Death Before Decaf

Death before Decaf
Death before Decaf

There is yet another small cafe on Brunswick Street towards New Farm called Death before Decaf. One of my sister’s introduced me to the place as somewhere that makes a very good black coffee. Aside from a very appealing name, the cafe has a very certain character, with a metal/punk look and feel from the logo on the take away cups to the look of the cafe itself and the proprietor’s interest in tattoos.

The coffee itself has a nice strong flavour and lacking in bitterness or any other sign of being poorly made. The cafe does have a few chairs, but to me seemed Death before Decaf still be more of an espresso bar and take away place than somewhere to linger. Though this in itself is hardly a real problem anyway.

There is one other thing that makes this place interesting, and that is the opening hours. They are long. Death before Decaf stays open late, very late. In Brisbane this is a rare thing, and it is often very hard to find somewhere to grab a coffee in the early hours of the morning.

TL;DR

  • Take away coffee
  • Does a good black coffee
  • Very distinct character

Death before Decaf
Facebook page
760 Brunswick Street,
New Farm
QLD

Dopstop Takeaway Coffee

Dopstop Long Black
Dopstop Long Black

There is an art to running a cafe for the early commuter crowd. Opening up on the correct side of the road is generally important, as is making coffee and actually being visible. Choosing somewhere busy enough is another. Dopstop is a coffee cart on the inbound side of Gympie Road outside of an Indian restaurant that does fit these criteria quite well.

Dopstop uses Supreme Roasters coffee beans, which seems to be working for them as the coffee is rather good. The long black I tried had a slight cocoa, bitterish flavour with little aftertaste. I also tried an iced coffee they make themselves on a Tanzanian single origin. Unlike most it was not overly sweetened, and that’s another reason why I liked it.

The cafe itself is a coffee cart set up on a small raised area just off the footpath. As focused as its setup is towards takeaway customers, there is also a collection of benches and stools just off to the side. Unsurprisingly there is a bit of road noise, though this was not enough of a reason to just get my coffee and go. The guy who was running the cart is worth stopping to chat with as he’s fairly knowledgeable about coffee, and Dopstop even made the Beanhunter best 2013 Brisbane cafe list at 83.

Dopstop
763 Gympie Road
Chermside, 4032
Queensland

Beanhunter’s Top Brisbane Cafes

Beanhunter's top Brisbane cafes
Beanhunter’s top Brisbane cafes

Beanhunter, a somewhat awesome website and an essential app featuring user submitted cafe ratings and reviews. Their app is incredibly useful when you are travelling and need to find a half way decent cafe somewhere new, and the quality of the reviews that come from the community is very high. Based on their community’s input, Beanhunter have recently released their top cafe lists for 2013. This lists cover cities from around the world and Australia including Brisbane.

  1. Ltd espresso + brew bar (Fortitude Valley)
  2. The Fort Specialty Coffee (North Lakes)
  3. Cup Coffee Roastery (Woolloongabba)
  4. Dandelion & Driftwood (Hendra)
  5. Reverends Fine Coffee (Fortitude Valley)
  6. Dramanti Artisan Roaster (Wynnum)
  7. Cleanskin Coffee Co. (Brendale)
  8. One Drop Specialty Coffee (Fortitude Valley)
  9. Uncle Joe’s Coffee House (Coorparoo)
  10. Elixir Coffee (Stafford)
  11. The Single Guys (Kenmore)
  12. Bunker (Milton)
  13. Dramanti Espresso (Brisbane CBD)
  14. The Frisky Goat Espresso (Brisbane CBD)
  15. Grindhouse Specialty Coffee (Stones Corner)
  16. Toby’s Estate Espresso Bar (Brisbane CBD)
  17. First Pour Brisbane (West End)
  18. Pourboy Espresso (Brisbane CBD)
  19. Blackstar Coffee (West End)
  20. Campos Coffee (Fortitude Valley)
  21. Shucked (Newstead)
  22. Merriweather (South Brisbane)
  23. The Corner Store Cafe (Toowong)
  24. Fifth Battery Coffee Roasters (Fortitude Valley)
  25. Sourced Grocer (Teneriffe)

The full list of Beanhunter’s Brisbane’s Top Cafes 2013 can be found here.

