I can’t help but think that the Camberwell establishment are being shaken to their core by the Collective consciousness of ‘third wave’ barista values in what is perhaps best described as a ’second wave’ coffee heartland. Turning traditional notions of what constitutes good coffee on their head, the Collective applies industry best standards to produce the kind of coffee that is worth crossing town for.

The store has only been open for six weeks but you wouldn’t know it based on the relaxed, friendly and professional service that’s on offer here. In fact, the service here is ‘restaurant quality’ in a cafe environment, which is remarkable really considering that at present there is only a limited menu of savoury items – such as panini – on offer.

The guys from Collective tell me that they are in the process of putting a kitchen in and bringing in a chef to spruce up what they have on offer, which is probably a good thing as on the day I visited the pastries in the ambient display cabinet looked and tasted a little on the dry side; but then again who could’ve predicted a 27C day at the tail end of winter?

More importantly, the coffee at Collective Espresso is excellent. They use a blend of Five Senses coffee for milk-based drinks and a changing selection of Single Origin coffees for espressos. When you combine this with the proven power of the famed Synesso coffee machine/Robur grinder line-up – then what you are in for is some very fine coffee indeed.

Collective Espresso’s location is a little tucked away [in a side street] but it’s close to public transport and just down the road from a park and playground, which is just the thing for the kids to run off their excess energy after an almond croissant!

I for one know where I will be heading the next time I go to Camberwell market! [PS]

Shop 1, 3 Cookson St
Camberwell VIC 3124
(03) 9882 8995

Another, slightly lower-profile option in Crows Nest, is Cafe E61, up Willoughby Road and just around the corner from Wrapido.

The Faema E61 was the name of a famous and ground-breaking commercial espresso machine, launched [not co-incidentally] in 1961. Therefore, we would expect a large part of its focus to be its coffee and using Toby’s Estate, on the coffee front,  Cafe E61 did not disappoint.

However, it’s also an interesting Crows Nest option on the food front. Because it’s small and fairly narrow, it wouldn’t be a suitable option for work lunches or large groups, however although simple, the food was good and extremely good value.

Menu items consisted mainly of sandwiches, such as Panfried pancetta, fetta, tomato and rocket [$7]; Rare roast beef, horseradish, beetroot, tomato, swiss cheese and lettuce [$7.70]; Brown rice & lentil pattie, avocado, plum sauce and lettuce [$6.20], and the Thai tuna pattie, with avocado, sweet chilli, tomato and lettuce [$7.20]. E61 also serves a range of breakfast items – I tried the Pesto Scrambled Eggs, which were delicious. They also have wraps, and a selection of cakes and slices, which were all home-made and were excellent.

A low-key alternative to some of the flashier cafes down Willoughby Road, E61 comes highly recommended, especially for the coffee!

E61
20 Burlington Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Phone: (02) 9966 9906

For a suburb with a plethora of great restaurants, it can be surprisingly hard to find a good coffee in Crows Nest. The cafes that are there tend to serve the surrounding business community from Crows Nest up to St Leonards, and are mainly lunch-based operations.

One option that looks the part is Wrapido, and in fact the coffee [depending on who is the barista at the time] isn’t bad at all.

They have a great selection of food, including delicious freshly-baked muffins, along with the usual cakes and brownies. However, what is a little surprising about Wrapido, given the name, is their wraps!

The options seem fantastic at first glance: Taj – chargrilled tandoori chicken, mango chutney, cucumber and yoghurt raita on aromatic rice, all wrapped in a tomato tortilla; Thai Spice – marinated spicy prime beef served rare with grilled eggplant and a fresh herb, cucumber and green leaf salad in a soy chilli & kaffir lime leaf dressing, wrapped in a red salsa tortilla, and Veggie Roast – char grilled mediterranean vegetables in a balsalmic vinaigrette topped with humus and leafy greens on a bed of couscous, wrapped in a pesto tortilla…

At $8.80 that’s good value and the selection seems mouth-watering, almost too good to be true. And this is the problem – at least in our [several] experiences, it was too good to be true. The wraps were overstuffed with rice and not enough of the fillings advertised. Not only that, but several that we tried were soggy.

On the plus side, the actual cafe space is extremely convivial, combining modernity with a comfortable buzz and the selection of coffees is excellent, creating a great ambience – definitely a place to hang out; if only they could do something about those wraps!

55 Willougby Rd
Crows Nest NSW 2065
(02) 9438 4946

A lot has been said [and written] about the Maling Room – including rating in the Melbourne Top 5 in both of Crema Magazine’s annual Melbourne reviews – but we thought it was time to revisit Andrew Lew’s iconic café.

