Ambience is definitely a factor in the success of many cafes - well beyond their ability to make coffee in some (many?) cases. The Little Pocket in Moffat Beach is a great example. They've come into a beautiful location with three entrenched competitors who have bigger cafe frontage and much more outdoor seating space. They're DESTROYING them. Not because the coffee's better (it is), but because they others had 'cheap gentrified money suckers' written all over them. The Little Pocket looks like someone teleported a Melbourne laneway cafe, baristas intact, straight into the smallest shopfront in the area - and they're killing it. The place looks fantastic. Of course, they're serving Campos beans so it's not all great, but they're good baristas and they give me the royal treatment every time I walk in the door. At nearly every other local cafe a request for a ristretto delivers only puzzled looks. Not only do these guys know the style, they know it means I'm fussy and pedantic. Whether it's just a bit of theatre or not, they usually sink the first shot they try to pour me before making a show of adjusting the grinder a little and trying again. I don't care if it is show, even at their busiest they take a little bit of time to make me feel valued - even tho I'm a pain in the arse coffee-minority.
