Week 4 of 52
Milk – Dairy Farmers
Beans “Bracegirdles Blend”
Latte Cost – $3.60
So i found myself at burnside one evening recently and popped into Bracegridles for a coffee.
Waiting to order, I was watching the barista who seemed more suited with a surf board than turning out good coffee on the back of consecutive years of barista/coffee competition wins for the Bracegirdles barista’s. Can he pull a good cup?
Coffee came over and what was most worrying for me is that the lighting isnt very bright so could I at least get a photo? I changed my seat and got the above. The milk taste in the froth was good, it had balanced richness and creaminess, however, the rim was quite bitter from where the espresso had amalgamated, something I had not come across in my previous few weeks of coffee blurbs. After eating all the froth I still had the bitter taste in my mouth and was quite concerned about how this coffee will be.
I took the first sip of the coffee, gently, slowly sipped with my mind ticking over….. thinking. I took another sip. I seemed to be drinking another coffee I thought to myself, this wasnt the one I had started with. I had another sip and was pretty amazed at how the bitterness was completly gone and now I was drinking a coffee with gentle smokey notes. Another sip, and another, wow. What the heck happened i thought. Perhaps the smokiness killed the bitterness but who cares, whatever the reason it was a cracker to drink.
My coffee was finished and I was about to leave, the barista come by and I ask him, “hey mate what beans are you using”, “bracegirdles blend”, can you be more specific? I said “Ah, its dad’s blend” he replied. Ok, now that was funny I thought and that answer put it all in place. There was a certain swagger about this young chap, I wouldn’t call it arrogance, but a surfy smugness.
What was classy about this latte was that it went from one world to another, in one cup, and in my mouth.
There is a range of branded coffee biscuits i reckon could be done – “creamy smokey coffee” biscuits. Coffee gives us many other notes that can be used and since Bracegirdles do their own branded goodies, here is an idea to work with, and that’s all it is – an idea.
Bracegirldes Address not on website – but its in Burnside.
You said the rim was bitter… I have found this in the past when the glass/cup has been sitting on top of the machine and not been used or washed properly in he past just a thought?
They use Atomica coffee from Melbourne, but have their own blend
I ordered the Affogato here and was amazed at the taste of the coffee shot. Prior to that it was instant coffees that I drank *shudder* and I never knew how good coffee tasted. It was that espresso shot that got me into real coffee and eventually to get my own manual espresso machine and making my own real coffee.
That was a few years ago and when they won all those barista of the year awards (Well Fifi did anyway). An amazing coffee blend.