Melbourne's Best Coffee

admin

also got to one called De Clieu while I was down recently ... have to say, it was pretty impressive!

beanflying

I might be missing something with De Clieu great layout etc but didn't like the vibe much considering it's heritage of bbb and 7S. Maybe I just need a hipster haircut and a fixie  ::)

admin

mmm... must admit is was a bit of a black t-shirt & jeans day, but the food was fantasitc; one coffee excellent, the second shot a bit average, from memory...

askthecoffeeguy

on 1307245479:

I might be missing something with De Clieu great layout etc but didn't like the vibe much considering it's heritage of bbb and 7S. Maybe I just need a hipster haircut and a fixie  ::)

have you considered growing a moustache?

beanflying

on 1307443474:

have you considered growing a moustache?

Only problem with this would be having to shave off the rest of the full winter beard Might be back in a couple of weeks for a coffee or two so I will consider borrowing a fixie for the day.

beanflying

Hi guys - well, this is the official listing of our Top 5 Cafes of Melbourne from 2010 [as a reference point for starting to look at the 2011 candidates]. 1. Auction Rooms [North Melbourne] 2. Maling Room [Canterbury] 3. Market Lane [South Yarra] 4. Seven Seeds [Carlton] 5. Proud Mary [Collingwood] Just having a browse at last years list and thinking of who else I have had coffees at in the last year worthy of consideration amongst these lot for coffee. 3 Bag Full, Deadman Espresso, The Premises, Axil, 65 degrees, Dancing Goat. Qiute a few I want to try too, League of Honest Gentleman, Cafenatics, Cup of Truth, Monk Bohdi Dharma, and a whole lot more. I should also point out I am NOT part of the judging panel but I will happily accept bribes of free coffees anyway  ;D

o

I seriously question the obove list of best 5. Although i accept your freedom to choose. Proud Mary at 5, and Mailing room 2 ??????????????????? Not sure Maling Room deserves a top 10. Unless a dramatic change in the skill level has occured recently. Sadly Every time I've been to 7seeds lately, it has been a disappointment. But are still a top 7 for sure. Campos is pretty Decent. My dbl rist. was pretty good. A little over extracted, but mostly excellent. Wierd position though I must say. Proud Mary for me is topping my list, though I do admit that it's been a little inconsistant the last few weeks. To me it seems the same names keep rolling out, but I'm not sure that they are necessarily the best. Again I accept your freedom to choose. But the scope seems a little narrow. (knowing full well you cant try them all). For example. though I'm sure it may have almost been a fluke. I had an excellently extracted dble esp. at "Jamaica Blue". Question my palate if you will, but I was genuinely shocked at its density and smoothness, also the beans seemed terribly fresh. Anyway, the point is. Just having the acclaim doesn't (to me) relate to quality. i

beanflying

Hi o, also need to remember that that is last years list and things do change with a change of staff or direction of a particular venue even. Like with even todays Epicure or the recent Age reviews etc there is always some I don't agree with but unless you included a top 20 or 30 then left the numbers off someone is always going to be disappointed. It is one of the great things about Melbourne if you prefer a different coffee your only a short walk to the next great venue.

o

Well, lets us hope for an expanded view of melbournes coffee. What it seems to me, is that the only Espresso bars that get a mention (mostly). Are venues sporting a Synesso, or FB80. So is this the benchmark for a glimpse at potentially getting noticed. Or can you only make good coffee on a $17,000+ machine.

o

Sorry for being a little hot headed, but its hard to refute what I have said, and I am sure we have all had some shocking coffee from last years top 5. I know I have.

beanflying

on 1308035374:

Sorry for being a little hot headed, but its hard to refute what I have said, and I am sure we have all had some shocking coffee from last years top 5. I know I have.

