Maynard's Cafe - Berkelouw Books

Scores:
Coffee: 14/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 29/40
Bean: Single Origin Roasters

It may not surprise many of you to hear that I’m not just a coffee nerd but really an all out nerd. One of my favourite activities, when I’m not getting a coffee is checking out books. Yes, I hear you say, Rob - you’ve got an iPad and a MacBook Air that you walk around with to cafes, not to mention that stupid digital camera and hey don’t you love your digital strategy? Again, all true! But there is something oh so satisfying as an amazing book (doubly so second hand).

And so it does surprise me and maybe you that I have not, as of yet, checked out Maynard’s Café at Berkelouw Books Newtown. Berkelouw Books Newtown is really one of Sydney’s hidden treasures, quite literally. Found on one of Newtown’s side streets (O’Connell) just off King, Berkelouw is the model example of what a converted two-storey warehouse should be. Moreover, what nails this bookshop is the café. Found upstairs, nestled within one of the best-presented collections of second hand books in Sydney.

So here I find myself on a sunny Saturday arvo, killing some time before I head down to the Courtie to watch the rugby. I quickly head up the stairs, passing a distracted couple excited by a book they had found and go directly up to the counter, well stop that's a lie, I checked out books for ten, then went to the counter.

Now in the habit of getting lattes (I typically order what seems like the most popular coffee at the café I’m visiting) I order one and take a seat at one of the many large wooden tables. My mates who are finishing up at school tell me this is the place to come to study, and I can tell why, this is an environment made reading, far better then Fisher, et al. over at the uni.

I’ve gotta say at this point, while I am positively behind the idea of the bookshop café, I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been burnt by this experience. The failed Borders / Gloria Jeans experiment makes me (and many others) cynical from the get go, spoiled books, gimmicky coffee standards – but there really is something to it, I think.

The coffee came over to me quickly and it looked pretty good. Having had a lot of shit coffee without latte art on top, there was something kind of honest about the simple heart in this coffee presented in the very silky looking foam. Its portions were on the mark, good stuff.

The aroma of the coffee was fun, it started with flicks of the smokiness from roast, but then with every third breath turned into a sweet milky chocolate aroma, all together very well balanced.

Taking a break from the coffee to pull out the iPad I had a look around, the café has a mixture of old leather couches, big wooden tables and huge windows and skylights, with some odd red lanterns hanging from the room, (I assume a connecting point between the Raman bar down stairs). There was also a photo gallery of insects happening, if that's your thing. The customers are as you would expect – a mix of hipsters, nerds and yuppies, love it.

The taste of the coffee was very enjoyable. It’s a balanced drink with a nice level of vibrancy to it. That milky sweat aroma when sipping on it was far more like a milk chocolate (if that make any difference) when in the mouth.

These flavours are solid – the roast and the bean had merged well. It did have something else happening as well, but I could not work out what at this stage. Letting the coffee cool, it became far more delicate and a little less textured. The milk chocolate flavours really did endure and it was ridiculously easy coffee to drink.

Overall, I gotta say, having sat here Maynard’s Café, Burkelow Books really does epitomise the new, Newtown well: The converted warehouse; the uber hipster staff; the nerd and yuppie crowds mingling (with only a little unease); second hand books playing the major role in the look and feel; and that nice, simple and nondramatic quality of the coffee and bean. While Burkelow Book’s is a Newtown attraction in onto itself, Maynard’s Café is really worth the stop in even if books are not your thing.

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): The perfect warehouse conversion… with red lanterns
Cool?: 9/10
Service: 6/10
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Cafe total: 15/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 29/40


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Random - Zach's Kafe Kitchen

Cheeky latte over lunch at 1:30pm.
I'm yet to review the cafe.

Random - Olio

8am flat white @ Olio

Not really their best performance. See my past review here.

Art Espresso

Scores:
Coffee: 9/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 19/40
Bean: di Lorenzo

With the first break in the grey cloud cover for what seems over a week, I made a dash out of my place. I headed for a walk down Enmore Road, to what seems the edge of civilisation (where the shops finish on Enmore Rd), to see what the periphery of Enmore has to offer - it is here I came across Art Espresso - the last cafe.

Art Espresso is as you walk towards Stanmore/ Marrickville down Enmore Road on the left hand side of the road. It’s a huge bright and open space with a very clean look and feel, which is at least different for the area. Art hangs from all walls of the cafe, with many styles all over the place, books are accessible for those of you without iPads or Kindles to check our and even the chairs attempt to make an impact with bright orange and yellow legs.

