It’s Spring – at least in the southern hemisphere - and that means mulberry season! I like to take kids with me to get purple splodgy when the big mulberry trees start producing those delicious juicy black berries in high volume.
Tasty Fingers
Kids really appreciate wild food!
Single Origin is the standard bearer for a movement among coffee explorers to taste and savour beans exclusively from a specific plantation (or microlot) without being blended with beans from elsewhere (as is the norm).
Coffee from a single origin.
Most wine drinkers like to know where the wine is from. They collect knowledge about vineyards and regions they are interested in.
Having said that the blends cafes use deliberately compose the sometimes narrow flavour profiles into something of an all-rounder. Something good with milk. Something with a strong body but then also perhaps some sweet floral notes in the after taste.
Plenty of coffee drinkers are drawn to explore interesting flavours such as they find in single origins (or “singles”) even though they may not be ideally balanced according to an every-day idea of “great coffee”.
For example, I’ve been tasting a few Indian coffees recently which sometimes feature a very lemony flavour.
It’s fun to taste, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
I’ve been mining the Cafe Run twitter coffee list and taking some tips from my old friend Grant at Sydney Coffee Tours who has his ear to the grounds (ahem) and tends to always get there first and I’ve come up with some must-visit Sydney cafes – for me! – this time with a slight north-side bias (about time!)
These links take you to Beanhunter which is by far the best location-based service for finding top notch coffee. iPhone users can even say “iPhone! Where’s the good coffee around here?”. But make up your own mind, put your own reviews in and help those who come after.
Bean Drinking impressive stats and some big statements in the reviews. Crows Nest is where my band used to reherse. In the same street as Bean Drinking. Takes me back. Crows Nest is pretty accessible from most locations, it’s not too far from the city and I think I may get over the bridge some time after Tuesday when I get my three broken spokes replaced and have my wheel trued. Once I’m back on my monster mountain bike I shall have Bean Drinking. Oh ho ho. I crack me up.
Pablo & Rusty’s Gordon it looks like there is also one in Epping and these two suburbs are old stomping grounds of mine. I can attest to, at least back in the dark ages when I lived there, the absolute dire need for proper coffee. Properly roasted beans, properly designed blends (or interesting single o’s) and properly made espresso! Do I ask too much? Not any more apparently. I’ll want to check out the Epping Pablo & Rusty’s also, but Grant knows his mud so I’ll hit Gordon first. Now if only it wasn’t such a hike.
Coffee Alchemy this one I’m embarrassed to say I STILL have yet to get to. Not too far from my Inner West nest, famously, according to my Barista Sista, does not sell anything but coffee. Not a crumb nor a cup of tea can you buy. And when they fire up the roaster both hearing and breathing are significantly impaired. Hard core. I used to live in Marrickville too so, yet another old stomping ground with kick arse coffee. Maybe it’s my influence with a delayed impact?
OK What’s next? Let me know. I have put my cafe reviews into Beanhunter, now you do the same, and drop me a line to tell me where to go! You can get me at chris@think.net.au
Stand by for a future post on my recent trip to San Francisco and the bean scene there. I was stunned. In both a good and a bad way!
It’s been a while and I thought I’d post an update on the burgeoning Sydney cafe scene from my point of view. That is, as a fussy coffee drinker.
Firstly, I am not providing an exhaustive list of what’s hot and what’s not. If you want that and a broad range of opinions, then check out BeanHunter an awesome international coffee oriented cafe rating system put out by a couple of Australian guys.
Next, the dead pool. Cafes can become great and some can stay great, but when the management changes on an excellent cafe the result is not usually good. In my opinion one example of new management wrecking a perfectly good source of excellent coffee (and organic food) is Pulse on Kent St (you’d be excused for thinking it’s called Sacred Ground as I did originally since it’s branded heavily by them). The management and staff changed completely about 6 months ago and that’s precisely when it jumped the shark.
My impression is that some cafe owners think that running a successful cafe is like running a successful convenience store. Be attentive, take the money, run the business. Well that may be the case with some cafes but not when you’re trying to attract a coffee hunting crowd. Funnily enough they really care about the coffee. These days the Pulse coffee just tastes dead.
Mecca on the corner of King and York is still awesome. Not really much surprise as these guys are hardcore coffee nerds whose passion for coffee flies them to Africa and is quite literally tattooed into their skin. Not surprising but but reassuring they are leading the way. The boys have opened a store in Circular Quay since I wrote about them and that makes three locations.
Also still sublime is Single Origin which is a phenomenon unto itself. If you think their website is good that’s nothing compared to their double ristrettos. I can’t stop thinking about the toasted sourdough with nutella, sliced banana and roasted almonds, I’ve had it for breakfast there twice! I’ll blog more about the single origin coffee movement next time.
New on the scene and lean and mean is Klink, down behind the Queen Victoria Building on Clarence St across the road from world superhero chef Justin North’s Becasse restaurant and its very good Plan B cafe. Klink is almost invisible, having no signage, making it impossible to spot from the footpath and often obscured from across the street by busses. The weird Japanese $2 shop and the more conspicuous Vela Nero (not a bad cafe) are either side of Klink so if you see them you’re warm. The coffee is worth the expense of needing a GPS to find it.
Klink’s bossman barista, James, is clearly anal retentive about every cup of coffee being hand crafted to perfection – even at the increasingly savage rush times. With that approach and beans roasted by top notch purist Golden Cobra you can forgive the minimal menu. It’s a wonder they can even make toast in such a small footprint.
Workshop Espresso is another newish cafe in the CBD that demonstrates great taste and skill. The tiny yet polished shop is virtually at the intersection of George and Druitt streets on George across the road from the Queen Victoria Building. To be honest I have been disappointed more than once here and often prefer Klink. Especially considering how big the queues can get. Nevertheless I have to give them their props. They know coffee and how to make it and their huge crowd of customers are well deserved.
