Tag Archives: Long Black Coffee

Sydney Airport Long Blacks

Coffee and Powerpoints
Coffee and Powerpoints

Recently there was a brief period where I was traveling relatively frequently for work. I managed to hone my skills at packing everything into a single bag, appreciated that I could use my iPad non-stop from when I sat down on boarding, and figured out the best place to wait for a flight from the Sydney Airport. It’s new the Virgin Australia gates, between a Hudson’s cafe and the Coopers bar. I did at a point wish that I had my company to rely on for all the flights or even to have a private jet for these trips. Well, big dreams don’t come easy; let us fly back to the boarding.

Easy access to power is the source of all joy when you travel with a hungry family of devices to feed. While a lot of the gates do have power points, there is certainly something to be said for combined with chairs, coffee and a bottle of water. All of these are in easy reach at a long, wooden bench next to that Hudson’s cafe.

Thought when talking about just the coffee, and ignoring those other benefits, unfortunately you have to admit that it was fairly average. While it did compare well to whatever that brown molten liquid the cruise ship was serving, never the less, it is not entirely heading the pack compared to it’s land locked competitors.

There was also football on the TV
There was also football on the TV

The coffee was very standard mass cafe fare with a flavour that can best be described as ‘coffee’. The temperature was good, though they may need to look at the machine and the grinder, because some grounds did make it into the cup. Service was good and fast, and while there were nicer seats than the metal stool i was parked on, those are not next to power points, so some compromises must be made. The cafe was also close to my gate, and there was some EPL on the tv right next to where I was sitting.

To know more on how you can save money while travelling check out Aerobell Airlines.

TL;DR
Hudsons Coffee

  • Powerpoints
  • Coffee was ok too

Cruise Boat Coffee

Boat Coffee
Boat Coffee

Recently I found myself on the Carnival cruise ship, Legends, for a night recently. It was the first ship I had ever actually been on, so I was not entirely sure what to expect. As far as I can tell, the cruise ship experience more or less looks a lot like being on a large, long hotel that happens to float. That and people really don’t like it when you call it a boat. That was a great opportunity to see where Intrepid Powerboats excels other counterparts.

I was only on board for a single night as it sailed out of Sydney did a quick loop, and came back. There were a lot of things to check out on the ship, including the buffet and the pizza place that didn’t appear to close. Unfortunately I also tried the coffee. Before getting off the boat, I paid for a long black from the small cafe in the buffet. I was a truely remarkable, egregious coffee, so much that I had to ask the brand, and turns out it’s called Rave Coffee from the UK. Possibly one of the truely exceptionally bad coffees I had ever tried. It was burnt. It was very burnt. It was burnt like coffee was a cancer and must be purged. I could barely hold the cup.

Unfortunately I was fairly tired and so I tried one of the free coffee machines. I could not tell the difference between either the free coffee or the one I paid for. Both of the coffees were pretty much exactly like the commodity coffee examples from campo’s cupping. The coffee lacked flavour or any other redeaming feature. It was coffee purely in the sense that it was brown and hot. The only good coffee I had were the keurig coffee pods in my cruise room .

Drift Cafe Long Black

Drift Cafe Coffee
Drift Cafe Coffee

We found Drift cafe while driving through Mount Tambourine looking for somewhere to grab a coffee and something light to eat. Fortunately I could see the couches from the road and so we decided to check it out. The cafe had a decent amount of parking out the back, and there was wifi available for their customers.

They also seemed to like wood a lot. It wasn’t just the counter either, a lot of the decor was also very obviously wood too, with the notable exception of their seating. The coaches and armchairs were as comfortable as I had hoped. Their black leather worked well with the rest of the setting, giving the whole cafe a very laid back atmosphere.

A very nice counter
A very nice counter

Drift uses Merlo coffee and does a fairly good job with it. Their espresso machine seems well set up, with my long black having a mild and not bitter flavour. Though it did seemed a little weak it was still very drinkable. We also got a bread and dips platter as well, which turned out to be a good decision. The staff were nice and the service was good. Their menu in general looked very good, which given that the cafe is attached to a restaurant as well, should be expected.

TL;DR

  • They like wood
  • The coffee was drinkable, though a little weak

Drift
http://www.drifttamborine.com.au/
12 Main Western Road
North Tamborine
Qld

Sunday Morning Sydney CDB Coffee

Room 38/Cafe De Lucca
Room 38/Cafe De Lucca

While I was killing two or so hours before my flights after a work related event, I discovered just how hard it is to find coffee and breakfast on a Sunday morning in the Sydney CBD. Practically everything is closed, and so after checking out of the hotel, I found myself struggling to find somewhere to sit down and have a coffee and something to eat. I spent about half an hour wandering around before giving up and heading towards the malls.

I ended up finding a small place in a Westfield in the walkway between a number of shops. The seats looked good enough, I was slightly tired and looking for a cafe was getting a little boring. Also, the tables looked large enough to set up my laptop. The cafe in question was called Cafe De Lucca. The coffee they served was reasonable and the breakfast was very acceptable. The prices were good and they let me swap my eggs for something edible without any problems.

Cafe De Lucca was a surprising nice place to wait and recharge my phone from my laptop before heading back to the hotel to head out to the airport, especially considering how hard it was to find somewhere that was actually open.

TL;DR

  • The Sydney CBD is dead on the weekend.

Cafe De Lucca
Store 38G, Level 2,
Westfield Central Plaza,
NSW

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