I took a seat near the middle of the shop, with a great view of the espresso machine and bizarrely a TV and waited. Service came over quickly and asked me what I was after. Flat white was the go, as it seemed like what everyone else was drinking.

Perhaps a side effect of the cafe's clean look is its customer base. Unlikely every other coffee shop in the area, which is darker and more hipster in one way or another, this one could slot into Balmain or the Lower North Shore easily and as such attracts a far older audience. It's just so clean.

I had great hope for Art Espresso, in the artistic sense - I’m a huge coffee art fan and with such a name as Art Espresso my hopes where hung high on the look and feel of this coffee.

My coffee came out very quickly, which was good as I was the only order on the books and was presented to me with the name of the coffee shop lettering facing me, intentional or not, good move in style.

All enthusiasm for an artistic coffee was shattered when it was placed on my table. Firstly, the level of the drink in the cup, which was a little low and looked like they ran out of milk and secondly, and more importantly by the total lack of coffee art, what the hell! In a café named Art Espresso I had hoped that some level of effort would have gone into the latte art… Oh proportions levels where ok, although a little foam heavy for a flat white.

Smell wise it’s a rather sharp drink in the aroma stakes and clearly has a chocolate tones running throughout. It’s not a bad smell at all and while did not make up for its sad look was satisfying.

Taste wise this sharpness in smell was still quite evident; most of the coffees experience was concentrated in the front of my mouth. I found whist the aroma of the coffee carried chocolate tones – the flavour was instead lead by a surprise nuttiness leaving the chocolate tones to play a secondary role, kind of interesting.  A big positive of the drink was its balance there was very low levels of bitterness, which was very evident in the aftertaste that tends to linger, although I feel I should be crediting the beans more than the barista here.

Overall, I leave Art Espresso far more disappointed then I had walked in. There are just to many elements off about the place. The art on the walls is nice, but little thought has gone into its styling and a TV playing Pack to the Rafters did not add to the art feeling of the café at all and leaves me feeling like perhaps I walked into a retirement village café. The open space is nice but tends to bring in loud kitchen sounds, which is far from ideal. And while the coffee's aroma, texture and taste were all fine (could be a good take away), the lack of latte art in a place, which calls itself Art Espresso just, kills it for me. It just set itself up.


Note: It has been suggested that there could be an abstract coffee art thing happening here. I do submit that theoretically this may be the case, as art is quite subjective to the viewer... 

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 3/10
Experience (taste and smell): 6/10
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Coffee total: 9/20
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2. Cafe score 
Style (what’s it feel like): A hyperactive artists kid’s playroom
Cool?: 4/10
Service: 6/10
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Cafe: 10/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 19/40

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Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney's ten hottest new cafes

Taken from the Sydney Morning Herald Online on the 22/06, the Good Cafe Guide is in its second year and here is the best summary of the winners.

What do you think?

The 10 cafes you should be at right now.

Advertisement: Story continues belo

The award for Best Boutique Roaster, presented by Latorre & Dutch coffee traders, is for a specialty roaster that brings integrity to each stage of the process, from sourcing to blending to roasting.

Winner: Mecca Espresso in Ultimo.

The award for Best Coffee is for commitment to quality, from the bean to the cup.

Winner: Coffee Alchemy, Marrickville.

The award for the Best (new) Brew Bar is for  a place to bond with bean-mad baristas over Japanese siphon, filter, pour-over and cold-drip.

Winner: Don Campos in Alexandria.

The Best Barista award, is for someone quietly obsessed with every detail, and goes to someone at another great 

pioneering new-brew bar:

Winner: Shoji Sasa from Single Origin Roaster’s Sideshow, in Surry Hills.

The award for Best Small Café is for doing an awful lot with a little..

Winner: Room 10 in Potts Point.

The award for Best Food Café, is all about raising the bar on food offerings and going beyond the banana bread and egg and bacon roll.

Winner: Three Blue Ducks in Bronte

We instituted a new award this year called the Local Hero Award, where we single out a cafe that brings something special to its community and local area:

Winner: Cornersmith, in Marrickville

This year we also instituted a Hall of Fame, because we love our golden oldies as much as we love our ruby newbies. The inaugural Hall of Famer holds all our hearts in its hand, with its love of Italian football, coffee, conversation and community… it’s the oldest café in Norton Street Leichhardt…

Winner: Bar Sport

The award for Best New Café goes to… the chooks! A huge multi-tasking factory, café, garden baker and coffee roaster complete with playground, pizza bar and chicken run.