We visited on a Saturday morning and the place was hopping – loud, crowded and buzzing.  This time, we determined to review Maling Room from a normal all-round cafe point-of-view, including things like ambience, and of course food! The menu includes a great range of offerings, including Smoked Salmon Eggs with gruyere cheese, eighteen month aged Truffle Eggs, and Banjo Eggs with Hickory Smoked Bacon with HP sauce. We ordered the Akoori Scrambled Eggs – Indian-spiced with cumin, coriander onion and tomato, and kasundi chutney, and the Smoked Salmon Eggs, both of which were delicious.

My first short black was well-rounded, full-bodied and smooth, the second was a little thinner, although with a velvety mouth-feel; when I asked the barista the reason for the difference, he let on that the first was their house-blend, and the second was a different blend – a Rwandan, that had only been roasted a few days earlier. This is my kind of place; I thought: I can handle being tricked like this!

Probably the only downside is that when it gets busy, things at Maling Room can get a little noisy, due to the wide-open space and the wooden floors. However, this is a small price to pay for what is clearly one of Melbourne’s premier café experiences. Highly recommended. [AF]

The Maling Room

206 Canterbury Rd

Canterbury

This tiny spot on newly gentrified Bourke Street is an offshoot of a catering outfit called ‘The Plated Group’. It promised great things, having been launched with appropriate fanfare to the foodie cognoscenti in inner-city Sydney a couple of months ago, and has developed quite a following amongst locals since then.

Given its ‘foodie’ credentials we went there expecting great things, and were surprised to find that the food options were quite limited. The menu was fairly brief, offering the basics but not much more. Items included Homemade Muesli [$9.50], Toasted Banana Bread [$4.50], Fruit Toast and Ricotta [$6.50], Scrambled Eggs [$8.50] and a range of toasted sandwiches.

The scrambled eggs were nicely cooked, but the surprise was that pretty much everything you order apart from the eggs themselves are counted as an ‘extra’. I had mushrooms and smoked salmon with toast, so my dish quickly went from $8.50 to $14. The meal itself was OK, but nothing special – certainly adequate, but nothing more.

Again promising great things was the shiny Syncra Cynesso three group espresso machine on the stainless steel bench – an attraction for coffee purists ‘in the know’. However once again Side Plate disappointed, my flat white having a slightly ‘burnt’ character. The Cynesso is a beautiful machine, allowing custom espresso settings, but definitely needs to be perfectly tuned to turn out the perfect shot!

Service was pleasant enough – although to this reviewer’s mind, it just seemed a little fussy – perhaps the result of the close quarter contact, due to Side Plate’s rather intimate size. One slightly annoying detail – they don’t have a toilet for customers – in this day-and-age, you would not be wrong for considering that pretty much a ‘given’ for any cafe.

Overall the deal at Side Plate seemed to be one which over-promises and under-delivers; in these recessionary times, it’s also a little pricey for what you get. [AF]

664 Bourke St

Redfern East, NSW 2016

Situated on the south end of Errol Street in north Melbourne is Appetite – a small café with a big reputation for its all day brunch menu.

I arrived at about 11:30 on a Sunday morning and ordered Poached Eggs and Bacon on toast, along with a creamy latte. The staff were very friendly and the service was very good. The coffee arrived and I was greeted with a mug of nice smooth coffee with a dark and slightly nutty flavour and a velvety mouth feel.

A few minutes later, the food arrived – a plate of nicely presented wholegrain hand-cut toast with bacon and poached eggs on top, accompanied by baby spinach and seasoned with a sprinkle of ground parsley and cracked pepper.

The eggs were superb and were matched by the bacon, which was rindless and beautifully smoked; the whole piece was a wonderful chewy texture throughout, without being rubbery or dry. I am sure they must get the bacon from the deli at the Queen Vic markets down the road!

The food is fantastic, the coffee is good and the staff are wonderful. If you are on your way to the Vic markets, stop by Appetite, it’s just a short walk up the road and well worth the trip.

Appetite on Errol – Errol Street, North Melbourne

What makes the difference between a good coffee and a truly superb one? It comes down to a number of things. Firstly, most of our Top Five cafés roast their own coffee, largely because they want maximum control over as many elements of the process as possible. Secondly, our top cafes are not into food. They generally do offer some basics, even if nothing more than a friend or two, but they’re primarily espresso bars.

In fact, there are a number of other things that go into making the difference, but overall it’s the commitment of the owner to excellence right through the process – from sourcing of great coffee through to well-roasted and blended beans, the freshness of the coffee – and the perfect shot that a great barista offers at the end of the process!

