Milk – Tweedvale

Bean roaster and blend – Veneziano and the blend is Forza.

Wifi – Yes (soon)

Ristretto Cost $3.00

Cappuccino Cost $3.30

I have heard a few times that this cafe is the place for Coffee in the Hills, but does it match some of Adelaide’s best? Previously at ‘Nano Ready 2 Go’, they now own and more importantly, run Sazon in Mt.Barker.

Cappuccino arrives as below and it has an uninspiring presentation with coffee art only being done on lattes as seen on others throughout my time here at Sazon. You can see the small pile of sugar crystals which are mixed in with the chocolate powder centre of coffee, not attractive. Avoiding patterns on a cappuccino saves time for the barista but lacks any flair or creativity they may have and first impressions are important. Beyond the blanket, the froth is textually very silky and creamy, this was done very well and enjoyable to have. The colour of the coffee is a little over medium with caramel  coming through and a buttery aftertaste.  I have to say, this was a very good cappuccino and I would happily have more of these – beans with character and excellent froth potentially make for return visits.

Look, presentation isnt everything but if I walked past Sazon for the first time without knowing anything about them and saw cappuccinos being served as below, I wouldn’t go in as I would interpret the coffee as being very average, unloving and made with no passion or enthusiasm and done by an employee who see’s their work as just a job. Ok, thats a generalization but has its merits.

Lure your customers in by showing what you are capable of.

The ristretto as below had a forced rippled look about it (apologies for bad photo – you cant really get a good indication from it) and suggests that it wasn’t made correctly. I’ve had a couple of ristrettos presented to me like this and the end result generally has been the same. This one lacks the body of a ristretto, its just not there and said ‘espresso’ to me. I didnt order that. This was a coffee that didnt really fit under a specific name  with an attempt to give it head (ristretto) yet with the body of a espresso.

Ristresso perhaps.

Mixed results from my 2 coffees. They’ve showed elements done exceptionally well, and some done not so great. Having Adelaide talk about your coffee and grouping it with those considered ‘the best’ takes knowledge and understanding of all coffees, as well as consistency, good presentation and a wanting to always improve, overall today’s coffee was really let down by the ristretto.

Milk – Tweedvale

Wifi – Yes

Beans and Roaster – Rio coffee and its the crema blend.

Cappuccino Cost  - $3.20

Ristretto Cost  - $2.90

Prospect Road is where we are for this weeks coffee. Spoke to someone the other day that loves coming to this place for coffee and as it is on the list of places to visit, lets try them.

I ordered my usual 2 coffee’s, a cappuccino and a ristretto.

The cappuccino has nice presentation as you can see below, the froth also looks inviting with a glistening sheen that I often see on milk that is textured really well. It tasted creamy and dense although there was a hint of bitterness coming through which possibly came from the slight speckled curves either side of the main pattern, if you look closely you can see it. Fortunately it disappeared very fast and the nice froth carried on from where it left off.

With the froth finished I was onto the coffee and that had low acidity with a creamy medium body with enough coffee to counter the richness and ending with a gentle rounding off. Despite the ever so slight hiccup of the bitterness, this was a pretty good cappuccino.

I’ve tried many ristretto’s over the last year and the best attribute for this drink is mouth feel, it takes it to another level surpassing flavour qualities and any other attribute. The ristretto I had for this writeup was surprisingly good. It had a  decent amount of viscosity together with a ‘brown sugar’ sweetness as a high note and no doubt my teeth was covered in a coffee gloss, something my other half notices when I drink a proper made ristretto.

The head barista was telling me that they get beans delivered weekly which is a good sign that they order small amounts regularly and a reminder  that coffee beans should be fresh and Muratti’s abide by this rule. Its the little things that take coffee from poor to average to excellent and as I have said before, attention to detail and getting every element right will pave the way to perfect coffee.

Muratti’s, a cafe trying hard to bring good coffee and making my visit a pleasant surprise.

Milk – Tweedvale

Wifi – Yes

Beans and Roaster – roasted by Red Berry Espresso & it is single origin Colombian.

Cappuccino Cost $3.50

Ristretto Cost $3.00

In my search for not 1, but 2 good coffee’s each week has me sometimes thinking about how much barista’s taste and analyze competitors coffee and compare it to their own.  Do they go out and see what Joe Blogs Coffee shop is doing? Or perhaps they think what they are doing is enough, but is it really? Gauging yourself against others and doing it honestly can be a positive move in improving coffee for the people that that visit your cafe.