Winner: The Grounds of Alexandria.

The final award, for the Eftpos Best Café Award for 2012, goes to a specialty coffee roaster and café with great synergy between the bean and the cup – even the menu is inspired by the countries the beans come from.

Winner: Reuben Hills.

Twelve

Scores:
Coffee: 12/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 25/40

Wet weather draws Newtown’s residents to cafes like flies. This Saturday was unexpectedly no exception with grey clouds looming overhead. So like the rest of Newtown, Nerd 2 and I found ourselves walking between awnings and down pours along King wondering where to go where there was space to be had. Serious times do call for serious measures. One café, which we had never tried, is Twelve, not because it does not look appealing, but precisely the opposite it has that far to restraunt like feel which led us to think it would be well out of our price range.

Luckily, for us, for the first time, we had a read at the breakfast menu (and pricing) and found it’s menu temping enough and pricing near identical to the rest of King Street, so walked on into the cool looking space and grabbed two seats at the last free table.

Twelve I must say looks great, painted and unpolished cement floors, industrial lighting with red power cords leading to the light bulb, black walls (chalked on, of cause) and random bits of greenery (otherwise called plants) on shelves and tables. It’s easy to assume that this is more expensive then the typical Inner West favela cafe.

It did not take too long to track down a waiter and order; I went latte and Nerd2 a tea (we also got breakfast). Once we had successfully made this order I took a look around, many people in the café were drinking wine and having lunch, which surprised me until I remembered it, was 12:40, I was reminded again, I'm not really a morning person.

The coffee took a little while to come out, but then again, the café was maxed out, so we can forgive that. From first viewing, the coffee was a little disappointing (especially when compared to Nerd 2’s cool tea set up – Detox form T2); the coffee looked a little pale in colouring (shades of brown were, however, quite evident in the foam) all of which led me to a quick assumption that it would be quite a milky and dusty (in texture) coffee. The size, on the flip side, was (for me) a positive with the drink leaning more on the piccolo size scale then the gallon mug size. The Foam was a little lacking in quantity, but was still sitting within that ok latte zone. Art was minimal and it was evident from this overall look and feel that this was more a get-it-out-quick kind of pour rather than a seeing the coffee as an art canvas.

The aroma was balanced more upon the roast than the bean, roasted tones (a little like Vittoria – my coffee nemesis) ruled the aroma with little tones of chocolate and some sort of berry occasionally breaking out.

Taste wise, Twelve’s coffee, even with its smaller sizing was as I predicted a little on the milky side. On a positive, the flavour was far more evident than the look would have given on. The drink had a rather simplistic yet robust flavour range, like the aroma – based on the roast – it did bring through a few of the more fruity flavours then that French roast style typically lets in. The milk, even with those flavours, still played far too much of a role for my liking, leaving it as the dominant aftertaste. Letting it sit for a bit brought out some respite with increased acidity that countered the dominant milky flavours.

Overall, while service may be a little slow and coffee not amazing, you’ll be coming here more for the café then the coffee experience. It’s size, space (and size of tables) are unusual in Newtown and this lets you not sit shoulder to shoulder in a ghetto like environment with the people next to you. It’s also licensed and serves breakfast late so you can, without to much guilt, go coffee easily while others go a wine. And while not often considered by this nerd, it also seems far more children friendly the most spaces in Newtown. Oh, it also serves up food a good prices and with a simple and filling breakfast menu which, is a winner for me.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 6/10
Experience (taste and smell): 6/10
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Coffee total: 12/20
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2. Cafe score
Style (what’s it feel like): modern Australian café meets ad agency
Cool?: 7/10
Service: 6/10
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Cafe: 13/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 25/40

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Cordial

Scores:
Coffee: 15/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 29/40
Bean: Vella Nero

Saturday morning found me out and about walking with my mate Lachlan to grab a coffee, we decided not to go where we knew the coffee would be good – the Campos or Luxe of the Newtown coffee world and instead try somewhere different, making that risky move of walking away from King rather then towards it we walked down Carillion and came to Cordial Cafe.

Cordial is a coffee shop I’ve actually walked past a multitude of times. Formally living in Camperdown I have always thought I should go in there, I think I even flirted with the idea of working there for a while, but just never did go in and now having sat down at the place, somewhat regret I’ve not done this before (had a coffee not work!).

