Coffee Suburb: Auburn

Hi coffee nerds, for this post I thought I do something a little different and have a look into a suburb. As coffee adventures we’re prepared to search all over Sydney for the best right? And when we talk about coffee, what sort of suburb do you think of? Surry Hills? Marrickville? Bondi?... Auburn?

No seriously, Auburn. Auburn is one of Sydney’s Turkish centres and as such you can find some of Sydney’s best Turkish coffee.

What’s Turkish coffee I hear you saying? Don’t be worried fellow nerd here’s some cheat notes:

• Turkish coffee is a method of preparation for coffee, not a specific kind of coffee.
• Beans for Turkish coffee are ground very, very finely.
• Turkish-ground coffee can be stored as any other type.
• Like other sorts of coffee the flavours of the bean are traditional to the style.
• Grounds are in the cup when served.

So, where was I? Nerd two and we find ourselves a little way down Auburn Road, at Mado an excellent Turkish restaurant. I’m not sure how many other food blogs you read, but this place has gotten some serious foodie love. If you’re interested in our mains I got a lamb and chicken shish kebab, Nerd two the maras kebab. Both amazing.

At the end of our meal I asked for a small Turkish coffee and nerd two a Turkish tea. I’m not an expert in this kind of coffee, but hey we can all give it a go.

The coffee was presented in a traditional, small decorative cup with more-or-less matching saucer. The crema of the coffee was both rich and thick.

The aroma brought me back to my travels in Turkey and Eastern Europe quickly. The aroma was a little spicy and slightly fruity. Tasting the coffee, it was everything you’d hope for. It was a think and rich experience, very syrup like in consistency, with a little fruity flavour meets wheat like after taste. I quickly hit the bottom of the liquid, and the grounds, a very satisfying experience.

Few thoughts from this coffee experience. It would be interesting to see non-Turkish coffee shops try out this style, I wonder how this would go, with say some interesting single origins?

Second, lets say you’re already a fan, and you want get a hit of the Istanbul experience at home. The great news is Auburn has some great supermarkets. Take a walk up to Gima on Queen Street and pick up a tin of Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi Mahdumları’s coffee, direct (in a very round about fashion I imagine) from Istanbul’s oldest roaster. Incredible! They even have some instant Turkish coffee makers if you’re without your own cezve (copper pot).

Overall, it’s a great adventure. While I don’t want to rate the coffee against the lattes, long blacks, espressos, double ristrettos and macchiatos as it’s a different experience. The adventure (and coffee) is well worth the trip for any coffee lover.

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Random - Luxe Bondi

A far cry from Newtown. A very average latte. Looks wise it was great. But flavours questionable.

Have a look at the glass, the coffee shot sat in the glass far too long leaving a residue rim. Flavours were there, just did not work that well.

Random. coffee tea & me. Potts Point.

Campos on the grind.

Random - Chai Wallah

Coffee production line at the Kirribilli markets.

Bourke Street Bakery - Potts Point

Scores:
Coffee: 14/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 30/40

Hi nerds, I’m going to let you in on a secret, 9 times out of 10 when I review a place it’s in the one hit. Bam, reviewed. Sometimes, though, I go into a place to review it as I can easily get caught up in something while I’m reviewing it, so I’ll review it in two visits (my mates not to mention Nerd 2 do get annoyed at times when I pull out a note book / camera while having a coffee). Bourke Street Bakery in Potts Point was one of those places, that I've come back two twice.

Bourke Street Bakery is a name many of us Sydneysiders know well and a cafe few of us could really locate if placed in Surry Hills (well walking up and down Brouke Street we’d find it eventually). We all know it because, as inner city nerds it’s great for the pastries and bread and second there is one seemingly around every corner in the inner city these days.

My official review starts on a wonderfully sunny Saturday afternoon. Nerd 2 having gone off to save the world with her NGO left this nerd to play. Once Nerd 2 had left, I wondered down to the road looked at some stuff at the market and than went right in to BSB and ordered a latte.

