busy for early on a Monday morning – with a few ‘coffee’ meetings taking place in the vicinity.  Coffee Hit also roast their own beans, having a ‘little red’ roaster (see left – the red thing) on hand, and sell beans to the public (and online).

So to the all important first coffee review in Melbourne….

Latte Quality – Good –  it was what I would describe as a ‘traditional’ coffee flavoured coffee. The milk was very smooth and creamy, but try and I might I could not taste any subtle flavour nuances. 

Cost – $4.20 latte

Coffee Supplier – Coffee Hit – roasted on site.  The blend used for my coffee was their ‘Ultimate Coffee Hit’ which is a blend “using only the finest Estate coffee from Guatemala, Brazil, India, Columbia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea & Ethiopia.”

Fair Trade – No mention in store or on their website.

Customer Service -  - average – pretty much what you would expect – you go away neither blown away by the experience, nor complaining about it .  It the was the service you expect from a supermarket kiosk – polite, but not warm or engaging.

Venue Suitable for:

• Quiet Chat,  Deep and Meaningful, and/or Study and Reflection – You could probably get away with a quiet chat, as there are plenty of tables and ambient noises to keep matters confidential.  I was there on a Monday morning so while the café area was about half full, the noise level (music and shoppers) from the surrounding businesses did make it difficult to hear a voice message on my phone.

Summary: Coffee was good, but there are plenty of other places (even just within the Shopping town) that promise ‘good coffee.’

Just in case you have not caught up on the news, Make Coffee Not War has moved!  Not the blog itself, but the man behind the keyboard (sorry about the fourth wall).  Yes, from July 12th or there abouts, the mind* behind Make Coffee Not War found itself living in Melbourne – so, as soon the bearings are found – and a sense of direction achieved, there will be coffee reviews from the city that is arguable the centre of the speciality coffee industry in Australia.  If you have any suggestions about where I should be going for a coffee – and in what order, please let your suggestions in the comments.

Look out Melbourne – Make Coffee Not War – has landed.

* not just the mind, as after a quick check in the mirror it became apparent that the mind behind Make Coffee Not War was not some disembodied soul drifting through the ether (yet with the ability to blog), but also came complete with a body – but because he once went to a Dentist, we can’t show you his face….

Gingers Coffee Studio, will be for the inner Southern Suburbs set a welcome addition to the specialty coffee scene. When I heard about this place (which had only opening a week or so early), my brother from another mother and I set off – early on a Wednesday – for breakfast and coffee.  Both of us felt comfortable upon entering Gingers as it is a throw back to the 1970s – the era which birthed us both – but also, layered upon the comfort was the familiar, as the menu was also reminiscent of Ginger’s mother – The Pantry on Edgmont – a place which we have enjoyed through a number of staff changes.

A noticeable difference between The Pantry and Gingers is in their choice of coffee – with Gingers embracing The Coffee Barun, while (on my last visit at least) The Pantry used DeGroots. For me, however, Gingers lacked something – whereas The Pantry had – and to all reports still does -  a ‘wow’ factor – both of us left Gingers saying how nice it was – but not much more.  It is though, only very early days and with a linage of such quality, there is no way that Gingers will not be a success.

The questions that remains are – where will the  next incarnation of the Pantry be located, and will it be a tribute to 1980s glam rock?

Latte Quality – Good – although a little on the short side – it was what is best described as a ‘traditional’ flavoured coffee.

Ristretto Quality - Neither of us liked this one – whether it was the beans (we were told these were much better in a milk coffee than straight – however with grinder problems, they could only offer us the one type) or the consistency (a bit watery) – it was just too overwhelming that you couldn’t find the subtle nuances in the coffee.

Cost – $3.40 Latte, $3.00 Ristretto

Coffee Supplier – The Coffee Barun – serving a single origin Costa Rican. It not for some grinder problems, there would have been two beans on offer – and this will come online as soon as the second grinder is back on deck.

Fair Trade – No mention that I could see in store but The Barun have a nice Fair Trade alternative.