The café occupies a random space at the dead end of O’Connell Street.  Lachlan and I grabbed a seat outside, in the wonderful sun, and a staff member came over quickly and gave us menus. Having looked over the menu, I decided that a second breakfast would be stupidly indulgent, so just went for the coffee. Lachlan went the macchiato, I went long black ( far more suffocated person than I!).

 In the time between ordering and the coffees arrival I had both become both involved in a religious debate and scoped out the café patrons. The café hosted a range of Inner West stereotypes: the studying student, the college kids still wearing their pyjamas, the elderly (possibly) Greek couple and about 2 young families with their kids flying about everywhere.

The coffee came out reasonably quickly, especially given the cafe was at about full and upon first inspection both drinks (long black and mac) I reckon looked great. The crema, on the long black had an amazing viscous with good colouring whist the mac had that great look an espresso gets as it slowly mixes with milk, foam to a nice proportion, ratios spot on.

The aroma of the coffee was both fruity and rich; you could smell a level of acidity wafting of this drink. Lachlan reported that likewise the mac had a nice complex aroma of fruity sweatiness to it.

Taste wise, the flavours of the blend came through well. It’s a really fresh drink, you can tell that both café and roaster manage their beans well.  I found the drink to be both smooth and clean, there was quite a distinct sweet fruit flavour which was nicely kept in check with a balanced level of acidity.

Having left the drink for a while, indulging myself with questions around religious history against a debating pro, with I found my long black’s flavours had come together and found a taste which somewhat resembled a grapefruit’s complex flavour pallet, which really was a nice collaboration of the two often opposing forces of sweet and acidity. 

Overall what great coffee. It’s hard to believe that basically on the same block as Campos a small nondescript cafe can really come out swinging. While not the most appealing place to sit if the weather is poor, on a nice sunny morning, like it was today, it’s outside appeal is welcomed, while a little off many King street drinkers radar, this true local is worth checking out.

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): waiting for a bus
Cool?: 6/10
Service: 8/10
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Cafe: 14/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 29/40

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Random - Zach's Kafe Kitchen

Latte @ Zach's Kafe Kitchen in St Leonrads. Monday at 10:30am.

Random - Cafe C

Macchiato @ Cafe C on King Street, Newtown. Sunday at 5pm.

My review from last year.

The Cortile Lounge – Intercontinental Hotel

Scores:

Coffee: 12/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 28/40
Bean: Vittoria 

Marble floors, copper sculptures of lions, an impressive yester-year atrium, huge comfortable leather chairs to lounge in and service at the wave of your hand (occasionally).  There are few places to get a coffee in Sydney where such an experience applies. Coffee shops generally don’t have the space, let alone the cash to set up such a space. So in seeking such an experience we have to go figuratively ‘off road’ (coffee road that is) to one of the better hotels in Sydney. On this dark and wet Monday, I find myself in the foyer space of Sydney’s Intercontinental Hotel. Having stayed the weekend with Nerd 2, trying a coffee and extending the holiday (before braving the weather) on the way back home to Newtown was a must.

Upon sitting down we were quickly presented with menus for a late lunch. Both Nerd 2 and I took some time to consider what to drink and eat and within a nice period of time a polite wait staff person was back to take our order. I went for a latte, whilst Nerd 2 went a random spicy rich tea (she reports back it was a Mokalbarie - a Ronnefeldt tea).

Looking at the patrons is interesting. Beside us, women, all well dressed, gossip and chatter amongst themselves having an amazingly elegant high-tea, to the other side, a couple from a far more exotic lands than I, enquire over whether they can get preserved meats in Sydney and order a spiced coffee with kids, better dressed than I can afford, running round. Such a different crowd than I am use to in my coffee adventures.

The coffee came to us far more quickly then I would have expected. The latte was presented in a huge glass, which could be considered a little generous (however, I am sure the price will match the size – I’m yet to pay the bill) but to an Aussie standard, a little on the excessive side. It also came with a choc chip cookie, which is a nice touch (the tea had one as well, which is just as well to prevent thieving from Nerd 2).

The coffee’s aroma was rich, smoky and a little on the chocolatey side; it seems even in the high life, Vittoria (or something very much like Vittoria) dominates these places. As I have commented a million times, it’s a nice bean, but really - fine establishments of Australia you can do better!

Tasting wise it is, as you would expect from an Italian roasted bean, a drink where the roast plays more of a role in the flavour than the bean. In this case, the chocolate tones of the bean play a secondary role to that smoky roast flavour of the bean roasting experience. The coffee pleasantly does, however, still have distinct levels of acidity to it (which this roast can often wipe out) and more of a body than I would have expected.