With you there too without wanting to start a war of words mentioning names and or coffee types. Some of the drinks I have been served (brewed and espresso milk and non milk based) were not what they could or should have been. On my recent trip to Melbourne a few of the best milk based drinks came of older Linea's and were not anywhere on the list above. Richmond Rush Cafe on Punt Rd (a bike shop) for one of them and Little Mule in the lane just to the East of BBB. Best Espresso I had was a ristretto that Pat pulled for me at Foxy Brown. All I am getting at here is to get down to a top 5 is hard work. My weapon of choice when I am making coffees is a 3 group lever and no plans to look at LM, Synesso etc. Shots from it are different to the usual suspects and will hold its own I reckon but that's my opinion 

mycuppa

With the sheer number of places serving coffee now in Melbourne, it would be difficult for reviewers to visit and sample contenders and as we know, our own damn palette can shift from day to day. As there would be 400+ places, I am curious how the starting list is prepared - e.g. getting on the radar........what sort of criteria or parameters are used....... appearance in previous reviews, fans on facebook, word of mouth, geographical proximity, publicity, etc. factors that would help raise a cafe's profile to the point it is worthy of consideration.

beanflying

Interesting question how to get on the radar of coffee short lists. The newspapers are fairly good at recycling or parroting more serious reviews from what I read. Apart from that between Twitter, Facebook chat amongst the interested on various web forums, reading coffee review sites with my BS filter fully functioning. At least that's how I generate my short list or prospective places to visit. As to narrowing them down and pinning a number on them in Melbourne of all cities it is harder than most.

admin

on 1308098301:

With the sheer number of places serving coffee now in Melbourne, it would be difficult for reviewers to visit and sample contenders and as we know, our own damn palette can shift from day to day. As there would be 400+ places, I am curious how the starting list is prepared - e.g. getting on the radar........what sort of criteria or parameters are used....... appearance in previous reviews, fans on facebook, word of mouth, geographical proximity, publicity, etc. factors that would help raise a cafe's profile to the point it is worthy of consideration.

actually, happy to detail at length our process/methodology, but the short answer is that it depends on the quality of the [independent] reviewer/judges, who must be intimately knowledgeable of the city involved... Will add a bit more explanation of our process when we announce Best Cafes of Melbourne, in a couple of weeks. A

mrblack

on 1307245479:

I might be missing something with De Clieu great layout etc but didn't like the vibe much considering it's heritage of bbb and 7S. Maybe I just need a hipster haircut and a fixie  ::)

Unemployed hipsters, emos and the like don't get up until midday, so next time you make a pilgrimage to Melbourne, try and visit some of the more popular establishments 1st thing (literally) in the morning....I reckon you'd have a far more positive experience.  >:D

beanflying

on 1309246660:

Unemployed hipsters, emos and the like don't get up until midday, so next time you make a pilgrimage to Melbourne, try and visit some of the more popular establishments 1st thing (literally) in the morning....I reckon you'd have a far more positive experience.  >:D

I was in Melbourne Monday last week, didn't get up to De Clieu (would mind trying it on a Sat/Sun morning again) but plenty of other places for the day. Most impressed with MBD and Dukes for coffee neither of which I had been to before. Planning a couple of days in Melbourne for later in July with a bit more time to spare I hope. Shame it is a 4 hour train trip each way  

mycuppa

on 1309248657:

I was in Melbourne Monday last week, didn't get up to De Clieu (would mind trying it on a Sat/Sun morning again) but plenty of other places for the day. Most impressed with MBD and Dukes for coffee neither of which I had been to before. Planning a couple of days in Melbourne for later in July with a bit more time to spare I hope. Shame it is a 4 hour train trip each way 

Just face it Timbo - you can't stay away..........perhaps a Kitehouse by the Bay might be a possibility ?

Dry_bean.

Cafe/coffee reviews in a city the size of Melbourne must be almost impossible for a single journo to carry out in a thorough and objective manner. The assumption is that the reviewer knows any thing about coffee, that they will write reviews impartially and will visit every cafe in the city an impossibility, even if they restricted the review area to the CBD still a huge undertaking. Reviews are only the opinion of one person on a single day and we all have off days reviewers and barista's alike. I tend to take em with a pinch of salt.

