Long Black Coffee at the Coffeeguy

After weeks of being told about the place, I finally visited a great cafe/coffee lounge in Wooloowin called CoffeeGuy. It was not until a friend and I arranged to catch up on the weekend there that I finally got around to checking the place out.

The cafe is near Rhubarb Rhubarb, a resturant that at least two other guys told me is a great way to apologise to an aggrieved partner, and when you walk in, the first thing you notice is the space. The place is large, and the tables, chairs and couches are spread out, creating a completely different experience from most other cafes. It did not take long for one of the staff to notice my confusion, and with their assistance I ordered a pair of long blacks and found somewhere to sit until Chris arrived.

Yellow Bourbon Beans

Once Chris arrived, I found out that I had ordered the wrong coffee. According to Daniel, the owner, I should have ordered one of the single origins, because that is what Chris usually got, and not their regular blend. Fortunately he saved me and brought out another pair of long blacks to replace the ones I had chosen. It was a dry prepared Brazilian bean they roasted themselves.

In fact they have a small roaster off to the side of the cafe. The owner was more than happy to talk about the coffee he had, including some Yellow Bourbon Camocim Organic he had just got in. Like the other exceptional baristas and cafe owners in Brisbane, Daniel clearly loves coffee, and even has his own cafe recommendations he is willing to share.

The cafe is a great place, the coffee is exceptional and the cafe itself is unique, though a Finnish friend of mine did say they had coffee lounges like it in Europe. There is really only one thing that I can find to pick on, and that is the lack of a kitchen. There are cold snacks and biscuits available though, and that is more than enough to make CoffeeGuy a great place to spend a Saturday morning.

TL;DR

• Open floor plan and a lot of space between customers
• CoffeeGuy is purely about coffee, there is no kitchen
• Good service
• There is a roaster in the corner
• They know coffee and have a changing range of single origins

The Coffeeguy
http://www.Coffeeguy.com.au
CoffeeGuy, Shop 2, 85 Kent Road
Wooloowin
Ph: 07 3357 4440

Amici Deli Coffee and Breakfast

A lot of cafes serve long blacks too hot, as if the shot is poured into boiling, rather than hot, water. It seems to be a matter of preference; I know more people who prefer their black coffee super hot than those who don’t.

One place that doesn’t kill a long black with heat is Amici Deli, a newish Italian deli on Gympie Road in Chermside. Amici specialises in imported Italian products and smallgoods. They also have a coffee machine, a few tables and chairs and use Di Bella beans.

Amici Deli offers some dine-in food as well, though its menu is not as extensive as most other cafes. Sandwiches, frittatas, quiche and arancini make up a lot of the selection currently, but they seem to be adding more options all the time.  There is also a decent selection of sweets, from cheesecake to cannoli.

TL;DR

• Italian deli, with Italian goods
• Makes good coffee
• Serves good food
• Easy to find parking
• Friendly service

Amici Deli
http://amicideli.com.au/
Shop 6/725 Gympie Road
Chermside
Brisbane

On Facebook
On Twitter

Elixir Coffee HQ Espresso Lounge

One Saturday morning, I stopped off in Stafford on the way to the city. I had been told that there is a cafe just off Webster Road, next to an Ultra Tune, that’s well worth checking out.

In a few ways Elixir is a bit like the Merlo store on James Street. It also stocks a lot of coffee makng paraphernalia, including percolator seals, espresso machines, filters, etc. They also sell their own coffee beans.

Arriving at Elixir Coffee, I ran into David, someone I know through Twitter. Once I ordered my long black, David told me a little more about the place. It turned out that he knew the owners.

Elixir Coffee does not look much like a cafe, and it wasn’t one at first. David told me that Elixir Coffee began life as a small coffee roaster. The owners had always been involved in cafes, starting with the one their parents ran, and so it seems natural that they would have a real enthusiam for coffee, which shows in their product.

