Grumpy Coffee

Voltage Espresso

2011-03-19T14:32:00.003+11:00

There's a great new cafe in the foyer of St Martin's tower. From the awesome wall art, to the bright orange espresso machine and the exellect coffee, Voltage Espresso is a stand out performer.

They baristas are friendly, and always happy to share the secrets of the trade and recommend their house blend, or one of two single origins they have on hand in grinders #2 and #3.

Simply outstanding.

50 St George's Terrace Perth

Full review coming soon.

Perth Coffee Scape

2010-10-03T15:10:00.001+11:00

Looking for more coffee options? perthcoffeescape.com is a new web site where you see reviews of many Perth cafes by actual customers.

I wouldn’t take the top 20 too seriously though, as there’s a few questionable entries in there. I presume this will be rectified as more and more reviews come in, and the quality rises to the top.

Definitely a site to visit if you’re looking to try out some new cafes.

Lowdown Espresso

2010-04-20T22:17:00.001+10:00

In a continuing sign of Perth’s growing specialty coffee scene, another cafe has opened in the western end of the CBD. Lowdown Espresso had only been open for two days when we visited.

The staff are particularly friendly and enjoy chatting about their passion – coffee!

As well as the usual array of espresso-based drinks, they also do brewed coffee in a fancy Fetco machine, which I’m told works in a similar way to the highly regarded and sought-after Clover machines that are no longer on the market.

I had a long mac, which brought out the deep and complex flavours from their Fiori blend. The coffee is quite strong, and has fewer chocolate notes, but a more nutty or caramel taste than some of the 5 Senses cafes, but it’s not bitter at all. I like it – it’s a really different coffee experience – and that’s what we need, more high-quality variety.

I also tried the brewed coffee, they provide milk and 50/50 milk/cream for you to add to suit your taste. They used the single origin PNG coffee last week when I tried it. The brewed coffee is fantasic, very different to the usual milk-based drinks. It really brought out the flavour of the PNG coffee. I highly recommend giving it a try, it combines the best taste aspects of espresso and plunger coffee in my opinion.

Beans: Fiori

Location: Shop 16A Cloisters Arcade, 865 Hay Street Perth

Rating: 4 out of 5

Coffee at Home: Getting Serious

2009-12-12T01:48:00.001+11:00

Well, we finally took the plunge (ahem) and bought the Sunbeam 6910 espresso machine and grinder.

The machine is fantastic – more than good enough for my slowly-increasing coffee-making skills. Grinding the beans fresh makes a huge difference – much sweeter coffee – and also has the side effect of making the house smell like subtly like a Cafe.

Texturing the milk is taking some practice – in an a effort not to overcook like an amateur, I was finding I was under-doing it, so it actually wasn’t going sweet. A bit more time on the steamer and it’s slowly getting better.

The espresso shots are taking some time to get right – the Sunbeam has a hand pressure gauge that assists discovering if the grind coarseness and damping pressure are correct – I’ve been swinging between too fine and too coarse, but getting toward the right combination slowly. When you see the dark red colour you can tell it’s going to be nice coffee. I’ve been using 5 Senses 24/7 blend and Swiss Decaf, as well as the house blend from Velvet.

The techniques I learned at the Epic Espresso course are coming in handy. Once I’ve got the consistency in flavour happening, it will be time to work on the Latte Art.

Suburban Coffee Drought

2009-11-17T23:38:00.001+11:00

I’ve been placed out on site for 3 days a week for a client near the Galleria in Morley. Unfortunately there are limited coffee options to say the least.

We’ve tried some from Aroma Cafe and Gloria Jeans and they were certainly not up to high standards you get when you are working in town, conveniently close to King St.

Having said that, the Gloria Jeans Iced Coffee/Mocha is certainly a decent caffeine boost, and hides the burnt coffee taste.

I wonder if there is a market for 5 Senses to start approaching independent Cafes in shopping centres. Hmm.

Epic Espresso Mastery

2009-09-23T23:04:00.002+10:00

For fathers day I received a great present – a ticket to the Epic Espresso Mastery class.

Firstly, let me say West Perth is quite sleepy on a Saturday morning, but being greeted with a smile and and offer of coffee from the trainer at Epic was a fantastic start to the day. Hint: if someone at Epic asks you if you’d like a coffee, you always say ‘yes’.