Dry_bean.

on 1309249830:

The coffee or the Reviewer  ;D Must admit, doing the Brisbane rounds and going back to a few of the places...  Has been an interesting experience...  Few are consistent; but it is not impossible. Some are just consistently bad  ::)

The reviews. Can you imagine any Journalist being given sufficient time to visit and review every cafe in Melbourne? The best you could expect is a lucky dip and the worst  an editorially biased load of clap trap.

beanflying

Generally I would agree with the Journalists from the mainstream media having issues with getting around and then having the knowledge and tastebuds to sort out a list is another matter. When for example I posted my personal shortlist above here remembering I am 4 hours away and get to Melbourne 6-8 times a year. Some of that is based on been there before, some comes from person X at place Y told me it was worth trying, some comes from Social Media or other online forums and a tiny tiny touch comes from review sites or guides. The problem with food/drink/general Journo's is they are covering a huge scope of topics in most cases and don't dig into or get involved totally in the topic we are most interested in. So like in the fairfax topic they miss places that they shouldn't or parrot past venues.

beanflying

on 1309248983:

Just face it Timbo - you can't stay away..........perhaps a Kitehouse by the Bay might be a possibility ?

Mmmm maybe one day but I do prefer the country life 

admin

Hi guys - just a quick 'heads-up' - we announce our Best cafes of Melbourne 2011 tomorrow... cheers A

mycuppa

on 1312110090:

Hi guys - just a quick 'heads-up' - we announce our Best cafes of Melbourne 2011 tomorrow... cheers A

Better get your flak jacket and tin hat ready ......... :o

beanflying

5 is so few spots in a city with so much good coffee 

admin

OK here it is: our official Melbourne's Top 5 cafes for 2011 are.... (drum roll please) 1. Proud Mary 2. Dukes Coffee Roasters 3. Axil 4. Dead Man 5. Monk Bodhi Dharma Remember, this is judged on espresso -- we'll have more on judging/methodology shortly [see Melbourne's Best Coffee thread below] --  but for now, our congratulations to the Top 5 for doing an amazing job in an amazing city for coffee; and of course, special congrats to Nolan and the team at Proud Mary!

beanflying

Dukes for me has been the stand out espresso based coffee for the year for me in Melbourne. They don't make much noise online like some just getting in there and doing their thing well. Going to go back to Proud Mary later this week and take my time having a few coffees as the last trip was last year and was a rushed one with Chris Blair (think we hit 6 or 7 cafes for the day). Its a fairly radical change of names in a Melbourne best coffee list but the competition at the top end is tight. Noticed this on Twitter this morning too 

admin

on 1312178084:

Dukes for me has been the stand out espresso based coffee for the year for me in Melbourne. They don't make much noise online like some just getting in there and doing their thing well.

yes, they were probably the surprise element... for those that are interested, herewith the full 'Shortlist' 1. Auction Rooms 2. Axil 3. Brother Baba Budan 4. Dead Man 5. Dukes 6. Maling Room 7. Market Lane 8. Monk Bodhi Dharma 9. Proud Mary 10. 65 Degrees 11. Seven Seeds 12. St Ali 13. The Final Step 14. The Premises 15. Three Bags Full we also threw in a new Campos account [Mr Close] but [if you'll excuse the pun] it didn't come close. A

admin

Ok guys - just to let you know, we've got the story up on the home page [ie http://www.cremamagazine.com.au ] - we'll be putting up some extra fun shots, taken along the way, in our Gallery this afternoon - should be fun to have a scroll through... A

KellyHill

post on best coffees available in the world... makes my mouth water and I realise how much I am ready to travel just for coffee!!  (Link removed - Cross posting).

takeaim

It was great to be asked to be part of the review process again this year, witnessed a big change in the options Melbourne has for great coffee. We started off with a list close to 30 and narrowed it down to 15 for the second round of judging, there were several others that we visited including: League of Honest Coffee Dancing Goat Campos De Clieu Penny Farthing Atomica Sensory Lab and a few others i've missed.

on 1312240156:

yes, they were probably the surprise element... for those that are interested, herewith the full 'Shortlist' 1. Auction Rooms 2. Axil 3. Brother Baba Budan 4. Dead Man 5. Dukes 6. Maling Room 7. Market Lane 8. Monk Bodhi Dharma 9. Proud Mary 10. 65 Degrees 11. Seven Seeds 12. St Ali 13. The Final Step 14. The Premises 15. Three Bags Full we also threw in a new Campos account [Mr Close] but [if you'll excuse the pun] it didn't come close. A