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Perth's Best Coffee...

edited October 2011 in Cafe reviews
Can't say that I'm overly qualified to make comment on this one, as I aint ever been there!

I have tried the AM blend from Five Senses, though, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I know that Five Senses have a presence in Melbourne, also, and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried their coffee locally, to see waht they think of it

Cheers,

Pat
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Comments

  • Absolutely LOVE fivesenses!!  Love their coffee, their philosophy and how they conduct their business.  Definately my number one choice for WA. Also highly recommend Epic - two (yes 2!!!) tripple group synesso's with matching Mazzer Robur grinders...very sexy  ;D
  • It has to be Epic by far The best roaster i've tried is 5 scenses LE
  • I live in Adelaide but go to WA a bit. I have tried Five Senses coffee and liked it so much I bought some home. I also like the coffee from Roasted With A Passion in Freo.
  • Back to WA tomorrow maybe I can find more!
  • Try velvet behind His Maj Theatre LE
  • Hi guys - had to go to Perth last week and manage to check a few out; didn't manage to get out to Epic Espresso, however. Tiger Tiger is touted as one of the 'hip' places to be in Perth at the moment, plenty of funky young people, but the coffee itself was a little disappointing - could hardly taste the shot in a single shot piccolo latte. Not that I'm suggesting every cafe has to use an 18gm basket like Campos in Sydney, or Batch in Melb. but you should at least be able to taste it without specifying a double shot. Requested a second shot [barista didn't remake, but sent it out in a little jug - by which time it was cold!]. VElvet was great - excellent shot although the milk was a little cold first time [only about 50 deg.]. Unfortunately didn't get a chance to go back - usually try to get somewhere twice before forming an opinion - but this was definitely the place for me. The only thing that surprised my was the price - why is it that smaller cities feel they can charge $3.50 per coffee, whereas in Sydney $2.50 - 3.00 [even a the best cafes] is the accepted range?? -A
  • The only thing that surprised my was the price - why is it that smaller cities feel they can charge $3.50 per coffee, whereas in Sydney $2.50 - 3.00 [even a the best cafes] is the accepted range?? -A
    Maybe because they have to - Perth rent isn't cheap at the moment. Coffee prices in Melbourne are too cheap. In the last 24 months milk has gone up at least 6 times, the price of coffee beans has gone up, take away cups have gone up, everything has gone up except for the price the customer is paying for their coffee.. Cafe owners have been absorbing the price increases blamed on the drought, fuel price and higher interest rates, eventually they'll either go broke or be forced to put them up. Customers are happy to pay $3+ for a 250ml coke but not for a good coffee???
  • all further posts on price of coffee - please post on topic on Trade page tx -A
  • Sorry to hear your visit to Tiger Tiger wasn't what you hoped - I drop in there once a month and usually find the coffee to be excellent - can depend on who is making it - Jackson (barista) is generally the best. A shame you missed Epic too - that is a fine place to start on Perth Coffee. If you went to velvet you were also very close (in an arcade parallel to King Street) to Ristretto, another great Perth spot who use 5 Senses, but also some St Ali and Fiori from time to time. 5 Senses have a big name and a well deserved reputation, but Fiori Coffee are right up there in quality termsand have some great estate coffees. WA is lucky in roasters these days.
  • Thanks to both epic and velvet. Took a friend from syd to both tuesday arvo. he now knows WA coffee is the best. he also said that he would pay more im Sydney if the coffee and service were as good. also one of my locals has been down to perth with school work and she tells me that she loved velvet which she was able to walk to for 3 lattes (t/a). so now the presure is on for me to improve even more. One day i will find more good cafes & have more stops between Epic Velvet & Go. cafe LE
  • Hi Grendel - no probs re: Tiger Tiger - interestingly the barista was an [older] woman, possibly the owner? Perhaps the regular barista was away - could explain things? -A
  • Just tried Ristretto the other day, and now have 3 stops to try and make each week. will find more oneday i hope. LE