They offer a range of different blends, and at least one single origin on offer at any given time. The coffee is the focus, with only a small but varied food menu. And every coffee is served with tasting notes on a small, laminated card.

Espresso and Ice

David suggested that I let the staff choose what I was going to have next. That is how I ended up with a ‘con hielo’ as my second coffee. The crema was impressive, and it was great to try something I hadn’t even heard of before and probably wouldn’t have selected for myself.

TL;DR
Elixir Coffee is worth visiting, assuming you love coffee.
If you don’t, that’s your problem.

Elixir Coffee HQ Espresso Lounge
www.elixircoffee.com.au/
12 Hayward Street
Stafford, 4053
On Facebook

GW Private Room Coffee and Yoghurt

GW Private Room is the first hairdresser I’ve been to that offers wine as well as tea or coffee. They also do breakfast. It is a neat little place in Festival Towers with free parking for customers and one of the coolest two level layouts I have seen. Hannah recommended the place, and it was a great choice.

They also serve black coffee in a glass. It and the yoghurt arrived on a rectangular plate as they got to work on my hair. It is actually harder than you think to eat and get your hair cut without getting hair in your food.

The coffee was OK but the glass was too hot. I guess this is why no-one else serves black coffee in something so conductive. Since they have massage chairs for the customers to sit in while they get their hair washed, I don’t plan to hold this against them.

The haircut was very good, the coffee was very ordinary, but overall in terms of service, GW Private Room does stand out.

http://www.gwprivateroom.com.au/
89 Charlotte Street
Oaks Festival Towers
Brisbane | CBD

Dandelion and Driftwood for Coffee

They were wearing weskits. All of them. That was the first thing that I noticed at Dandelion and Driftwood. The cafe itself looked like someone’s caffeine-fuelled Victorian corner store with enough technology to add a hint of steampunk. Dandelion & Driftwood is located on Gerler Road in Hendra on Brisbane’s northside, just near Mario @ the Dining Room. A real coffee geek I know was raving about the place last week, and as he both knows more than me and strongly recommended the place, I had to check it out.

The staff uniforms, with a mix of ties, striped aprons and weskits, and the fully functional coffee brewing paraphernalia scattered around the store and counter were not the only noteworthy thing there. Awesome decor and attentive service aside, the coffee itself is great. They feature a number of different brewing methods as well as different blends.

Driftwood Blend

Driftwood blend

First was a long black with the Driftwood blend, with a ham and cheese croissant on the side. I liked it. It is similar to most standard blends in its body and acidity. There was a card detailing the blend propped on the side of the cup, which does a far better job of describing the coffee than I could. Peter, the proprietor, recommended that I try out one of their single origin blends next. They had two on offer, the El Salvador San Emilio, and another from Guatemala. He recommended the El Salvador San Emilio as the best one for black coffee.

El Salvador San Emilio

El Salvador San Emilio

Next was the El Salvador San Emilio. It was different to the Driftwood Blend and had a much lighter flavour, so other elements of the bean came out stronger. Peter took a few minutes to explain the coffee itself and apparently one of the significant differences between this and the other blend was that it’s semi-washed. Apparently this made for a more balanced flavour where no single element overpowered the bean. Fortunately this coffee, like the one before, came with another card, detailing what it was, describing its flavours, where it was grown and how it was processed.

Guatemala Acate Antiqua

Guatemala Acate Antiqua

The last bean I had was the Guatemala Acate Antiqua, along with a small chocolate friand. This was an interesting bean, best suited to a milk coffee, as per the accompanying card, due to its bitterness, but it had some really interesting flavours with it. Again, they are covered very well and in detail on the little card with which the coffee was served.

There was one more blend I did not try, and it was their Dandelion Blend. Peter explained that they get two new single origin coffees each week. While the El Salvador and the Guatemala beans won’t be there for long (Peter mentioned that there were some Kenyan and Costa Rican beans forthcoming) , the two house blends, Driftwood and Dandelion, will be.

