Sitting down in a cafe the other day I took a look at their menu and found that you could order coffee thirteen (13) different ways. More than half or seven of the ways the coffee would be served was with milk.
The milk based coffee options included short latte, tall latte, piccolo latte, cappuccino, flat white, hot mocha and dirty chai. Ok, I digress some of them are essentially the same thing. However, from my experience sitting in cafe’s and watching, more than half of people order a milk based coffee of some form.
The milk and how it is prepared can play a huge part in the taste and enjoyment of coffee. There are a number of aspects that can affect the taste of your coffee and can lead to a bad coffee. The two main concerns are freshness and temperature.
The freshness of the milk is nothing to do with the use by date (although that should be considered for other reasons) but all about what is left in the milk jug. Milk should only be steamed once, re-steaming milk does not simply reheat it but continues to cook and potentially burn the milk. Leaving a little milk in the jug each time can lead to bad tasting coffee.
The other aspect is heating the milk to a high temperature. For a cappuccino, the milk should only be heated to between 60-65 degrees Celsius maybe up to 70 degrees Celsius for extra hot. When milk is heated to around 82 degrees Celsius, it is essentially scalded. Often you can tell by the smell and although I have never tasted it, can imagine it would taste pretty bad.
Monday, 22nd January 2018
Priory Kitchen
Location – 4/855 Stanley St, Woolloongabba QLD
Coffee – Bear Bones Specialty Coffee
As the developers are reaching for the sky in Woolloongabba everyone is benefiting from the space on the ground floor for cafes and restaurants. One such area is Trafalgar Lane runs underneath Trafalgar Residences and is home to a number of restaurants including Priory Kitchen. I have visited a couple of times and rather enjoy the coffee which comes from Bear Bones Specialty coffee. Looks like a good spot for a game or two as well, with a range of board games waiting on the counter.
Tuesday, 23rd January 2018
Fish Cafe
Location – 461 Esplanade, Manly QLD
Coffee – Grassroots Espresso
Fish Cafe in Manly is a great spot for food and coffee alike. Out the front is a great spot to sit and enjoy a coffee with a view across the road to Manly Harbour boat marina. A little traffic does pass the area, but nothing that bothers you too much. While on the side of the building you can get some great fish and chips or a burger (my favourite). The coffee at Fish Cafe comes from Grassroots Espresso, not a brand I see around much, but still good coffee.
Wednesday, 24th January 2018
Café Dbar
Location – 275 Boundary St, Coolangatta QLD
Coffee – Social Espresso
Cafe Dbar sits just on the Queensland side of the border with New South Wales atop Point Danger. One thing I have still not managed is to capture the view along with the coffee, but trust me there is one amazing view here. Looking out the window to what would be my left in this image you can see right up the coast to surfers paradise. While looking out the window directly ahead you can see the Point Danger Lighthouse which sits on the border and clear views to the horizon across the Pacific Ocean.
Thursday, 25th January 2018
Blacksmith Specialty Coffee
Location – 8 Bothwell St, Mount Gravatt East QLD
Coffee – Bear Bones Specialty Coffee
Although I must say my journey visiting cafes is by far mostly about the coffee, I do get tempted by the odd brownie. Blacksmith Specialty Coffee does know how to tempt with some rather delioucous brownies at that. Pair it with a great single origin coffee from Bear Bones Specialty Coffee and you have a winning combo. There is a reason why I go back here every so often.
Friday, 26th January 2018
The Bean & Leaf Cafe
Location – 115 Bloomfield St, Cleveland QLD
Coffee – Wolff Coffee Roasters
Cleveland is not too far from home for me so it is somewhere that I do visit a little more often than other areas. As such I like to knew which cafes have the coffee I enjoy so that when things are busy I do have a couple of options. Bean & Leaf is one of these spots, offering coffee from Wolff Coffee Roasters.
Saturday, 27th January 2018
Acai Bros
Location – 22 Holdsworth St, Coorparoo QLD
Coffee – Dangerbird Coffee Roasters
Although Acai Bros is not somewhere that I had traditionally thought of offering coffee, when I found out they did I decided to give it a try. Additionally, I also found that they were offering a coffee that I had been trying to test out for a while, but just did not work out. Their coffee comes from Dangerbird Coffee Roasters, who used to roast in Wooloowin. However, now I am not sure where they roast, but found another spot that day. Finally, now on my visit to Acai Bros at Coorparoo I get to try Dangerbird Coffee.
Sunday, 28th January 2018
Hallowed Grounds Espresso Cafe
Location – 2/1417 Logan Rd, Mount Gravatt QLD
Coffee – Kuhl-cher Coffee
To round out the week I have a stop at Hallowed Grounds Espresso Cafe in Mount Gravatt. I had visited this cafe before and found it quite enjoyable on that visit so decided to stop back. One thing I noticed is that the coffee was different and they are now using Kuhl-cher Coffee. Not quite the same as before, and not particularly to my liking, but maybe it is better as a milk coffee.
Coffee, Procrastinating or Procaffinating
That is it for another week of my coffee adventure. There are still so many cafes around Brisbane that I have not managed to discover, some of which I hope to share with you over the next year. However, I also hope to find my way to some other cities around Australia or the World to share some coffee with you.