Unfortunately I have only been to and written posts about a small number of those that made the top 25. From the last few years I have only reviewed 8 of the 25 that made the list for 2013.

1. Ltd espresso + brew bar (Fortitude Valley) (Review)
3. Cup Coffee Roastery (Woolloongabba) (Review)
4. Dandelion & Driftwood (Hendra) (Review)
5. Reverends Fine Coffee (Fortitude Valley) (Review)
7. Cleanskin Coffee Co. (Brendale) (Review)
10. Elixir Coffee (Stafford) (Review)
18. Pourboy Espresso (Brisbane CBD) (Review)
20. Campos Coffee (Fortitude Valley) (Review)

Next year, I might try to address this.

TL;DR

  • Beanhunter’s app is awesome while travelling
  • There are still a lot of good cafes to visit.

Rhino Espresso at Wooloowin

Wooloowin Rhino Espresso
Wooloowin Rhino Espresso

Rhino Espresso is now open next to the Wooloowin train station too. There is another Rhino Espresso open in Northgate, and by the looks of it, the one in Wooloowin is very much the same. Rhino Espesso is very much a commuter cafe. Located right next to a train station and across the road from the car park, the cafe gets it’s share of early morning customers. It is even on the right side of the road for inbound traffic to stop and pick up a coffee.

Rhino Espresso on Dickson Street
Rhino Espresso on Dickson Street

The cafe itself is open to the street and is loosely defined by a bar just in front of the counter. If it was not for the tables just in front of this, it would more or less be an espresso bar. They use Piazzo Doro beans, and beyond that there isn’t a lot to say about the coffee. The large long black with an extra shot I grabbed that morning was not overpowering or watery. Rhino Espresso also offers a range of food. As I didn’t try anything from their menu, so I can’t really comment on it.

Rhino Espresso is almost the ideal commuter cafe. It is in a great location, while not brilliant, the coffee is good. The prices are unremarkable and in line with most other cafes and there is no reason not to grab your coffee there if you do plan to catch a train from Wooloowin. I just don’t think I would go out of my way if it was the weekend.

TL;DR

  • Most certainly a commuter cafe
  • Does both food and coffee

Rhino Espresso
https://www.facebook.com/RhinoEspresso
7 Dickson st
Wooloowin, 4030
Queensland

Salt and Coffee in Rosalie

Black coffee at Salt
Black coffee at Salt

Salt is a smallish resturant located in Rosalie Village, Brisbane with an interesting menu and reasonable coffee, including one of the most impressive mochas I’ve ever seen, and they alsoa have juice, made with the best juicers from the Juicing Daily site. Myself and a few friends ended up there one weekend for a light lunch.

The menu looked good, and we chose a pair of lamb burgers and two serves of lamb and haloumi skewers between the four of us, as well as a few coffees. Including the mocha. The food was good, as was the coffee. Salt does a respectable, if unremarkable, black coffee. The mocha, however, was exceptional.

The mocha
The mocha

Served in a largish bowl, with a shot of chocolate to one side, it dwarfed the plain, boring cup the other coffees came in. The mocha did not dominate the table only due to its size either. The difference in presentation was significant. While the other coffees had one or two sugar sachets tossed onto the saucer alongside a spoon, the mocha’s equipment and accompaniments were set with care and attention.

There are far worse places to go for a lazy late Sunday lunch than Salt. The food was good and the menu interesting. Their coffee was more than adequate, and that is even without taking the mocha into account. Even though Rosalie is not out of the way, it is quieter than Park Road and other cafe and food hotspots in Brisbane, and well worth exploring. Even if Salt’s mocha can’t tempt you, there are other interesting places in the area, including my personal favourite, Gelateria Cremona.

TL;DR

  • The mocha was impressive
  • Good food
  • The mocha made the other coffees look like they just weren’t trying

Salt
http://www.saltrestaurant.com.au/
Phone: 07 3367 0775
5 Nash Street
Rosalie 4064
Queensland