quick one
Leaving my coffee for a while, I find the bean infuses more with the milk and I am left with a ridiculously tasty more hazelnut kind of drink. However it’s somewhat cold so, just not as appealing for the typical coffee lover.
Quickie:
Quick run down:Like a punch in the face, the macchiato from Gloria Jeans, is everything one looks for initially in an energy drink, but not perhaps in a coffee. This completely surprised me as, to be frank, this coffee was about a far away from a macchiato as a small espresso shot coffee can be quantity/proportion milk wise. With this much milk it should not have tasted so bitter or strong. Just take a look at the photo!
I think the reasoning for the large quantity of milk was that the barista was just being generous to me, filling the cup up to the top with milk, plus and it’s, I am guessing, not a commonly ordered drink so she was just guessing. However, this is not the drink I ordered!
The presentation was totally lame. Gloria Jeans, it seems, does not have sit in china cups. I’m completely surprised by this, as there is a huge sit in section. What a waste! This is the first café where I have to enact my rule that I will judge a take away coffee as a sit in.
The customers in a this Gloria Jeans are a bit of a mixed bag, the hour was around school ending, so, as I sat there, I saw mums with their children and older school kids just chill here. Frappes seemed more the drink of choice then coffee.
The taste of the coffee, as I expressed above, was a little unexpected. There is no doubt that in a small drink you should be able to taste the coffee over the milk in a flat white or what not.The aroma of the coffee is very smoky which is not too bad at all. However, a little unpleasant I would guess for a non-espresso drinker.
When drinking it, I found the drink very heavy in its flavour, so I assume the bean has been slightly over extracted. When slurping on it I found hints of berries which was surprisingly nice. The aftertaste is like your initial taste, a bit of a kick in the mouth. To be frank I can see what the chain is trying to do taste wise, but without a good barista behind the machine, and I am sure it’s a great piece of equipment, the drink just fails as a pleasant experience.
Surprisingly over time, the coffee became far more consumable and was not that unpleasant. My mate suggested it had just killed my taste buds.
Scores:
Style (presentation): 3/10
Experience (taste): 3/10
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Coffee total: 6/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): Aussie Starbucks
Cool?: 4/10
Service: 4/10
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Cafe: 8/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 14/40
How’d it go?
Scores:
Quick run down:
The café prides itself on its coffee and its coffee beans, which are roasted just for the café by Toby’s Estate. They use a single origin, espresso blend named Kenya in their machines, which I know they keep good pride in. In just asking about the beans, I
Scores 
Quick run downIn the second stop in my campus tour, I took a wander over the road to Azzuri, hidden down a maze of staircases some how on Darlington road. Azzuri’s is a really little piece of the Art’s faculty, which somehow got lost and ended up near engineering. It’s a quirky place, which for a long time was known as the only place to get good coffee on campus. It’s the kind of place you dream of fitting in as a 18 year old, and the kind of place which at 26 you just keep coming back too.
As per usual lunchtime for the small café (lair?) is packed, I managed to score the last table in the window section, next to some friends which was a huge plus. Azzuri is not known for their ‘have here’ coffee, often churning out, lattes, flat whites and caps from 9 till 4pm, but can do them on request. You just gotta make sure you say, 'for here!'
I order a flat white (as per usual), and it comes to me in a reasonably quick manner, especially given the churning speed of the café and coffee orders. It comes in one of a few china cups the café has, and looks pretty good.
I know, from years of experience, that the café has inconsistent coffee, but todays flat white, which I am judging it on, was well proportioned, sitting at a great temperature and had a bit of non-effort art work on top. The coffee bean (The Coffee Roaster), sits well with milk and I find it
has a bit of a coco taste to it. The flavour certainly blends well with the milk, and its easy to drink over a long period of time.
The nice thing about Azzuri, is truly your ability to sit here all day if you wish, it’s a student café to the core, and I find the owner and the staff, ridiculously friendly, especially if you’re a regular of 1 to 6 years like myself. You find, if you go there enough (few weeks), they know you by name quickly and make your drink with extras, like a smile drawn on the cup or an extra free shot, if you’re looking tired.
The other hidden thing about the café is its food menu, and while I am not a food blogger, they do mass-produce some good fast meals, far better then all other food places within near walking distance.
