Mud that won’t stick

Cafe de Cuba, Cuban Serrano, Single Origin Bean.  $9/250g.  Rio Coffee, Adelaide

My wife, who cycled across Cuba some years ago, only semi-jokingly advised that the beans I’d just purchased would be “muddy”.  Cuba holds many good memories for Chris but none of them involves coffee.....bicycle saddles are something of a sore subject too.  Undeterred, and having bought the beans anyway, I made a couple of shots of espresso with the Cuban beans this morning and sure enough they were a little darker than my usual beans deliver.

Muddy however, they were not.

Dark, deep brown with flecks of black in the thick crema was an encouraging start.  The aromas are of chocolate and blueberry and the palate is rich, smooth, full-bodied and finishes with an umami-like savouriness.  A great perk-you-up espresso choice.

Bean, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Six days in Brisbane for the Brisbane Wine Show. They say that it takes a lot of water to make good wine; I can vouch that it takes a lot of coffee to judge your way through 2000 and some wines. 

Each morning of the show a group of the judges set off into the heart of Fortitude Valley and stopped at Bean Espresso Cafe (54/22 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley) for coffee.  By day three Simon, arguably the world’s most taciturn barista, knew our orders; who wanted a take-away doppio macchiato and who wanted an espresso in a porcelain cup.  Class.  Great coffee.  A bit of a detour off the CBD but worth the effort.

Toby’s Estate Coffee Sydney

Toby’s Estate Coffee, corner of Cathedral Street and Palmer Street, Woolloomooloo, Sydney.  http://www.tobysestate.com.au/

I visited the Toby’s Estate Café in Woolloomooloo recently having read good things about their coffees.  OK, it is a long way from Adelaide but  as Adelaide Airport has what is arguably the best airport coffee in the country at Cibo, the journey was not only worthwhile but caffeine withdrawal didn’t have time to kick in either.

Toby’s was serving, as their standard espresso of the day, a coffee which was new to me; Monsooned Malabar.  I’ve never been served an espresso before which was so treacle-like in appearance nor one so smooth and deep in flavour.  If this had been a wine it would be a really young Vintage Port; oozing flavour and richness yet incredibly balanced.  You’ve got to love a coffee like that at 9am.

The name Monsooned Malabar indicates beans which have been aged, during the south west Monsoon season, in warehouses in Kerala allowing them to swell in the humidity and take on their unique characters.  Some have described a musty note to the flavour profile but thank goodness this has eluded me to date.

I purchased some beans and managed to get close to the Toby’s standard, close but not quite there.  Clearly room for further practice and perhaps a 500g bag of beans this time rather than the 250g.

McCafe

McDonalds has made a lot of fuss about the coffee at its McCafe stores. Rainforest Alliance Arabica coffee beans lead the sales pitch.  Tempted, I ventured recently to try an espresso. The good news is that no birds were harmed in the production of the coffee but taste buds were offended. Insipid and dull, the espresso wasn’t worth finishing. A missed opportunity.

England

Marks and Spencer

M&S has begun opening cafes in some of its larger stores.  Service is not what you’d expect from a business so strong at retail but sadly is what you expect from a retailer with little experience of hospitality. Don’t go on a busy day is all I can advise.  

The coffee beans are amongst the most audited in the world: Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest Alliance certified.  It’s quite amazing that the producers have time to grow the beans after dealing with all that paperwork.  The coffee? Well, for £1.40 you get a shot of much-better-than-most espresso, and served in a porcelain cup too.  Worth a detour.

VELLA NERO Roastery, Coffee Bean Boutique & Caffé Bar
Shop 3 / 259 Clarence Street, Sydney, 2000 Australia Tel +61 2 9268 0755

www.vellanero.com.au

A barista has nowhere to hide with an espresso; no milk to distract the palate and cover up any bitterness or ill-behaved acidity in the coffee: the espresso is the test. When next you find yourself in the Sydney CBD visit Vella Nero and order yourself one of their rich, deeply flavoured and smooth  espressos.  I recently found myself there and well, if one was good, two had to be even better.  I rationalise that I had to be sure that the first wasn’t just a fluke and that I’d had an early start to get the dawn flight from Adelaide but fact is, coffee this good is scarce so when you’ve found it, make the most of it.

I’ve long held the view, confrontational as it maybe to Australians, that if you want a reliable cup of coffee go to New Zealand.  OK, there was that time that I actually hopped the counter and showed two, too shocked to protest, old dears how they should be making double shot espressos but as a rule, New Zealand delivers. 

It’s most unlikely that you’d need to hop the counter at Agnes Curran, (181 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, Auckland.  Ph: 09 360 1551 entrance on Franklin Road ) because this discretely sited cafe with a groovy courtyard and cool cakes serves magnificent double espressos.....and if they can do that steaming and frothing milk is a doddle.  Well worth the detour from downtown Auckland.