Exceptional coffee does exist in Adelaide (contrary to those interstate who think otherwise), but how did we go today?

For today’s coffee I ordered a cappuccino and ristretto.

The cappuccino as below doesnt have a good appearance. I was disappointed when this was presented to me and coming off the back of last weeks awesome froth, today’s writeup really had to be a tough followup no matter which cafe it was. You can see unwanted air in the foam, it shows a lack of density, it did however improve as I removed the top layer and headed towards the bottom half of the froth but its too late by then, the damage has been done.

Next we move onto the coffee where first appearance shows the coffee colour to be on the darker side, suggesting that it may be fuller tasting and it was with a full body and medium acidity.  The balance of the coffee was a bit one sided and it managed to keep that beautiful Tweedvale milk at bay.

The ristretto as below had an initial underlying thinness but that subsided with mild acidity and a decent body coming through, it ended with a moderate lingering aftertaste. The appearance had a dark shade running through it so that was good to see but it also seemed a bit thin and this was true to the initial part of this drink as mentioned above. Would of liked a bit more intensity and body in this drink.

Listening to the barista today grinding the beans to order was music to my ears. Any cafe that does this deserves a try. My ears were in full tune of what was going on (and I was sitting outside) as I could also hear the barista  purging the steam wand before and after texturing the milk (not all places do this and you should), little things like this go along way to making a better coffee. Having said that, I felt that Red Berry Espresso needed a little more refinement on the coffee’s. Hoping to re-visit sometime to view the new roasting machine that is being installed soon, and most of all, to re-try the coffee.

Milk – Tweedvale

Wifi – Yes

Beans and roaster – Campos is the roaster and we had the house blend.

Cappuccino Cost – $3.30

Ristretto Cost – $2.80

On twitter I sometimes look at photo’s that are posted of cappuccinos or latte’s and too often the froth isnt textured properly. Bubbles in froth is not attractive. The photo of the cappuccino below shows what textured milk should look like. Over and above the piece of coffee art, this silky froth was a pleasure to have. When it was presented to me I looked at in admiration, as you can see the barista had done the texturing of the milk as good as it gets and this showed in the taste, texture of the froth – what a great start i’m off to at Avila coffee with silky sublime microfoam. I’m hoping this continues through the rest of this drink and to my total enjoyment, it did. A mellow but substantial coffee with a medium body to keep it right on par and together with the perfectly textured milk, it was in perfect harmony. Outstanding cappuccino.

Remembering this drink is made up of 95% milk, or thereabouts, so the milk must be treated with the same importance as the coffee.

Crossing that line between espresso and ristretto not every cafe gets right but this one did and it was a pretty good cup. I would of liked to of seen a bit more speckled colour in the head though, but aside from that, my coffee said ‘ brisk acidity ‘ and fruitiness together with some mouth feel left me feeling pretty happy about my 2 coffee’s today.

This is the first cafe using Campo’s coffee I have been to in this 52 week journey…. am I happy I went? Well, it wont be long and i’ll be back with high expectations. Thanks for coming to SA Campos and thankyou Junko for a cracker cappuccino.

Milk – Tweedvale

Wifi – No

Beans and Blend – Beans roasted by The Coffee Barun and its the house blend.

Cappuccino Cost – $3.50

Ristretto Cost – $3.00

Found myself on North Terrace for coffee this week and ordered my favourite drink, a ristretto, as well as a cappuccino.

The presentation of the cappuccino below is eye opening, look at-it. Whilst having my coffee also I saw a few other caps that were also heavily dosed in chocolate powder, its really a bit heavy handed and adds no value to the coffee. I reckon the barista that made this drink knows a thing or two about coffee art – now that would of been a much better presentation as is seen on their facebook page. Underneath the blanket of powder we have the froth which was textured really well, no problems with that at all – the solid tight globules of silky milk  were on the mark. The coffee came across as medium strength and body with a light creamy background and fast-fading after taste.

The ristrettos’ (as below) appearance was great, it looked really good – inviting. The speckled look tells me that it made it way into the cup as a thick liquid, oh yeh, I was excited. As it turns out my drink was clean tasting with some acidity, this was a pretty good coffee and one I would try again.

A modern day cappuccino should either have no chocolate powder or a little dash, in my cap today the overzealous powder was a little off-putting, visually its unattractive.  I haven’t been to this cafe before and its always refreshing to find another place where I can order a ristretto and know it will be correctly made. Having said that, return visits will be the real test for another important factor of coffee, consistency, but for this first time it was promising.