Let’s stop here for a second. This was not as easy as it sounds. BSB is the only café - like bar I’ve ever been to. What do I mean? While the staff do a very good job-serving customers as they show up. Some customers like to push their way to the front of the bar to get served faster (like getting beers at a pub), I was bewildered and very amused as a elderly man pushed me out of the way to order a sit in latte.

Anyway back to the review. Luckily for me on this review I brought my notes with me, like any good nerd will do. And so for this whole review I could case up their long black vs latte. About 3 mins having ordered I spotted 4 lattes coming my way (one for the old guy who pushed his way to the front), 1 for myself 3 for two tables next to me.

Firstly, constancy is a hit here, as 4 lattes were brought out all more-or-less right on the mark. From the outset just looking at mine, we can see the layering of my latte was little off, a with just too much milk, looking around though, those other three me were right on (it is hard when you make milk to do 4 lattes). While not decorative by any means the colouration in the foam was quite pleasing to the eye - being circular rings from the pour, I liked it. You’ll also see the brown Campos saucers continue their trend in making an appearance on my blog. Who ever makes these plates clearly is making a killing.

My long black’s appearance from before, I noted, had a nice crema, although was a little messy, in that much of the crema had been pushed onto the edges of the cup.

The aroma of both coffees was a rich a combination of both sweet / sour fruits. As you’d expect, the long black’s aroma was far stronger and more punchy than the lattes.

Tasting it I found both had a bit of a sour cherry to slight coco bitter thing going for them, more so with the long black than the latte (sugars in the milk clearly offsets this sour taste somewhat). There is a nice lingering flavour to the long black and a smokiness that tended to slightly creep up your nose as an after taste. I did not really find this to be overly the case with the latte with the aftertaste not dominating much and lingering more in the mouth.

Leaving it to sit I found the acidity increased and this resulted in a more of a sour than sweet experience x2 for the long black. It's clearly a coffee made to grab a sweet tart with (not that this should be a big problem for you at BSB). The smoky nose sensation remained with the long black when left sitting, great fun.

One of the great experiences here, the bread and baked tarts aside is the people (as you’ll note from my earlier experience). The café seemingly attracts all the great variety of people who live in the suburb, bizarre people watching at it’s best.

Overall, while the café is going to draw you in for its bread and tarts during the day and its ‘after-hours’ food at night, BSB in Potts Point is just a great spot to be at. A huge internal space, filled with the smells of baking bread, makes way for nice street side chilling outside on open wooden tables on the cul-de-sac road. For a suburb known for its quality cafes there are few that the casual and/or solo coffee drinker will feel more at home and more confortable at. The coffee, while not styled like Campos or tasting as good as Alchemy hits the spot every time. If you visit here over the next few months, you’re more than likely to find me here as well.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 6/10
Experience (taste and smell): 8/10
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Coffee total: 14/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): Modern Australian – bakery meets wine bar (how could you do wrong?)
Cool?: 8/10
Service: 8/10
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Cafe: 16/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 30/40


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Bay Coffee Roasters - Neutral Bay

Scores:
Coffee: 15/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 28/40

There is something utterly depressing about walking down Military Road in the rain. There are plenty of café options, it’s just from a purely visual look none of the options look overly appealing.

My opinion was not overly uplifted turning off the main road, in search of something better and finding the Woolworths car park instead. That is until I spotted Bay Coffee Roasters hidden in the corner of the carpark.

Like an Inner West mecca, in a 4 wheel drive dominated Lower North Shore car park, there was something exciting about seeing a micro roaster so out of place. Walking into the shop, I grabbed one of the inside tables and ordered a latte.

The coffee was made quickly and so much so that as it was presented I could still see the drink layering in fount of my eyes. Bam, amazing.

Presentation wise, it did not look so dissimilar to Bar Pistevo down the road. There has clearly been a run on the Campos china with the identical brown saucer. The art on top was a nice instinctually poured heart, nothing that you would look twice at.