Sydney has always been regarded as somewhat of a transient city – one that is fickle to the trends that come and go. But one thing that doesn’t seemed to have changed all that much over the past couple of years anyway, are the main players on the purist espresso scene -  with the burgeoning desire for knowledge about specialty coffee, the guys that created the wave of espresso excellence in Sydney are still riding high on that wave. Riding on their laurels too? No – most of them are continually experimenting with roasts and blends, and even new coffee-making techniques. There is great dedication needed to stay at the top and in so doing, these cafés continue to illuminate the way for the new-comers following in their wake.

And just one further thing – many of our reviewers have lived and worked overseas; let’s be clear – these five cafés are the equal of pretty much any on the world stage – our congratulations to them for their passion for excellence!

1.Mecca

67 King St
Sydney NSW 2000

Tel: (02) 9299 8828

Underneath the cornices of the beautiful old Grace Hotel, on the corner of York St and Sydney’s CBD’s busy King St, lies a real gem. And Paul Geshos is determined that Mecca should live up to its name – as a rare oasis for coffee lovers in Sydney’s CBD!

With two beautiful Mirage’s side by side, they certainly pump them out – and they need to, once the city crowd of aficionados starts lining up at the door from first thing in the morning.

But Mecca is also pushing the boundaries with other types of coffee, including the Siphon unit – a vacuum coffee maker, which works on the principle of expansion and contraction of water vapour to infuse the coffee grounds, a method primarily employeed by coffee nerds, but becoming increasingly popular with specialty coffee aficionados.

It’s a method that best showcases single origin coffees, and they’re currently offering this unique brewing method with exotic origins like Ethiopian Sidamo, Kenya AA Auction Lot 639 Gatomboya and Guatemala El Injerto Estate Pacamara. They offer the Siphon-brewed coffee for $3.50 up [depending on origin]. It’s difficult to explain in print, however, if you’re planning to explore coffee to new levels, this is certainly worth checking out!

Head Barista: Alex Kum

2.Toby’s Estate

32-36 City Rd
Chippendale NSW 2008

Tel: (02) 9211 1459

Toby’s is one of the ‘big names’ of the boutique coffee roasting business in Australia, supplying several hundred cafés in New South Wales, and soon to expand to Victoria.

They also have several retail cafes, including the original in Cathedral St, Woolloomooloo, and our favourite – the Chippendale location – on City Road opposite Victoria Park, and close to Broadway.

One of the pioneers of specialty coffee in Sydney, Toby’s have been up there, but not quite top of their game for the last couple of years. However, with a couple of new baristas, and innovations like the new Mirage Idro Compresso hand lever unit [at their Chippendale store] they’re definitely back up there with the best!

With a house espresso blend that is full-bodied and chocolatey, this is truly excellent coffee destination - highly recommended.

Head Barista: Joel Scott

3. Campos

193 Missenden Rd
Newtown NSW 2042

Tel: (02) 9516 3361

We ‘discovered’ Campos seven years ago [Crema issue Spring 2002] and others took up on our review that year, and in subsequent years.

With their success has come growth – they’ve expanded to become one of Sydney’s leading suppliers of specialty coffee to cafes.

Typically with a tangy, fruity flavour and hint of spice, their shots come to their peak with milk-based coffees, and since approximately 90% of Australians drink milk-based espresso, they’ve picked their niche well! It’s always busy and the main complaint if often finding a seat. But we see its business as a just reward for their commitment to espresso excellence - Campos is still the benchmark by which others are judged!

Head Barista: Ben d’Emden

4.Single Origin

60-64 Reservoir St

Surry Hills

Tel: (02) 9211 9055

As the name suggests, these guys have chosen to make a name for themselves in single origin coffees.

A buzzy atmosphere - one that’s almost a little too frenetic for some - they manage to pour out some of the best espresso shots in town. Typically your espresso will have a spicy, caramelly flavour ['House Origin' blend], but they also offer single origins like Habar from Honduras, El Salvador Santa Anna and Panamanian Boquete.

Single Origin hit the scene almost 6 years ago with their café in Sydney’s trendy Surry Hills, and over that time, have built up a loyal following.

Head Barista: Shoji Sasa [pictured]

5.Grind Espresso

6 Surf Road
Cronulla NSW 2230
Tel: (02) 9568 5535

An oasis of relaxation in beachside Cronulla - Grind features the sort of cosy, grungy atmosphere that you would expect to find in Newtown’s King St. Its walls are lined with all sorts of knick-knacks, photos and reviews - most of them good! And there’s a reason for that. Richard Calabro and his team churn out the sort of coffees that you could almost drive down to Cronulla especially for.