There were six people including me that were attending the course, the instructor was extremely enthusiastic about her coffee, and quickly had us pulling ristretto shots from the fancy Synesso machine after a short session on coffee’s aging process and it’s changing aroma after time.

The Synesso must be a great machine, because my first few shots were actually decent! Then we were shown how to steam the milk – I was surprised to find out how short a time you actually need to do it. Making sure not to overcook the milk is critical.

Midway through the session we found ourselves pouring coffees down the sink – as good as they looked, we all had way too much caffeine already.

By the end of the session we were all pretty chuffed with our newfound skills, and ready to quit our day jobs and start a cafe … or maybe just happy knowing we were now qualified coffee snobs, with the Epic Espresso Mastery Certificate under our arms. Highly recommended for any budding coffee snob.

Cafe Vinyl

2009-08-07T17:43:00.001+10:00

This relatively recent addition to the Perth coffee scene is gathering popularity very quickly. Based out the front of the 78 Records store on Hay St, the appropriately named cafe has a small setup serving 5 Senses coffee and locally-sourced gourmet food.

When I went there it was quite busy (seems a lot of workers from the classier levels of the Woodside building are there) but the coffee was served quite quickly and the quality was excellent. Temperature was good and the taste was great. Highly recommended.

Beans: 5 Senses

Machine: Synesso

Location: 914 Hay Street

Rating: 4 out of 5

Coffee at Home: Epic

2009-06-15T17:47:00.001+10:00

Since I’ve found out that nice coffee can be done well in the plunger, I decided to give it the ultimate test – can you have Epic at home?

Well, the answer is a definite yes. Epic plunger-ground coffee made fresh is most probably the best plunger coffee I’ve had yet. The coffee is smooth and sweet – just like when you get if from the cafe. Be careful not to ruin it with water that is too hot.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting a great coffee at home.

Coffee at Home: Cafe 54 Blend

2009-02-26T00:08:00.001+11:00

I picked up some plunger ground coffee from Cafe 54. They do 5 Senses coffee, so it was interesting to compare it with the 5 Senses Velvet Espresso blend that I bought last year.

The Cafe 54 blend is a more nutty or toffee-tasting blend, whereas the Velvet was more smooth and carried the impression of chocolate.

The trick with this blend is that it does take some time get the best flavour out of it. In the coffee plunger I find it’s more like 4-5 minutes rather than the usual 3 minutes that gives the best taste.

This blend is also great in an coffee ice-cream thick shake – the more nutty coffee taste blends well with the sweetness of the ice-cream.

Ristretto

2009-01-18T03:43:00.001+11:00

During during the ‘coffee outage’ over new Year’s (Velvet, Tiger Tiger and Epic were all closed) we need to find a good place that was open, and having tried this place once before, with good results, I decided it was time to give it another try. Since then my coffee buddy and I have been here a few times and the coffee is consistently fantastic.

They use a 5 Senses blend, but it has really strong taste, unlike most of the other 5 Senses cafes. I’d highly recommend this place if you really want to know your tasting the coffee – note that it isn’t burnt at all, just strong.

The long mac I had was great, and the lattes have been good as well, and presumably their short coffees would be good too, given that’s what the cafe is named after! Haven’t tried any as yet.

Beans: 5 Senses

Machine: Synesso

Location: 160 Central Arcade (between St Georges and Hay) Perth, 6000 (Google Maps)

Web Site: www.ristretto.com.au

Rating: 5 out of 5

Coffee at Home: Plunger

2009-01-10T18:07:00.001+11:00

After a few months, I’ve finally arrived at a repeatable satisfactory method for making coffees in the plunger.

A problem that I had early on was that the ground coffee was burning when I put in boiling water – so clearly boiling water is too hot. You can try catching the kettle before its boiled, but that means waiting around and guessing when it’s the right time.

Apparently 70 or 80 degrees is what you should be aiming for, so here’s my solution.

Put 1/4 cup of room temperature water in the plunger
Add 3/4 cup of boiling water
Add coffee (7 grams or 1 heaped tablespoon)
Stir and leave for 3-5min
Plunge and enjoy!