The Met cafe, one of my old haunts at Wynyard park on Margaret St I have to admit I haven’t been to in a long while but writing this roundup reminds me I must go check in with Brendan and see if he still knows how to do it 
Outside the CBD there are too many to cover and I don’t know them as well with a couple of exceptions. I know Annandale cafes well and can heartily recommend Clover across the road from the Post Office on Booth St or Gallery Cafe if you don’t mind paying and waiting more than anywhere else in Christendom.
My to-do list includes roastery Coffee Alchemy in Marrickville who are so hard core they don’t even serve tea and I want to revisit the Allpress cafe in Rosebery/Alexandria for a double rizz and a bap. After that I’ll probably take some hints from Grant Lyndon of Sydney Coffee Tours fame.
Any suggestions?
Just a few things we’ve been reading on planet Zondar recently. Yes we are still alive thanks for asking.
The topic of restaurant websites being awful has come up a bit, with some lively discussions in the comments:
Matthew Stibbe at Bad Language offers a take on this: Why are restaurant websites so awful?
Portland Food and Drink asks What Is It About Restaurant Websites? The short answer? They suck not least because they all use flash and publish pdf menus that are out of date.
Yes yes. This is typical of a sector that is techno-uneducated. That’s what everyone was doing in the 90s when they took their first steps online. It’s a standard mistake.
But what this really says is that the food and beverage sector is behind the times, that’s all.
While this is certainly true for restaurant operators, there are a huge number of foodies on twitter these days. These people don’t really seem to be the restaurant owners but more the social media butterflies who go to the markets for the best produce and blog their recipes, tweet what restaurants and cafes they visit and use location toys like Four Square and the slightly snazzier Gowalla which is probably what people poking their iPhones are playing with while waiting for their takeaway coffee.
So the food and beverage industry is highly polarized when it comes to internet technology. Maybe social media is the key in this inherently social world of food?
I can hardly contain myself.
When you order a long black, there is a reason for the first word. It identifies the size of the coffee. A short black is small and a long black is large. Those are the two sizes, long and short. Well that’s how it was supposed to be.
These days in Australia we are following the American sizing model. This model contains no diminuative words like “small” or “short”. Nope. Too negative. Bigger is always better, so the least big can be called “regular”. Of course regular is not a size at all, it’s an interval but let’s leave that one for now.
All over the press, Single Origin took number one in a Time Out Sydney top 10 cafes and have just snared the SMH Good Food Guide Favorite Cafe.
Kind of weird Single Origin didn’t get a mention in local industry awards… Did they ignore it? How was this decided, industry people patting themselves on the back..?
The NSW Catering and Restaurant Assc gave All Press Best Coffee House.
Under catering they gave the Australian Jockey Club Caterer of the Year.
Other happy winners:
COFFEE SHOP / TEA HOUSE
Winner: Allpress Espresso, Zetland
Electric Bean, North Sydney
Speedo’s Café, North Bondi
The Chelsea Tea House, Avalon
The Tearoom Gunners Barracks, Mosman
The Tearoom QVB, Sydney
BOARDROOM CATERER
Sponsored by Dairy Farmers
Winner: JP Morgan Administrative Services, Sydney
Gastronomy, the Art & Science of Food, KensingtonCORPORATE CATERER
Sponsored by Dairy Farmers
Winner: Avocado Group, Chatswood
As You Like It Catering, North Narrabeen
Flavours Catering & Events, Eastwood
Fresh Catering, St Peters
Stix Catering, Marrickville
Zondar Award for Best Cafe website goes to Single Origin.
Where to for birthday breakfast in Sydney? A good thing about Single Origin is the rich smell, great is the menu, awesome the gluwein, beyond that the coffee.
At 07:20, steaming gluwein landed on the table. Easily sipping myself into a morning euphoria and my big American friend pulled up bellowing “Happy Birthday man!” The staff now knew it was my birthday which secured a second gluwein and a complimentary ristretto. After that poached eggs, mushrooms, homemade beans and spinach…
The ristretto made the aroma festival feel like a waste of time, the gluwein transported me effortlessly into the first meeting of the day.
Three bucks seems to be the norm for most reputable places, although break the $3.00 mark we’ll start asking questions. Gallery Cafe in Annandale have just put the price up to $3.20. Just down the road, Hopscotch cafe tried raising their price to to $3.20 only to find it killed their business, it’s back down to $3.00 now. Not to far away at Bar Sirocco you pay $2.50 for an average coffee. Round the corner Vicini do a bonza coffee for the right price – $3.oo.
The best value (price & quality) cup of coffee is served up by a Bulgarian, Australian operator at the Cockle Bay Kiosk on the City side of the Pyrmont Bridge walkway. He’ll do you up a hit for $2.20 (takeaway only). Some of his more close-fisted clients will still share a long black.
The best value (price & quality) cup of coffee is served up by a Bulgarian, Australian operator at the Cockle Bay Kiosk on the City side of the Pyrmont Bridge walkway. He’ll do you up a hit for $2.20 (takeaway only). Some of his more close-fisted clients will still share a long black.
An interview on runningrestaurants.com with Scott Wise from Scotty’s Brewhouse gives insight into why and how he took his business online:
Why should you not get into online ordering? Small operators who are not interested in growth. Those interested should understand that setup can take a long time. If you want to stay how you are then fine – if you want to try and be more successful then explore new technologies.
www.scottysbrewhouse.com or MyFace & Spacebook
The interview also mentions the great Australian restaurant chain (No, wait its American!) Outback for its super easy to use online ordering system. Though when I checked the Outback system was down.