Let’s cut to the chase - they don’t do food but that’s not why you come to Grind. It’s an espresso bar and yes, it’s all about the coffee. And what great coffee it is too - it certainly holds its own with any of its more citified Sydney compatriots - smooth, bold and with an excellent crema - these guys do it right. If you’re down that way, make sure you make a visit; for the true espresso aficionado, this one’s definitely worth the 40 minute drive!

Owner/head Barista Richard Calabro

There’s a new gun in town and the word going around is that only the Laotian will do! If you haven’t been to Kensington recently then you should probably do so, as a plethora of cafes beckon and none more so than the aptly named, Obscura, located somewhat obscurely at 1 Bellair Street, Kensington, just outside the train station. However, as I write, plans are afoot to relocate the café across the tracks sometime in April, so get in quick if you want to experience the best of what’s on offer at the current location.

The café itself is only seven months old and already they’re looking to relocate to larger premises, which will also hopefully be a bit more resilient to Melbourne’s notorious weather. After cycling furiously around Kensington for 40 minutes trying to find the cafe on my mobile gps, I eventually found Obscura nestled in the comfortable confines of the train station.

Still, the wait was worthwhile because what I discovered was a speciality coffee shop that imports its own coffee from Laos, roasted to order, and flown direct to Melbourne via Thai Airways. Now I’m not sure how many readers have been to Laos, but I have and I can tell you that the coffee there is fantastic, and is poured dark and strong over ice, but be sure to tell the locals to leave the condensed milk out of the mix!

I enjoyed a piccolo latte at Obscura made from the Bruno blend, which Tom describes as medium to full-bodied and as his ‘Melbourne-Italian style espresso blend.’ My piccolo was well made and flavoursome with caramel and biscuit notes predominating, combined with a hint of exotic Asian spice.

It’s all about the coffee at Obscura, with 7 blends to choose from, most of which are rotated on the coffee machine. According to the JCFC website the coffee is, ‘cultivated from antique Arabica rootstock planted by French colonists in the 1920’s,’ and the coffee is shade grown in jungle forests of the Bolven Plateau in Southern Lao. You can also purchase whole beans for home use, and all of the coffees are certified FairTrade, from the Jhai Coffee Farmers Coop of Lao.

For the record, the Laotians refer to their homeland as Lao (and not Laos), apparently it was those pesky French colonists who decided to call the country Laos, as is their habit of putting a redundant ‘s’ on the end of everything. In the words of the local Lao people; ‘Khob chai lai lai! (which means thank you very much)’. [PS]

1 Bellair Street,
Kensington VIC 3031

We continue to showcase our line up of high-end grinders reviewed late last year and featured in the latest issue of Crema Magazine. Whether you are starting out or planning to up-grade, this review is designed to highlight the features and functions that you should be taking into consideration. 

This unit from Wega is a ‘re-branded’ Compak K3 Touch so this grinder comes from an impressive heritage of commercial grinders.
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ECA (Anfim) ‘Best
RRP: Silver – $699.00 Chrome – $769.00 (incl GST)

This unit has the look and build quality of a commercial grinder but with significantly smaller dimensions, which lends itself to the domestic kitchen setting. With its polished alloy exterior and weighing only 8kg, it’s slim and stylish with pretty much all the benefits of a larger, heavier commercial unit. Standing at 38cm tall, it has 500gm bean hopper with a hopper-stopper. It has tempered steel flat burr blades, a dosing chamber and utilises a stepped grind adjustment mechanism.

The Best performed very well and our reviewers were particularly impressed with the speed of operation, even when lined up against the bigger semi-commercial grinders. It showed an excellent consistency of grind and dose. The resulting espressos were excellent, with a consistent flavour profile.

There were a couple of minor niggles which were picked up by the reviewers, the main one being that the increments on the stepping collar were quite big – therefore not allowing for ultra fine adjustments to the grind setting, but in practice, this did not present a problem in setting an accurate grind for espresso. The only other main issue was that the tamping disc on the front of the unit gets in the way – in fact, it is often unscrewed and left off by operators ‘in-the-know’!

The build quality and performance make it an excellent grinder to compliment a high-end home espresso machine while its smaller dimensions make it a stylish and reliable grinder for the home espresso setting.

VERDICT: High performance unit for the serious ‘prosumer’. Recommended for the home espresso enthusiast who needs a grinder to handle a moderate to high volume. Also suitable for low volume commercial use (ie: back-up/decaf grinder).

Height: 38cm

Flat Burr (tempered steel), Stepped, Dosing Chamber

Consistency of Dose: Max variation range of 0.1gm (average dose was 5.0gm)

Speed of operation: 39.2gm in 30 sec
Temp of grinder blades at end of test: 31°C

For more information on this review and to read about other grinders click here.