POD ESPRESSO (305 Bay Street, Brighton)

[Guest poster-Andy Gelman]
This is a small Brighton café that caters for a St. Kilda market. The coffee is served tepid… great for those in the know, but for the majority of Brighton’s clientele, it’s just not hot enough! This is a statement that baristas everywhere have drilled in to their heads on a daily basis, and in general it’s just one or two comments a day, but in Brighton, it’s the norm. The ‘Coffee Supreme’ blend is, for lack of a more descriptive word, bland. The extraction looked good to start with, but soon turned translucent and started to quiver, giving me the impression that the grind was too fine, and the dosage too low. This would result in a group handle full of sludge as opposed to a ‘cake’ after the extraction had completed. This café is a take away coffee dominant business model with a window on the ramp to North Brighton train station. During my stay at Pod, I witnessed multiple coffees being sent back due to temperature issues, and people waiting for take away coffees walk off because their coffee simply took too long. This is not a very spacious café, so if you want to bring a family or kids along, I would hope for one of the few outdoor tables. There is a 3 group La Marzocco beast behind the bar, (I can’t believe they fit it in, but they did) yet during the busy morning take away rush, they still had only one person controlling this beautiful piece of machinery while there was a line of 5 to 10 people at the take away window. Given that coffee seems to be the main revenue stream for this business, one would imagine that something would be done about people walking off because of time related issues, but staff seemed not to care, like it was part of the usual chain of events. The service was almost cold. It felt like they were doing you a favour by making you a coffee. In this industry, that just won’t do. I got a take away café latte as I left, and upon tasting, I believe they should use a double shot, as it tasted like tepid milk. This café is worth a try if you’re in the area, but I wouldn’t make the trip especially. I give Pod Espresso a rating of 1 bean.