Milk – Pura

Wifi – Yes

Beans and Blend – Roasted by coffeesnobs.com.au and available through ( BeanBay) Cappuccino blend is the ‘organic@origin’ and the ristretto blend is ‘barista blend’.

Cappuccino – $3.50

Ristretto – $3.00

Fiefy needs no introduction, a very experienced barista who has competed in and won many competitions for her coffee art, locally and internationally and I couldn’t have done this 52 week coffee journey without this cafe included.

First and foremost, we need to strip away any influence and just have a look at the coffee. I ordered a cappuccino and ristretto.

Cappuccino came out first and I like the minimal use of chocolate powder, its just a hint on the edge of the cup to say its a cappuccino and which doesn’t interfere with the froth,  I like that and what lovely presentation it has. This is precisely why she is the queen of coffee art because you get well textured milk and to make these patterns you have to use milk that has been given the right treatment and that comes with discipline and of course practice – Fiefy is well qualified in both. With the silky creamy textured froth all gone I fancy the look of the coffee with its tan colour it looks hot to trot. Sipping away and its really nice,  full bodied with cocoa murmurings. Not much else to say about this drink except very nice from top to bottom.

Next the ristretto (as below) makes its way to my table. How does it compare to other ones I have had in the last 45 weeks that would be considered a finalist?

Well this one was on the thin side with very little mouth feel. It didn’t carry the character of the coffee as much as it could of, and this possibly because of the consistancy and that it tasted a bit too strong – ‘cloudy’ would be a better description. Mouth feel is synonymous with this drink so that it works  and comparing this ristretto today to all the others that have given me a wow moment, this one did not match those unfortunately.

Milk based coffee art at Fiefy’s is certainlty eye candy, no doubt, worth a stop off just to see what she does and it doesnt just stop with the pattern, the rest of the coffee is equally as good.

Milk – Tweedvale

Beans and Blend - Roasted by 5senses and the blend is ‘Caretaker’. (mix of Colombia and Guatemala)

Cappuccino Cost - $3.50

Ristretto Cost – $3.00

Wifi – No

Coffee consistency is an issue for every cafe to bring us the same everytime, and to make it harder for the barista  we are dealing with a product that does vary whether it be the milk or the beans. Sam the owner from Paddy’s tells me in each batch of beans that he buys you’ll get a few beans that are either under or over-roasted (through no fault of the roaster as we are dealing with a natural product so you wont get 100% consistent) and that this will affect one or 2 coffee’s that are served so he sorts through the beans and picks out those dodgy ones and discards them. What attention to detail that is, very impressive and shows a owner that cares about what he serves.

Now,  that’s all good and well, but how was the coffee today? I ordered a cappuccino and a ristretto.

Presentation shows us that they put a dash of cocoa powder on the shot of espresso first then added the milk in a pattern formation to give us the effect as below. The froth was a little short on  quantity, i’d say the latte at our table got my froth as that had a good amount and I got the    lesser amount.  In light of this the  microfoam for my cappuccino could of been a bit more tight  but had a creamy taste and nice earthiness from the cocoa powder. With the froth now finished I can taste a drink that has coffee/milk balance, it also has a sweetness to it and  turns out to be a nice coffee.

So here we go  with our ristretto and visually its looks promising – the colour isn’t the same shade across the board as it has a bit of a darker rash across, thats what we are after. It does look thickish too, another desirable sign. So what happens after we slug it back? We have a ristretto with a thick body, sharp acidity and perhaps big cherry taste as a high note. Its the body that brings this drink together, makes it what it is.

So I ask myself would I order this drink again from this cafe, I don’t say yes too often but today I did and in fact I did have one more which I equally enjoyed.

Its good to chat to the owner of a place, doesnt happen to often because they arent there or 2 busy or don’t want to chat or whatever so its good to know a bit more about this cafe and what they do behind the scenes particularly because it involves making our coffee experience that much better, after-all, cafes are here to serve us and recognition of those making a concerted effort to bring us more than average coffee should be sought after.

Milk - Tweedvale

Beans and Blend - Roasted by 5senses and the blends are for the Cappuccino ‘Harvest’ and the ristretto is Bali Direct Trade.

Wifi – Yes

Cappuccino - $3.70

Ristretto – $3.00

This new place on Jetty road had me interested after seeing a short video of their barista doing a bit of coffee art and so I thought I oughta try them, hoping though the ristretto comes up trumps.

I ordered a cappuccino and ristretto.