Alternatively, if you want to add the water to the coffee, rather than coffee to water, then you can mix the water in a Pyrex jug, and then pour that over the coffee at the bottom of the plunger.

By my calculations, given that water boils at 100 degrees, and room temperature water is, say, 20 degrees, the temperature of the mix should be about 80 degrees, or if you use refrigerated water it would be 76 degrees.

I’m sure my scientist/engineer friends will tell me that’s not how it works, but hey, I just know maths, not science.

[Calculations: (100 * 3 + 20)/4 = 80, (100 * 3 + 4)/4 = 76 now I’m guessing the water in the kettle that hasn’t evaporated is probably a bit lower that 100 degrees, so the final temperature is probably closer to 70 degrees.]

Coffee at Home: Velvet Espresso – Plunger Grind

2008-12-30T00:57:00.001+11:00

I picked up some of the house blend at Velvet before they closed for the holidays (and before I started leave – need some good coffee at home for the break).

The smell of the freshly ground coffee was amazing. The taste lives up to the aroma when made in my brand new Tupperware 4 Cup Coffee Plunger. Christmas present from the in laws. Fantastic!

The Velvet blend works well in the plunger, the characteristic smoothness of the coffees you buy at the cafe carries over nicely. Just make sure the water isn’t too hot, as always, to avoid burning it.

This is the first coffee at home blend that I’ve tried that I can drink as a long black – it’s smooth enough to not need milk.

Obviously it works with milk and great in iced coffees too. Today we tried it in a coffee thick shake. A few ice cubes, four large scoops of ice-cream, a dash of milk, and three heaped tablespoons of coffee in the 2/3rds of a cup of warm water in the plunger made enough for two milkshake cups.

Highly recommend this blend.

Epic Fail

2008-12-23T18:28:00.001+11:00

A mate and I headed out to Epic Espresso at lunch time today only to find it closed for the holidays!

It was a long walk out to West Perth for no reward.

Expect a review in the new year when it’s open again.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cafe 54

2008-12-23T11:26:00.001+11:00

I must put together a full review for this fantastic place.

The 5 Senses coffee is always good, and perhaps even more importantly the service is fantastic, there’s always someone ready to take your order (unlike some other specialty coffee places I could mention).

The atmosphere is very relaxing – a great place to sit and enjoy a coffee before getting stuck into the working day.

Coffee at Home: Chocolate Macadamia Coffee

2008-12-16T18:32:00.001+11:00

Finally got around to trying the Chocolate Macadamia coffee from the Cairns Highlands (Mareeba) that the in-laws brought back from Queensland a while ago.

I made a standard plunger coffee and was pleasantly surprised with the flavour. It’s quite subtle, with chocolate overtones. Can’t say I tasted the macadamia though. Certainly a nice blend if you’re looking for something smooth a little bit different.

Also, made a couple iced coffees with it. The chocolate goes nicely in an iced coffee, so I highly recommend this blend for that.

Three Double Two

2008-11-26T20:34:00.002+11:00

We had the in laws in town and we were strolling down Chapel St and decided to stop for a coffee.

The place we stopped at is called Three Double Two - it's a bar, restaurant and cafe with very trendy orange decor inside and nice outdoor tables on Chapel St.

We ordered lattes which were served fairly promptly. They were made using Map coffee beans. The milk was done nicely, but the coffee tasted mildly burnt. Not a bad place, but probably better for the atmosphere than the coffee.

Beans: Map

Location: 322 Chapel St Prahran 3181

Rating: 3 out of 5

Coffee at Home: Breakfast Wrap

2008-11-23T11:02:00.007+11:00

I was wondering what a good accompaniment with my weekend morning coffee could be, and it was pointed out to me that we had a few tortillas left in the pantry from the last time we had soft tacos, and that perhaps I should try making some brekky wraps (as they are called at Hungry Jacks).

The finished product

Ingredients

An Egg
Bacon
Tortilla
BBQ Sauce

Method

Fry the egg on medium-low heat (I like to leave the yolk a little soft)
Fry the bacon on higher heat as you like it
Warm up the tortilla (10sec in the microwave does the trick)
Put BBQ sauce on the tortilla, add the egg and bacon, and top with a little more sauce

Wrap and enjoy!