There was a very pleasing roasted aroma to this coffee. You could just smell the full body of this coffee jumping out at you.

Tasting it, the flavour follows the aroma. It’s a well-bodied coffee from the get go. Its flavours are greatly assisted and developed by the roasting and there is something quite milk chocolaty and quite nutty about the flavour. One of the real pleases of this drink is the after taste, I’m often afraid in a chocolate/ roasted flavour combo that you’ll end up with a sour after taste. To my pleasure I found it to sit quite well. To be honest, you can just tell it’s a blend better suited to the pure espresso, but does still work well for the milk coffee variety.

Letting it sit, decreases the roast’s flavours and leaves the drinker with a more earthy and chocolate like experience. It’s worth lingering over the coffee here.

Oh… Lower North Shore. The atmosphere of the place was quite odd, in fact so were the customers (which does account for the atmosphere). It’s a great looking space with some industrial chic thing happening for it. While reasonably full of people, it was bizarrely quiet, and for me to an uncomfortable level. Funnily even in roaster the request for extra hot seems to be plague for the Lower North Shore. I overheard twice the request for overly heated milk.

Overall, you could miss this place if you blinked. How often do you go into a supermarket car park looking for a coffee? The answer is you probably should if Bay Coffee is to go off. Nice, if a little quite staff, coffee options highly developed and their house blend is one to be enjoyed and lingered over.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 7/10
Experience (taste and smell): 8/10
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Coffee total: 15/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): Industrial
Cool?: 7/10
Service: 6/10
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Cafe: 13/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 28/40


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Bar Pistevo

Scores:
Coffee: 14/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 28/40
Bean: Campos

Another wet weekend finds me on the Lower North Shore in Neutral Bay. Having never checked out a coffee here I started searching near the Woolworths on the corner of Young and the popular Grosvoner Street.

Bar Pistevo was my first stop here. I chose it for no other reason in that it was not a chain café like the one next door, not that there is anything wrong with a chain, they meet expectations well, just whose expectations is the question.

Walking in I was approached by a highly friendly barista who called me over to the coffee machine and searched through a series of questions as to what kind of coffee I was after. They seem quite a friendly lot and made an effort, I noticed, with most of their customers. A latte was ordered. The latte was quickly made and brought over to me.

From first impression the coffee art looked a bit like a phoenix falling to earth or a fire just having taken off. Its look and feel was very Campos (that brown saucer) it really was well presented although the saucer did look a little warn.

The aroma of the coffee was quite a developed flavour, reasonably rich in its layering and quite fun to smell. It smelt like quite an Campos Roast, but ad a little earthiness.

Tasting wise it was very true to the flavours of a Campos coffee from their Newtown store, earthy, reasonably well rounded, with a touch of fruitiness, toffee like sweatiness and quite soft to the taste. The only thing missing tasting wise, in comparison with the Newtown flagship store was the depth of the flavours. It could have been the machine which was just missing the strength of the abilities of the rig set up in Newtown or it simply could have been a slight under extraction of the grounds.

Letting it rest, I found the flavours to plateau a little, they were just not developing, as one would expect. There was still a nice result it just did not have the finale as with the bean’s owners. The best result with flavours here is swishing the drink in your mouth.

Taking a while to take in my fellow customers, I found them to be an amusing lot this is no inner west or inner east crowd. A real mix of ages, there was a middle-aged couple on what seemed to be a coffee date. An elderly couple struggling with the concept of a coffee in a glass “this is not what I expected” and two 20 something girls gossiping.

I must say I found it amusing, the number of ‘extra hot’ orders. The barista did a good job explaining to people that milk has a burning temperature, not that this was believed by the insistent residents.