As the food arrives (we went for a mezze plate) I took some time to look to look around. The building is simply stunning. The darkness of the day filtering down into the space elegantly, the darkness allowing the building’s lighting to create pools of light in archways and on selected tables. While it is a busy day the physical space adsorbed much of the sound of chattering allowing for it to be an easy place to sit and take in the sound of falling rain on the skylights above. As a Batman fan, I reckon it’s got a Gotham City like look and feel, awesome!

Overall, whilst not the best coffee in town or the best price (it turned out to be $7) the space is charming, service fantastic and seating super confortable. It’s as easy to get a coffee here as a glass of red or a cocktail and get lost in the sound of rain drops (weather permitting!). While many Sydneysiders often shun hotels as destinations other than for high-tea, Sydney architecture lovers and those who want a bit of classiness in their afternoon or evening I think will love the experience. Take yourself on holidays for an hour.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 6/10
Experience (taste and smell): 6/10
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Coffee total: 12/20
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2. Cafe score 
Style (what’s it feel like):  (with rain) A classy Gotham City hotel
Cool?: 8/10
Service: 8/10
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Cafe: 16/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 28/40

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Fix Cafe

Scores:
Coffee: 13/20
Whole experience (cafe + coffee): 25/40
Bean: Double Roasters

Wednesday: Working in strange locations can force even the nerdiest of us to make concessions in what we drink. A location that seems desolate and shit can make even the most average of establishments look like fantastic havens for good caffeine. The nice thing about this is that it can lead to some wonderful discoveries. However, it can also lead to some earth-shatteringly bad tasting sensations.

Happily, today, this is the tale of the former. In my mind, having grown up around the Lower North Shore, perhaps unlike many other North Shore kids, I think that this side of the harbour is full of all things out to kill culture (ironically I work in a creative field on this side of the harbour), coffee is no exception here. You may remember my joy of finding Bean Drinking in Crows Nest. And I am happy to write about discovery number 2 of Crows Nest - Fix.

Fix is in an odd location for a coffee shop, not quite sitting on the main street of Crows Nest, not quite sitting in the pedestrian strip, yet, it does seem to capture some traffic. So as the saying goes, build it and they will come.

I walk in on a reasonably wet Wednesday arvo between rainstorms and go up the counter; the barista asks me what I’m looking for - I go latte with no reasoning and take a seat.

Fix as a cafe, does not have the best ascetics, but does ok with the space, white walls and the mirrors help.  It somewhat resembles Wedge in Glebe (not reviewed yet, sorry!) but without those cool huge windows or the space - it feels a little cramped (especially when the windows are close because of the rain), but hey it’s warm and most of us are here for the coffee right? Maybe the words I should be using are cosy and bright.

The coffee fits this feeling, while well looked after in the presentation (came with a chocolate and the barista ensured the coffee cup looked neat and clean), it simply lacked the coffee art to give it that extra appeal.

Luckily, the aroma came through. I found it rich, yet quite fresh.  It had a bit of a nutty smell to it, with hints of the roaster coming through. A wonderful fix for a wet arvo - (I made a funny).

The real winning thing here is the taste, nutty (hazelnut perhaps), earthy and a little on the caramel side, with a heavy roasted flavour. It is overall a wonderful drink.

I had to find out at this point what the roast was, and behold it’s a Double Roasters blend, my top rated café down in Marrickville. It was interesting to see it’s blend being done here as my experience of the few times I’ve been down to Double Roasters I found their coffee far lighter on the roasted aroma and flavour.

Overall, while not the best space it’s definitely easy enough to chill here for a while. The baristas are reasonably chatty, the coffee both tastes and smells super appealing and it’s amazing to find that they have some of Sydney’s coolest coffee on the grind.  Fix is a second lower north shore winner for those looking for a quality coffee.

Scores:
1. Coffee score
Style (look and feel): 5/10 (so neat)
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): an oddly shaped white box
Cool?: 5/10
Service: 7/10
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Cafe: 12/20
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Whole experience (coffee + cafe): 25/40

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Time Out Sydney - Top 5 cafés to visit in May

Yes this is a little cheeky to post up, but I through posting this Time Out list on their Top 5 cafes of last month would inspire as to where we should be heading in June. It's not a bad list at all.

Content taken from Time Out Sydney

Sample Coffee Bar

Four Ate Five

Barefoot Coffee Traders

Bell Jar Coffee

Coffee Alchemy