Dandelion and Driftwood will have been open for just two weeks on the 24th October, and already it’s very busy. They combine an outstanding product with a great customer experience in a pleasant and convenient location, so this should not be a real surprise. It helps that the cafe is run by people who obviously love coffee and love to share that with the customers, no matter how busy they are.

TL;DR

• Great coffee, with new single origin beans each week
• Unique look and atmosphere
• Passionate owners who just love coffee

Dandelion and Driftwood
http://www.dandeliondriftwood.com/
1/45 Gerler Rd
Brisbane QLD 4011
(07) 3868 4559
Facebook Page

Long black at Cafe @ Kitchener

Their coffee is ok and a $10 big breakfast is not too bad at all. Cafe @ Kitchener is another suburban cafe worth looking at if you are in the area.

Set up in a converted house, its divided into two areas. A normal indoors and outdoors cafe setup and a small gated children’s area including a TV with cartoons. I have not seen that before

Little Larder Breakfast

Away from Brunswich street, Little Larder is as off the beaten track as you are likely to get this close in to the Valley. It’s a cute little cafe in what looks like it used to be a corner shop.

Their menu is a little different from standard cafe fare, though most of the breakfast otions are based on egg. The coffee was decent too. Not the best, but it would not disappoint either.

Little Larder is a nice place to go to for breakfast. The location is great, and the cafe itself is as laid back as the street it is on.

View Long Black in a larger map

1/76 Moray Street New Farm
07 3358 2024

Fuscia Big Breakfast

Lavazza is used in a lot of cafes. Someone once told me that it is one of the harder coffees to screw up. The barista at Fuscia could have made a decent coffee with almost anything though.

Their big breakfast was good too. It comes with the usual sausages, eggs, mushrooms, toast, tomato and spinach. They were also very generous when I asked to swap out the eggs for more mushrooms.

You won’t be able to go for breakfast during the week, as they are only open for lunch and dinner between Monday and Friday. Fuscia has also won a number of business and food awards since 1997.

What is the payoff?

For a weekend breakfast with nice food and coffee, Fuscia is a place to check out. The dinner menu looks good and the cafe is easy to get to and has decent parking.

Fuscia.com.au
Cnr Audrey & Wardell St
Enoggera

Platform 6 breakfast

So a series of events involving an early Saturday, a slip in technique at the gym the previous week and misjudged travel time left me in the trendy suburb of Teneriffe with over an hour to kill. Fortunately, I was able to find a cafe. After walking past one that had too many cyclists and another that did not have comfortable looking seats, I found Platform 6, a small restaurant on Vernon Terrace.

And a toasted sandwich

It was a nice cafe, with inviting seating and convenient location. $3.50 for a long black did not seem that bad, and I went as far as ordering a toasted sandwich too. It eventually arrived sometime after the coffee. I did not pay attention to how long after, I was too busy reading.

And the point

It was nice, and all up, it came to $10 in total. They have their own 100% Arabic blend that has a strong flavor. Platform 6 is not just a cafe; it is more of a food and wine bar that just happens to be open in the morning too. For a weekend coffee in the morning, it does the job, and is a nice place to sit and kill time.

Sirianni's for breakfast

A few blocks away from Brunswick street there is a shopping and apartment complex called Emporium. According to their website, there are “…over 35 specialty retailers, restaurants and cafes and parking…”. They might be lying about the parking though.

I end up going to a cafe called Sirianni’s there most sundays to meet up with one of my sisters. It is actually a rather large deli with a wide range of stuff, but mostly, I am there for breakfast, specifically, the Emporium breakfast. For not too much, you get a pile of bacon, tomato, hash browns, eggs, sausages, mushrooms and some toast. For the area it is fairly well priced for the quality and the quantity. The coffee is good too, though for me, I am mainly there for the breakfast.