Overall, for my first experience in Neutral Bay, I’m afraid I’ve stumbled onto one of the suburbs better options. The café has: friendly knowledgeable (and patient) staff; a nice coffee well executed (although not perfect by any shot); and a decent location for the suburb. While Bar Pistevo is not going to draw in Sydney coffee tourists, if you’re a local to the area I’d say it’s a good option to try out.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 7/10
Experience (taste and smell): 7/10
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Coffee total: 14/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): Alexandria café north shore-ised.
Cool?: 6/10
Service: 8/10
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Cafe: 14/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 28/40



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La Croix

Scores:
Coffee: 13/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 26/40

A windy Sunday finds Nerd 2 and I looking for a sheltered spit to find breakfast. Heading south towards King Cross station from the harbour finds us both standing outside one of the most hyper modern European cafes on Macleay Street, La Croix.

I walk past La Croix every day on my way to work, and from my observational experience, the cafe looks like small box (a cool one at that) with a barista at the end. However, scouting for a table I found I could just keep walking and then walking. Turn the corner after the coffee machine and you’ll find yourself in what could be a full size showroom full of French provincial furniture with 'nick-nacs'. It’s quite unexpected!

It was a busy morning and the café was pumping, Nerd 2 was behind me picking up some supplies for the day and so I managed some quick moves and score the last remaining table sitting just outside on the main square.

Upon taking a seat a girl quickly came up to me, she said - “order now because there is a bit of a wait on the coffee”, which was sound advise in my book, so I did. A latte was on it’s way.

As Nerd 2 arrived the wind had picked up and the table was becoming slightly unmanageable. A lady, who I presume was the owner saw us turning a shade of blue and invited us to move out table inside, really good service in my books.

Feeling a little warmer, I had a better chance to scope out this unexpected area of the café. It feels very provincial French, and not so much rustic as highly decorative and slightly feminine, potentially quite over the top for some, very Elizabeth Bay.

With Nerd 2’s arrival and our table move complete more menus were given to us for breakfast selection. This point in time also heralded the arrival of my latte - it came to me after about 8 minutes if you’re interested, expectations were well managed so no complaints.

My coffee, considering how good the service had been was disappointingly rather lack lustre. With a rather dry look to it, you can tell it had waiting at the counter a little while. Instead of that silky smooth froth it had clearly separated. It’s ratio was off, however, was presented nicely.

Aroma wise it had a distinctive French smell to it – it was fruity sweet, a little creamy with some earthy dry overtones from the roasting. It was not a distinguishable brand from its smell, so I assume it’s a house blend.

Tasting wise once you got over the additional foam the drink was everything that you would hope for in a French continental coffee. Hints of a fruity sweet coffee well roasted (potentially not to a French roast level) with a creaminess that comes from a full bodied well-balanced, roast.

The arrival of the tea and food, to Nerd 2’s relief, dropped my fixation with the coffee for a while. The food was wonderfully presented and most likely one of the healthiest breakfasts I’d eaten in a while (not to mention amazingly tasty). Oh while I enjoyed the aroma of the coffee, the aroma from Nerd 2’s tea had it beat, if you like your teas the Rose Grey tea seems like a killer option.

As my coffee had not lasted the length of my meal, I ordered a long black. This coffee arrived far faster, was presented neatly and had a solid and rich creama to round it out.

The long black in my opinion was a far better call. Tasting wise it was a far smoother with some nice rich earthiness to the roast, balanced against some fruity sweatiness, its finish was a little long lasting butter like in a way and sat well in the mouth.

Overall, it’s an interesting space (décor preference will be quite personal) with some amazingly simple yet complex continental French food. Service, I found to be attentive, but a little pushed when at capacity. And the coffee while pleasant (especially the long black), was let down in its creation presentation (although the orange plate latte's are served on is quite nice). Milk to foam ratio and the lack of latte art on my latte was disappointing. While the long black was a bit of a lifesaver - consistency is key to a good coffee shop.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 5/10
Experience (taste and smell): 8/10
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Coffee total: 13/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): Potts Point’s understanding of French culture.
Cool?: 6/10
Service: 7/10
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Cafe: 13/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 26/40

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