Overall I am a fan of the café, it’s a place to study away to some trance, while mixing with arts and law students who somehow managed to find their way across City Road.
Popped by after a late night of writing to grab a takeaway coffee from Azzuri. You may remember, I want here a few days ago to have a sit in lunch (Just above, so you don't have to recall too long ago!). Azzuri, even at 9am (early student time) was packed, with a long line creeping its way around the counter.
The line moves quickly, which is nice, as I am desperate for a coffee. As I mentioned earlier, having been going here for years, the staff all know me by name, and Chris the manager (not my mate, different Chris), put my drink in the queue before I had spoken anything.
Made reasonably quickly, around some busy banter from the baristas, the coffee is one of many produced on the spot. You may be worried at this point that as the staff seem to know me, special attention is paid to my drink. However, good or bad this is often not the case in the mornings, where the demand is just too high and coffee’s moving down the production line too quickly.
The coffee is poured well, with attention put into the ratio of foam to milk. This can be done, for the unknowing, if you order the drinks in terms of foam quantity. In a high foam jug, cap first, then latte, or latte first then flatwhite.
Taste /smell wise, to be fair to Taste Baguette, I put the lid on. Even with the lid on, it smells great, their Coffee Roaster beans, while no Campos, work really well, with a pleasant cocoa aroma rising off the drink.
I know before I take a sip that the coffee is a little to hot for my taste, however, on drinking I don’t find it burnt, although it burns my mouth a little! Onto taste, it’s a really pleasant drink. I find the coffee balanced really well, it seems to have been near perfectly extracted. The drink reminds me of something slightly fruity (berries?) mixed with a touch of cocoa and something kinda roasted.
After taste is minimal, and I find I keep going back. I can’t completely recall, my sit in drink here, but I believe this one, tastes better. Such a taste differences makes me feel that they calibrate their grinders to the humidity in the mornings, and neglect to do so as the day goes on, unless the extraction rate changes dramatically. So, I would recommend coming here in the mornings.
takeaway scores:
Short and sweet:
Short and sweet:As my assignment hell continued, I bunkered down this morning and took a walk down the road to Café Newtown, the prominent café sitting on at the fork of King Street and Enmore Roads.
Café Newtown has been around for ages, and more recently, the cafe has updated its image to be both a café and a mezze bar (not sure it completely is) at night with jazz, beer and the like.
From the second I sat down, inside, I was approached by two friendly staff members who asked me what I was looking for. Its definitely a breakfast stop on a Sunday morning, but they did not seem to mind I was here on a coffee thing.
As a request from perhaps my only critical reader, I changed up my drink up and got a latte instead of a flat white. The drink came quite quickly and was served as one of many table drink orders.
The café itself was large, bright at airy, I liked the old windows and heavy wood about the place, they have reasonably kept the original, and strange buildings specs intact. Furniture, while nothing exciting was in keeping with the style of the building, although there were some unusual red low chairs happening at one of the tables.
People who come here are a real mix, which is some of the enjoyment of the experience. I was sitting beside a Greek orthodox priest on one side and 60’s reject hippy on the other.
The latte itself, as you can see from the picture, was perhaps a little heavy on the milk side, I really expected a greater quantity of foam with it, but then again I don’t drink lattes that often these days so don’t know what’s in. There was not much effort, I am willing to say none, in the art on top, however, on the plus side, it had a nice colour to the milk and foam.
The aroma and taste of the coffee was smoky, with not-so-unpleasant depth to the flavours. The smoky taste did penetrate the milk quite effectively and you were not left with any unpleasant after taste. The coffee was left sitting over some time, and turned out to be quite disappointing, developing a very milky taste.
As my second hour came on, I ordered a long black which was quite dark, with a dirty and thin crema. Initially, the drink did fail the basic coffee spoon through the crema test, however the aroma was highly pleasant the coffee revealed a nice fruity, smoky taste, especially when slurped, I’m sure much to the joy of the priest beside me. Over all, it had little after taste. Given my average latte, and the very thin crema, I was pleasantly surprised!
On my way out, paying the bill at the counter, I found the staff again to be very chatty and friendly which is something that does not often happen.
This café is truly for people watching and relaxing the day away. While in quite a hectic area, between two busy roads, I found it easy to be here and drink my coffee and type and read. I should note that there was free wifi, although not sure if it is this cafes!