  • The Perth specialty coffee scene is growing at a rapid pace, a few years ago there were'nt many quality outlets but now there is a great choice of great cafes if you know where to go:-- Epic Espresso, West Perth Velvet Espresso, CBD Tiger tiger coffee bar, CBD Zecca, CBD Ristretto, CBD Cafe 54, CBD East Spring, Subiaco T5 Espresso, Joondalup Mooba, Wembley Short Macc, South Fremantle Cranked, Leederville West End Deli, West Perth Lemon Station, Cottesloe Check out some cafe reviews from WA on:-- http://www.bestcafes.com.au/cafes/wa
  • well, here's the biggy [from our point-of-view] - we do Best Cafes of Sydney every Summer issue and Melbourne every Winter issue, and were thinking we could do best cafes of two other cities, in the 'free' quarters. However, we tried Adelaide for our Spring issue and we were deeply disappointed - there were simply not enough good cafes to choose from - ie we didn't feel we could nominate a Top 5 that we were confident that we could recommend, and you could go there confident you would be served up a great coffee... That just about canned the concept of other cities, until AM pushed me into considering Brissy, and have to say that was a huge revelation [we'll be publishing our Best cafes of Brisbane, in our Autumn issue due out end next week]. So... the big question now is: what about Perth. We know Adelaide's a dud and we're not going to try it again for a couple of years, but we hear there are good things happening in Perth coffee-wise ... do you think there is enough great coffee that we could get a really excellent Top 5 cafes there?? your opinions please... tx A
  • ... yeah thanks AM, but you've studiously managed to avoid my question... I guess Greenman's post [quoted below] indicates he thinks there might be enough, but would still be good to have a couple more opinions on this...
    on 1239621593:
    The Perth specialty coffee scene is growing at a rapid pace, a few years ago there were'nt many quality outlets but now there is a great choice of great cafes if you know where to go:-- Epic Espresso, West Perth Velvet Espresso, CBD Tiger tiger coffee bar, CBD Zecca, CBD Ristretto, CBD Cafe 54, CBD East Spring, Subiaco T5 Espresso, Joondalup Mooba, Wembley Short Macc, South Fremantle Cranked, Leederville West End Deli, West Perth Lemon Station, Cottesloe Check out some cafe reviews from WA on:-- http://www.bestcafes.com.au/cafes/wa
  • Ok thanks for this; for the record, Perth is looking a lot better bet [than Adelaide] in terms of filling the fourth spot for the quarterly Best Cafes feature in Crema [ie the hardcopy mag] - ie Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne & [probably] Perth. A :o
  • on 1194078161:
    I know that Five Senses have a presence in Melbourne, also, and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried their coffee locally, to see waht they think of it Cheers, Pat
    We also get 5senses in Adelaide, and its excellent. Currently top of the list here in SA i reckon.
  • BENCH is a great new addition to the Perth quality coffee scene. ELIXER (Justin Kenney and Jonny Nease) in-house roasted, regularly at the top of the list!! RISTRETTO 160 Central Arcade, house roasted fully traceable coffees, passionate coffee focused crew HOWARD STREET COFFEE (Ristretto Coffee) Kees Van der Westen Idrocompresso/Synesso Hydra, pourover and Syphon, true specialty coffee! THE ROASTERY, Southern River, also run Cafe 54 in CBD, roast their own quality beans, offer pourover and cold drip, La Marzocco Strada EPIC ESPRESSO West Perth, Sarah and crew are passionate about what they do and that's making great coffee!
  • on 1312375330:
    BENCH is a great new addition to the Perth quality coffee scene. ELIXER (Justin Kenney and Jonny Nease) in-house roasted, regularly at the top of the list!! RISTRETTO 160 Central Arcade, house roasted fully traceable coffees, passionate coffee focused crew HOWARD STREET COFFEE (Ristretto Coffee) Kees Van der Westen Idrocompresso/Synesso Hydra, pourover and Syphon, true specialty coffee! THE ROASTERY, Southern River, also run Cafe 54 in CBD, roast their own quality beans, offer pourover and cold drip, La Marzocco Strada EPIC ESPRESSO West Perth, Sarah and crew are passionate about what they do and that's making great coffee!
    Hoping to get to Perth for a couple of days later this week; not sure I'll make it out to West Perth, but hope to get to try all of the rest!! A
  • on 1346661929:
    Hoping to get to Perth for a couple of days later this week; not sure I'll make it out to West Perth, but hope to get to try all of the rest!! A
    Another newby SRO (Standing Room Only) in Piccadilly Arcade which runs off the Hay Street Mall,  as the name implies it's standing room only but they do killer espresso, syphon and pourover, well worth a visit :thumb: :thumb:
  • 5 Senses is only as excellent as the barista. Yes I know that's a powerful declaration but I recommend that coffee is only as excellent as the barista. I can destroy 5 senses coffee by not crushing it effectively or not tamping it effectively.. The beauty of an organization like 5 senses is that they offer very powerful exercising and followup.
  • 24hrs in a hotel on st George's tce from tomorrow night.  Any recommendations within walking distance?
  • Which hotel Borat? Google      Bench                   Woogi                   Velvet                   Maven                   Standing Room Only                   Lowdown                   Castro                   Essence of Coffee  (where I currently work there between 6-noon or 1pm. 11 The Esplanade at the ground floor of Earnst and Young building on top of the Perth Busport) The first two is at the east side of town. The rest at west side.
  • Ok thanks.  I'll be at the Duxton, 1 st George's tce.
  • Duxton is a block away or so from Bench
  • Thanks guys, sitting in LaVeen now as I write / drink, and watching a six group synesso at work... Doing a little bit of a coffee crawl this arvo as I make my way walking and public transport to Bunnings at Subiaco to buy som PVC fittings for my bean cooler. Going to have to stop soon as the caffeine overload will keep me up all night on the way back home. Started off at Bench, just round the corner from the hotel.  Think it was a yirg I tried there and was pleasantly surprised how good it was. Acidic but still smooth if that makes any sense.  The barista seemed passionate about coffee as I watched one of there staff bring trained how to do a pour over. Next was standing room only - a short walk down hay st mall.  Lots of 5 senses bags on the bench, and as the name suggests its a funky little place with no chairs.  Cant remember what I had - was ok but perhaps not so much to my taste. Knowledgable barista who mentioned they are getting some new beans, road freighted from the roaster to ensure quality by stopping the bags popping. Next was Small Print, a few blocks away, down towards the water.  Tucked away one level down, amongst a bunch of restaurants at the base of a collection of office blocks.  A bit hard to find for an out of towner like me, but a great feel to the place, and I was pleased to see the roaster parked behind glass in view from the tables.  I tried a coffee here called something like La providence, which I think was a South American bean - roasted on site. Absolutely stunning!  It was the nicest espresso I've tried from any cafe for quite a while.  My only gripe was the poor girl serving couldn't pronounce the name of the bean - in any case the barista came over and helped out.  I'll be back again when next in Perth. I would have gone to Essence of coffee as well, but I don't think it was walking distance from the hotel. Lastly went to LaVeen.  Bit of a hipster feel to this place but still with friendly knowledgable staff. Tried a LaFinca something (sorry for be so non specific), that apparently the world barista champ won with. A smooth, quite delicate taste with some fruit notes. Nice, but again not really to my taste. One last thing about pricing - an espresso ranged from $3 to $4.70 (wtf??)  I nearly walked out when quoted 4.70.  Funnily enough the cheapest was also the best..  Have coffee prices gone up so much since I left Aust? Anyway, that's it for now - got to rush to Bunnings then back to the hotel in time for work..
  • Good to know you had a good day experiencing Perth's coffee scene. If you ordered a large macchiato, you would have got more or less a latte, as a long mac is different here unfortunately. Prices in Perth will always be more expensive than other capital cities in Australia. Keep us in touch how you go on the bean cooler. Essence of Coffee is only 100 metres from Print Hall and closer to Duxton hotel. Perhaps next time?  :)
  • Damn IPhone!  Couldn't find u on google maps so then I typed in the address and it gave me this:
  • Heehee. That is the southern suburb of Applecross and yes, that is another road named also The Esplanade unfortunately. Google maps would have given the result for Perth Busport and also Earnst and Young. Hey, looking forward to seeing te result of your rejuvenated bean cooler.
  • I had some spare time this arvo so had a go at changing out the old fittings on the bean cooler. As you'll see in the pic I put a 50mm threaded fitting with a 45deg bend piece as well for the pool pipe on the lid. For the vac nozzle I used the basin drain. Tried it the normal way round the first time but the nozzle didn't fit. So reversed it and dremeled out a little of the inside ribs and now it fits great. Here's some pics (still looking a bit dirty as all the gaffa tape glue residue is yet to be cleaned off)...
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