Customer Service -  - average – pretty much what you would expect – you go away neither blown away by the experience, nor complaining about it – perhaps this was the missing ‘wow’ factor that The Pantry does so well?

Venue Suitable for:

• Quiet Chat,  Deep and Meaningful, and/or Study and Reflection – It probably depends on how popular this place gets. While we were in store, they were consistently busy – but it was never excessively noisy. There was a large table of lycra clad grey nomads nearby, but the noise level never got overwhelming.  Limited seating, but probably worth a look if Goodwood is your haunt – excellent for Tabor College students!

I may be coming very late to the party here – and if so – please ignore the fact, and just be glad that I showed up – but The Coffee Barun has a new website.  With clean crisp lines, this is a great improvement upon the old.  Highlights of the new site include the additional photographs featuring some of the awesome food that their cafe is producing (I can heartily recommend the Barun Burger – best burger I have ever had – hands down!); the bean locator – so you can find other locations  serving the Coffee Barun beans (this allows you the chance to compare how important the barista is in the the coffee making process); and an upgrade in the online shop.  Well worth checking out!

The article goes further by saying that “Even a single cup a day seemed to lower risk [we assume the risk of death in general, not the death star, climate change or being hit by a bus - although that is not clear] a little: 6 per cent in men and 5 per cent in women. The strongest effect was in women who had four or five cups a day – a 16 per cent lower risk of death.” Which then raises the question – if you drank nothing but coffee, 24/7 – would live forever?  Read the article here.

This amuses me – although that could just be reflective of a warped mind, or my exhaustion after a long week – but as of yesterday, my review of Blu C Cafe at Christies Beach had received a total of 14 hits since it was posted in November 2011.  Then, because the mysterious ‘garnis’ decided to take offence at my review while questioning my sexuality, my life, the things I find interesting, the level of detail that is contained in this, what is after all a COFFEE REVIEW BLOG – the same review is nearing 100 hits today…

Contrast the reaction to this honest review, with the gracious way the owners of Pure Espresso responded.

At the end of the day, my experience is – just that – MY EXPERIENCE – it may not be your experience, or someone else’s experience of that same place – they may produce the best coffee 99% of the time, and I may have purchased the 1% – but as Bobby over at Adelaide Coffee says “You’re only as good as your last coffee” and this blog is about my experiences out and about enjoying one of my passions.

UR Caffe’ is not just another ‘brick in the wall’ of the burgeoning speciality coffee strip that is Melbourne Street.  Bobby over at Adelaide Coffee said that the barista in residence here knew their place “and that’s behind a coffee machine” – which is high praise.  Located just two doors down from First Pour, and next door to 9Bar – this UR Caffe’ is a must stop on any coffee crawl.

Sporting a very funky, unique – yet comfortable interior – including some nice abstract art on the exposed brick walls – Ur Caffe’ is a nice place, on a nice street to stop and watch the world go by.

Ristretto Quality - Excellent – approaching awesome – right up there with Coffee Branch for technique and delivery. This was a good two mouthfuls of sticky, syrupy coffeey (new word – deal with it) goodness – bombastic sweetness on the tongue with a spiced citrus lingering on the pallet.

Latte Quality – Excellent – again featuring some nice art work – although perhaps spoilt by some macro bubbles around the edge.  Following on from such a ristretto, it was not suprising to find the taste mellow by comparison – but there were some nice caramels and maple syrups hints there, which made for an excellent latte.

Cost – $3.00 Ristretto, $3.40 Latte.

Coffee Supplier – it is a well kept secret.  I asked and was refused the secret knowledge – as was Bobby before me. If you know what it is…please comment below!! 

Fair Trade – No mention that I could see in store or on the website.

Customer Service -  - average – pretty much what you would expect – you go away neither blown away by the experience, nor complaining about it; They were polite, just not friendly.  With First Pour just up the street, it was always going to be a hard act to follow.

Venue Suitable for:

• Quiet Chat,  Deep and Meaningful, and/or Study and Reflection – I was there at lunch time, and while busy it wasn’t oppressively so – and I was able to sit and read for about 30 minutes before my butt became numb.