Friday, February 25, 2011

Coffee: My Drug of Choice II

It's been more than one year since I blogged about coffee. Melbournians now have many more specialty cafes to choose from. 

St Ali has opened Sensory Lab in the heart of the city and Outpost on the wrong side of the river, both are open SEVEN days a week.   Seven Seeds also opened De Clieu on Gertrude St.  According to the review on The Age, they even have a gluten-free vegan option. 

Melbourne's best coffee chain Cafenatics also opened a specialty coffee joint called Eclipse in the city.  It is ONLY TWO MINUTES walk from my work.  I can now sleep in for  20 minutes because I don't need to detour to Brother Baba Budan on the way to work anymore.  They normally have three different types of beans in their grinders: different single origin coffee, guest blend and the house blend. They make great coffee most of the time and knock my socks off every now and then.  I had a Bonsoy long mac made with Market Lane Seasonal Blend there and it was the best espresso coffee I've ever had.  They also serve pour-over and cold drip coffee .  I tried one when they were testing the recipe and it was pretty awesome. 

(I normally use my Keepcup, don't hate me, Captain Planet.)

Eclipse
60/470 Flinders Ln, Melbourne


Awesome people at Eclipse told me they also have a little sister called Little Wish (See The Real Melbourne's review here).  What they offer are pretty much the same as the sister cafe but they have an awesome looking SLAYER espresso machine!




I had a very delicious Santa Babara and Kenya Gethumbwini (both single origin beans are from Market Lane) on pour-over there.

Little Wish 
530 Little Collins St, Melbourne
(It is very hard to find as they don't have any signs at all. Entry via Exchange Tower main entrance, walk pass all the fast food joints and news agency, look right.)


For the "Latte-Sipping Carbon-Neutral Bleeding Hearts", the one-year-old lacto vegetarian cafe Monk Bodhi Dharma in Balaclava is the best choice. They serve top-notch coffee and amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing vegan-friendly gluten-free food. (We blogged about it twice before our blog turned gluten-free and once afterward)  

I highly recommend their delicate hand crafted pour-over coffee. The beautiful aromas and flavours are very complex and change when it cooled down. The best pour-over I've ever had.


nice soy long mac

fantastic single origin pour over 

Monk Bodhi Dharma
202 Carlisle Street,Balaclava
Ph 9534 7250

 

Back to the northside, you can't really go past Proud Mary for some mind blowing specialty coffee action.  I have tried their flawless Soy Latte, syphon and cold drip. The cafe is pretty big but it is pretty hard to get a table as they are full of Hipsters and 4WDers from other side of the river.  

If you like a good syphon and cold drip, try them at Proud Mary.

Soy Latte
Syphon
Proud Mary
172 Oxford Street, Collingwood
Ph: 9417 593


Padre Coffee's East Brunswick Project is just a short bike ride from our house.  They are also one of the early proud owners of the Slayer espresso machine.  
 
yummy and pretty soy latte and soy hot choc

 nice soy long mac

The Brunswick East Project
438 Lygon St,Brunswick East
Ph: 03 9939 8422
  


I really need to wrap it up here or I will never finish this post.  I might do another blog post about the Fantastic Market Lane after I try out the coffee from Cup Of Turth, Dancing Goat and Dead Man Espresso and other Melbourne specialty cafes.


On My Walkman  
Tron: Legacy OST - Daft Punk

5 comments:

  1. I love how Melbourne has so many cafes in little laneways.
    I lovvvve coffee too! We have Hudsons on the ground floor of my work so I have to walk past it on my way into and out of work...nothing better than a coffee after an early shift.
    Those coffees look amazing, I love how some places do the patterns in the coffee. Ive never heard of pour over or cold drip before.

    Rose

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  2. I really like Bodhi Dharma, good coffee and great Avo with chili jam on toast.
    Thanks for the post

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  3. I lack your commitment to high-class coffee - I could spend an extra five minutes a day and get coffee from De Clieu, but end up just lazily going back to Radio. Maybe I need to get coffee-tasting lessons from you - you should run a course.

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  4. @Rose, which town are you at?

    @Michael, I still haven't tried De Clieu yet. Coffee-tasting lessons? Like the $190 CAE Ride-to-work course? LOL I guess taste is very personal. Can you tell much difference b/w the flat white at Radio from places like Proud Mary and Monk Bodhi Dharma?

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  5. dancing goat blows. walk a little further east along little lonsdale and try shop 7. it's delicious.

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