Very happy to be featured in Feasting Never Stops, one of the best food related websites on the web!

http://www.feastingneverstops.com/1154943/A-Week-Of-Coffee

also featured on Eric Demay's blog, a designer based in Montreal. Actually quite a good blog. I say actually because if he's talking about me i just thought it would be shit.

http://ericdemay.com/links/happy-to-serve-you/

Honestly these are really sweet sites and im super proud to be even mentioned in them.

10 Hall Street Moonee Ponds VIC 3039 - 0400 937 418

Coffee: 5 Senses
Machine: Synesso

Moonee Ponds. Hello, old friend, it seems we meet again. I have a love hate relationship with this suburb (and surrounding areas. that's you Essendon). I've schooled there. Worked there. Lived there. But for the last 24 years it has been exempt of quality coffee/cafes. EVERY CAFE. YES, EVERY CAFE THERE SERVES SHIT. And i don't want to hear any arguments, because you will lose. Trust me. I always had the vision of opening a cafe here to show them how coffee should be done. But i had a gut feeling that the area just wasn't quite ready for it yet. So as I was telling James ( from Brunswick east project fame) my point of view about the area, he mentioned a cafe that i had never heard of called Nabiha. So i took his advice and set out to discover this mythical cafe in the west. From the outside it looked promising. Custom designed stools and perforated design in the copper(if my memory serves me correct) window shades. The interior is just as nice with a modern architectural vibe about the place. It was rather quiet for a pre-lunch time (ill get to this in a second) and i ordered the Happy to serve you favourite the Double Ristretto. When i first saw it, i thought someone was playing a joke on me. It looked perfectly extracted with a dark caramel crema. But I was in Moonee Ponds? It can't be true.

Then the real magic happened when the taste hit my palate. It was amazing. And not just for moonee ponds standards.

But being the scientific man i am, i ordered another, to make sure it just wasn't dumb luck. The second came out to the same exacting standards as the first. I was left dumbfounded. The first good coffee in the area in 24 years. fuck me. as i walked out the barista asked me if i had noticed any difference between the two extractions, i said i wasn't really paying attention. She told me that the second was extracted through a naked group head. so not only great coffee, but coffee enthusiasts too. fuck me twice. To be honest the reason i wasn't paying attention was due to the fact i was left in shock from the first shot. but i didn't want to tell her that. On the way out i noticed the trademark Synesso/5Senses combo. This alone always says a lot about a cafe. except at t.m.c. back to the point where i said it was reasonably quiet. It was. However the coffee shop which must not be named (the coffee club) a few stores down was pumping. Which leads me back to my original thoughts about the area, is it ready for good coffee? Well i can't answer that just yet, but i do hope it is. All i can say is this:

If you live in the moonee valley region and go anywhere else but to Nabiha for coffee. then F*** you.

P.S A personal thank-you to Nabiha and 5 Senses for finally bringing some good coffee to this area

221d Blyth Street, East Brunswick

Coffee: 5 Senses
Machine: Synesso

I drive past New Day Rising at least twice a day. It always has people in there and always has bikes out the front. The only reason i hadn't stopped earlier is due to a lack of parking. So i decided to man up and make the journey on foot (about 500m). As soon as i stepped into NDR, it had this calming effect over me. I don't know if it's because I really needed my coffee fix, or because i was proud of myself for walking, but it was ethereal*. It is tiny, about the size of my bedroom, but super cozy. It feels like it has been here for years. There are a few things that I really like about this cafe:
1. The coffee. 5 senses x synesso combo.

I had the Colombian as a double ristretto and it was served to me in the form of black gold. A really great extracted that I wasn't expecting from such a small operation.

and this brings me to the second reason why I like it so much.

2. It is a true hyper-local cafe. A real sense of community.

It is so small that it can purely thrive on support from the local community. They don't need people from across town coming here. They probably don't want them either (?). Just the people across the road. And all of you across the roaders who haven't, should walk down here as it is the best espresso on the block. It reminds me of the small cafes i found out in the suburbs of Tokyo, which i loved. But if you are an out of towner and are visiting say, CERES, make the effort to walk down here (about 3 mins) and enjoy a truly great hyper-local cafe experience. But be warned. They will know you are from the dark side.
*definitely needed the coffee fix

BROADSHEET CAFE - 24 Crossley Street, CBD
DEAD MAN ESPRESSO - 35 Market Street South Melbourne VIC 3205

Coffee: Dean Man Espresso
Machine: Synesso (i think)

i felt it was my duty to visit the Broadsheet Melbourne Cafe. So on a lazy Sunday there was nothing possibly better than a new cafe to visit. I didn't check to see which coffee would be starring as i wanted to be surprise... Well today (Sunday) was DEAD MAN ESPRESSO. I'll start with the coffee , i had the usual suspect a double ristretto. I was informed by the barista that it was a 3 bean blend (and the notes behind every bean were meticulously explained to me by the barista himself even during a VERY busy period, so touche to you sir!) and let me tell you it was

fuck off awesome. no jokes here, one of the best i've ever had. I want it directly injected into my veins. Actually, that's just being silly, i won't get to taste it that way...

It was a perfect combination that made me want to sit there all day. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going down there today (i think they close at 6) or on the 12th when dead man are back! However it won't hurt to go any day as it is all of the top roasters/cafes that i have already reviewed. Honestly just look below at that photo, if that doesn't make you giddy with excitement, i don't know what will. As for the broadsheet concept i really like it, nicely designed, in Melbourne's uber cool lane, with probably the hippest of hipsters chilling with a coffee out the front.

so not only is it a cafe, it is also a fashion contest. hopefully be going back this week. this time i will come prepared: wearing a moustache.

187 Gertrude Street Fitzroy VIC 3065. (03) 9416 4661

Coffee: Seven Seeds
Machine: Synesso

Well, well ,well, if it isn't Melbourne's instant classic: De Clieu. I have been here before, but that was a commissioned job to take some photos for a magazine and have been craving a coffee there ever since*. Well for my return visit, it was even busier then I remembered, it has a well designed fit out, probably one of the best I have seen for a while. The staff are warm however they do give off a 'we know we are the shit, you don't have to tell us' vibe, which I tend to like as long as my coffee lives up to the attitude.

And lucky for them, they are the shit (not to be confused with 'they are shit'), finally a place for Gertrude St to call it's own.

Serving Seven Seeds coffee, which I already have spoken very highly about here, and once again it doesn't disappoint. They have a neat little retail section as well which is worth the visit if your looking at purchasing some coffee related goods! But be warned, this place is packed every time I go past (or in), so be prepared to wait.

* as I was not offered one when I was there. You can take that as they don't bribe magazines. I can take that as I wanted a F***** coffee, and I ALWAYS pay for my coffee, I just wasn't OFFERED one. Common courtesy.