Iced Mocha

2008-11-13T21:21:00.003+11:00

OK, my favourite summertime coffee variation is the iced mocha, and one of the best things about trying it from different cafe's is the variety of techniques and receipes employed in making them.

Shots Espresso on Hay St (near Pier St) in Perth had obviously run off a bunch of espresso shots in in morning into a container and put them in the fridge. You can see when they make it they grab some ice, ice cream, pour in about two shots of pre-cooled espresso, chocolate syrup then milk. Not too bad, but the espresso being already cold doesn't blend with the ice cream as much - and I'm not sure of the implications of the espresso sitting in the fridge for a while.

Gloria Jeans - for some reason they offer you cream but not ice cream? Strange. Anyway, I usually decline the cream and go for the basic option here. They make it with chocolate powder, milk and ice, then pour a fresh (i.e. hot) double-shot over the top. It's usually nice and strong, but the chocolate ensures it's not too bitter (an impressive effort given the usual bitterness). I do enjoy this one, but pouring the espresso over the whole drink can make some of it warm up, so make sure you stir it a bit or you'll be having a warm iced mocha on your first few sips.

Coffee at Home: Gloria Jeans Bin 83 - Cappuccino

2008-10-25T10:28:00.004+11:00

Whilst I'm not generally a fan of hot espressos from Gloria Jeans, I did see the pre-ground 'Bin 83 Cappuccino' blend on special at Coles and decided to give it a try.

I chose to ignore the first step on the directions which indicated you should pour boiling water onto the coffee in the plunger, but let the water sit for a bit after boiling first, so it wasn't too hot. No surprises - this actually stopped the coffee from being burnt (a criticism I generally have of espressos over the counter for Gloria Jeans - maybe it's their company policy to have the water too hot and this even makes it on to the packaging of their take home supplies).

The coffee tastes quite respectable as far as plunger coffee goes - there is a faint chocolate edge to it which is nice if you like that sort of thing.

It goes well in warm coffee with milk, but I highly recommend it for iced coffees, where the chocolate taste and sweetness works well. Three heaped teaspoons in the plunger with about a third of a cup of warm water is the trick. Pour that onto ice in the bottom of a large glass, then top up with cold milk an ice cream. Great as we head into summer.

T5 Espresso

2008-10-19T09:39:00.003+11:00

Could it be true? Quality espresso on the Northern Suburbs? The answer is yes!

I met one of my mates for a morning coffee T5 Espresso in Joondalup. The cafe area is very pleasant, and the counter shows of their shiny Synesso espresso machine quite nicely.

I ordered a latte and was quite pleased with the result. The coffee wasn't burnt, it was a nice smooth flavour. The milk wasn't quite as thick as you'd expect, but that may be a symptom of the rather large glass they serve it in - steaming that quantity of milk is always a bit tricky.

Highly recommended if you're in the area.

Beans: 5 Senses

Machine: Synesso

Location: Shop 10 / 115 Reid Promenade Joondalup WA 6027

Web: http://www.t5espresso.com/t5joomla/

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Back in Perth

2008-10-04T00:02:00.004+10:00

Back in Perth for the weekend. Dropped into Velvet Espresso today at lunchtime- nothing has changed - still fantastic coffee there. Didn't realise how much I miss a good cup of 5 Senses coffee.

Hoping to get up to Joondalup tomorrow to check out T5 Espresso. It's recommended by our favourite coffee blogger Mr Grendel as being the only highly rated place in the Northern Suburbs. Looking forward to it.

What makes a good coffee?

2008-09-28T10:21:00.003+10:00

Or, more easily to define, what makes a bad one?

Too hot - hey, I bought the coffee to drink it, not to scald myself! This is also a good indication that the water running through the coffee machine is too hot and would have most likely burnt the coffee when pulling the shot.
Too watery - both the milk and the espresso should be thick and have texture, wateriness is badness.
Milk overcooked - milk tastes funny? They probably steamed it too long, or have left remnants of previous steamed milk in the jar. You'll notice the better cafes (provided it isn't insanely busy) will steam the milk for each coffee individually. Much better.
Too bitter - Often related to running the water too hot, or simply have dodgy old beans. You are supposed to enjoy the coffee - not have to dump 5 sugars in it to make it drinkable. Strong is one thing, bitter is entirely different.

