Coffee Roasters

Well, I thought I’d start off with something that’s quite an addiction for me. The coffee culture in Sydney has sky rocketed over the last few years. Even through recession times, the coffee industry is booming. With green beans and sustainable coffee harvesting a key item across some of the major retailers like StarBucks, Gloria Jeans and McDonalds, it’s spread the word of coffee and the boutique cafes and coffee shops have educated the community on a variety of coffee beans. Through this, the coffee roasters have popped up all over New South Wales. Over the last few years, roasters like Single Origin, Toby’s Estate, Buzz, Campos and Peak Coffee have gained some loyal customers and cafe owners. Barista champions have also converted their ways to become elegant roasters that experiment and gain the best out of their imported “green” beans from all over the world to produce a variety of blends to bring a world of flavour that tantilizes the palates of the coffee consuming addicts.

One recent roaster that’s popped up on my radar was Xavier Coffee. It was introduced to me by my local cafe, Bar Pronto (72 Pitt St, Sydney). Bar Pronto is a regular haunt for me during my working week. Run by Tom, his coffee beans are roasted by Hazel De Los Reyes. The beans are fresh, and only a week old from roasting so you are guaranteed freshness. He gets a fresh batch each Friday and your coffee is always extracted from freshly ground beans. The Xavier beans that I got were the Emporio Signature Blend. Quite a smooth ash/smokie flavour that fills your mouth with caffiene. Even in a coffee plunger, the flavour is there and you never get that sourness towards the end.

Well, my story doesn’t end here…………. Tom from Bar Pronto actually recommended that my journey take me to Coffee Alchemy in Marrickville. Home of Hazel De Los Reyes. Her little shop front only serves coffee and coffee beans. She has a variety of beans ready for grinding and extracting. When I popped for a taste, I asked them to surprise me, and what did I get? A short black, nicely extracted, the crema was bubbly, showing signs that it was freshly roasted, but the first few sips were something that made my mouth water, as I tasted something that was on the verge of a peanut butter sauce swirling on my tongue, and I wasn’t wrong! Hazel confirmed it! An amazing Brasil Rodomunho coffee bean that has a very peanut buttery taste to it. Apparently, the success of extraction is only guaranteed for 1 in 3, but I didn’t care……. I was after more! As the other takeaway coffee’s were being made, I ordered another shot! It just made my day, for a while, my favourite bean was a Sumatran from Gayo Mountain, where it’s rich volcanic soil brought a lovely chocolate taste, but now this Brazilian topped my list. I definitely recommend a trip to Hazel’s Coffee Alchemy on 24 Addison Road, Marrickville.

Updates to come……….

Well, I’ve been out of action for a while now and there are a couple of updates and pics that are going to be posted soon. There was even a short trip up to Brisbane where I got the chance to try out a few places. So what’s sort of things are coming? Coffee, Pho and Brisbane………!

Campos Coffee

Campos Coffee have come a long way from their humble beginnings and they’ve even been awarded the 2006 Equal ® Golden Bean Award! This bag is 1kg! Worth it’s weight! Even though my espresso machine is broken for the 4th time, I’ve gone the plunger method and it’s still good enough for me to drink. A vacuum container helps keep the freshness and have been able to store away 500g.

My previous visits to their Newtown cafe have been a bit of a disappointment. The baristas weren’t that good and spoilt the extraction! It wasn’t just my coffee, it was 2 other coffees as well. It’s not a place to sit down and enjoy a meal like Cafe Sopra or All Press, so it’s not a place I’d go often.

Best of Blogs: Coffee Edition

A nice little Aussie blog on “A Melbourne-based ex-barista’s ramblings about coffee“.

Here’s another called “Coffee Review Australia“.

Recipe: Vanilla Panna Cotta

Found on the back of a ‘Vanilla beans’ Masterfoods package, I couldn’t believe how simple it was to make Panna Cotta. Literally 15min of cooking and then you let it set in the fridge. I won’t re-invent the wheel and retype the whole damn recipe. The thickened cream gives it that yellow tinge in colour, but worth a try with milk or buttermilk. We’ve got a few more left so it should go well with the berry sorbet we recently bought.

Toko Japanese Restaurant: Kitchen | Sushi Bar | Robata Grill

This is a funky modern restaurant with hip music blaring away in the main stretch (Crown St) of Surry Hills. After walking several blocks from where we parked the car, passing restaruants such as Red Lantern (Vietnamese) and Tabou (French), we finally arrived at Toko, which is right next to the Clock Bar.

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Adriano Zumbo Patisserie - Cafe Chocolat (Balmain, Sydney)

With reviews from fellow foodies and magazines such as Gourmet Traveller and TimeOut Sydney, we headed towards Balmain where the name itself intrigues interest. A cafe chocolat? Well, it’s more than that! They serve breakfast, lunch and desert!

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Best Ramen in Sydney!!

Well, has my quest for a decent, authentic, mouth-watering, local ramen restaurant over?

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