Cappuccino arrives as below and I can see little bubbles hovering around the froth which we don’t want. Did the weather (edging on 35c) and seaside presence effect the frothing? It could of and whatever the reason the froth lacked that tight, dense silky mouth feel. After I had finished the froth my interest now turns to the coffee, and I get an instant ‘nice and clean’ thought after the first sip as well as low level caramel taste together with a light creaminess to this coffee, it ended on a good note. Nice coffee base to this cap, but the texturing of the milk let this coffee down.

The ristretto (below) has a unusually deep golden solid layer of crema. It had a medium body and a mouth feel that I couldn’t find and a moderate lingering aftetaste, cocoa perhaps. There was no wow factor to this drink, a missing crucial element wasn’t there, the syrupy mouth feel.

This coffee bar has other styles of coffee such as pour-over and cold drip which will be attractive to some. As a general rule cafe’s offering these types of coffees are probably better than your average place because they are showing skill and knowledge over and above  a milk based coffee and for that reason we should give their coffee’s a go, and that’s another reason why I went to Pure Coffee Bar.

Cappuccino Cost – $3.20

Ristretto Cost – $2.80

Milk – Pauls ‘cafe crema’

Wifi - No

Beans and Blend – Roasted by La Crema and the blend is a secret.

This cafe has had mixed comments on twitter, and one comment in particular regarding the beans that is stored on the wall are perhaps lacking the freshness that is essentail for good coffee. So I wondered how my coffee would be today and ordered a cappuccino and a ristretto.

Good presentation for the cappuccino as below with what looks like milk that has been textured properly and nice to see some attractive coffee art. What lacked in this froth was richness and creaminess… taste was nice but not great, this is a small detail but it does make a difference and using a local milk will give better results. Textually it had tight foam we expect from well made froth so were off to a good start. The colour of the coffee was a nice attractive ‘coffee’ colour which had a good rounded, smooth taste. Good job on the cappuccino.

Visually the ristretto (as below)  looked like a good drink, and with the dark rash it was on the right track. Often ristretto’s are presented with a pale colour and I’ve yet to drink one of those that is ‘correct’, so what we are looking for each week is the dark rash and then we know we are off to a good start. Slugging it back,  I found it lacked viscosity – that claggy mouth feel, sounds off putting doesn’t it but this part of the drink I associate  with, and has always been part of a good ristretto in my last 42 weeks. The amount in the cup was acceptable and their was no problem with the freshness of the beans, whether or not I got those coffee beans on the wall I don’t know. I wasn’t excited by this ristretto nor did I dislike it, it just didn’t leave me with any great, wow, fantastic thoughts.

Great service from the young lady today who served me, always makes the experience that much better but I also had to endure  suicide violin music from the busker nearby, despite this  I was only there for 2 coffee’s in a new cafe that appears to be trying to bring us good coffee, but I wonder how a ristretto would be on a return visit. Would it be made with more vooma? I guess time may tell.

Milk – Pauls

Wifi – Yes

Roaster and Blend – Beans roasted by Di Bella and the blend is ‘Felici’.

Cappuccino cost – $3.80

Ristretto Cost – $3.30

Headed to Rundle Street for this weeks coffee and I ordered a ristretto and a cappuccino.

The cappuccino came first and the micro-foam looked top notch, not a bubble in sight and it just had the look of thick, dense foam, couldnt wait to get into this. But before that, I can see lots of sugar crystals in the chocolate powder, sugary grit in foam is usually something I don’t   enjoy because it adds nothing to the cappuccino other than crunch that does not belong in this coffee. The froth didn’t have a luscious creaminess to it but it did have good mouth feel which comes from well textured milk, tight and dense – textually it was on the mark. With the froth finished I see the coffee colour was pale, and spoke of butterscotch, and lots of it. Having a sniff of the cup after I had finished and it screamed butterscotch. Nice coffee from start to finish, although there is the detail of the gritty sugary chocolate powder that you have to get through as well. That’s one of those garnishes that is over-the-top and not necessary.

Spiciness in this ristretto (as below) came through but the pale presentation  didn’t fill me with initial excitement and after slugging it back found too thin and lacking that viscous gummy mouth feel that is associated with ristretto’s and this part to the coffee is crucial because its linked to the consistency. Most cafe’s cannot make this drink and it was no different today.

I was impressed with the coffee beans, they boosted the coffee because they had shown personality, some life  and whilst the cappuccino was of high standard, the ristretto needs a little work.