Switchboard

2008-09-07T20:46:00.004+10:00

This is definitely the smallest cafe I've ever been to, but obviously size doesn't matter when it comes to good coffee. The aptly-named Switchboard is run from an old utilities cupboard in the Manchester Unity Arcade. The two baristas, coffee machine, fridge and essential cooking utensils are all that can fit in the the tiny space. Across the hallway is an equally unusual 'dine in' area. Literally one metre wide and three metres long, the enclosed area has glass paneling on the hallway side, and four or five chairs to relax in while enjoying your coffee.

The coffee itself is very smooth and gentle - very nice. Might not be the massive morning caffeine hit that some people may be after, but definitely the perfect blend to have with lunch. They have a variety of small lunch treats, including a variety of toppings (tomato, olive oil and herbs looks tempting) for toasted sourdough, and some other sandwich and light snack options.

If you enter the arcade from the Collins St side, walk to the left of the stairs, and turn left around the corner, and the cafe will is on your left.

Beans: Coffee Supreme - 'South' blend

Location: Shop 11/12, Manchester Unity Arcade, 220 Collins Street

Rating: 4 out of 5

Brother Baba Budan

2008-08-23T09:52:00.004+10:00

Having read about this cafe on Melbourne Coffee Review, I didn't want to get my hopes up. Could there really be decent coffee within morning-tea-walking-distance (i.e. less than 2 blocks) from our office? As it turns out, we have struck gold.

Everything about this place is fantastic. Nice music, funky decor (chairs hanging from the ceiling, like something from Mary Poppins - has to be seen to be believed) and the best coffee this side of Elizabeth St.

Brother Baba Budan do their own single origin coffees from different sources, check out their site for details.

The flat white was really rich and dark, great for people who really like a strong flavour in their coffee. The latte art for those dining in is very snazzy.

Update (26-Nov): Been back several times and the quality has been consistently fantastic. Rating changed to 5 out of 5

Beans: Various

Machine: Synesso

Location: 359 Little Bourke Street Melbourne

Rating: 5 out of 5

Elizabeth St Espresso

2008-08-17T10:16:00.004+10:00

Unfortunately, I work in the western end of the CBD here in Melbourne, so it's quite limited in terms of good coffee (shocking, I know, but more on that later).

However, the walk across to Elizabeth St is certainly do-able for a lunchtime espresso, or if I'm walking in from the Flinders St station side of town.

Quite a small cafe tucked in between a couple of shops just south of the Flinders Lane intersection. Service is great and the team there as very friendly, and will remember you preferred order after only a couple of visits!

Give the short mac a go if you want something nice and strong, I'd also recommend a flat white which is nice and smooth and doesn't need any sugar.

Beans: Illy

Location: 28 Elizabeth Street Melbourne (Google Maps)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Velvet Espresso

2008-08-09T12:50:00.005+10:00

The default choice for the good coffee near Kings St -and with good reason. Velvet Espresso have a small team of fantastic baristas, and no matter who's making the coffee, it's always consistently fantastic. The coffee here is really smooth and not too strong.

I'd recommend the Long Mac, or a Latte. Have a mocha if you feel like something sweet.

Beans: 5 Senses

Machine: Synesso

Location: King St, between Hay and St Georges Perth (on the west side of King St) (Google Maps)

Rating: 5 out of 5

Welcome, Please Have a Coffee

2008-08-09T12:42:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone

Welcome to the Grumpy Coffee blog. Here you'll find an unpretentious guide to cafes that serve good coffee both in Perth and Melbourne.

Your host is a software solutions consultant who enjoys a nice cup of coffee with colleagues at morning tea, and simply can't stand the horrible burnt watery beverage that some cafes falsely claim is 'Teh best espresso eva'. Well, not those words exactly, but you know what I mean.

Having spent a few years working the Perth CBD and finally tracking down a nice collection of places to enjoy a good coffee, I promptly moved to Melbourne, which apparently is Australia's Coffee Capital - or so the tourism marketing material says. So the journey begins...