Announcing our International Barista Blend.

Just a quick one re MCR’s launch of our International Barista Blend. After some weeks of negotiations, ideas and finding the right blend, I think I have found a wonderful coffee for our fans around the globe. This is an exclusive and specially roasted blend for MCR,…. Here it is.

I'll keep looking for those fantastic coffee houses around town.

Enjoy!

Sandringham Beach Coffee Shop

I’m enjoying doing a sailing course at Black Rock at the moment. This weekend we headed out in our maiden sail outside the figure eight laps near HMAS Cerberus. We were tasked to head out to Sandringham, where we would enjoy a coffee at the coffee shop there. Well,.. after a couple of wacks on the head with boom we got into the cove with the help of our instructor Michael (gent next to me). The sail was great (in fact we even capsized on the way back, oh the joy), but the coffee was very questionable. I had no choice but a flat white, so I couldn't really review. The coffee took a while to come out, and it tasted like warm milk that had been stored next to coffee for a while. Maybe next time.



From left to right: Richard (The capsizer), Michael (Chief Sailing Instructor), and yours truly)

7 Grams Cafe

7 GRAMS CAFÉ (505 Church Street, Richmond)



This little café on Church Street in Richmond has marketed itself towards a strictly business-based clientele. Their hours of operation are 5:30am - 4ish pm Monday – Friday and they seat approximately 30-40 punters. The coffee used is ‘Veneziano Coffee’, and they have a beautiful La Marzocco machine in prime position in the front window. I ordered my latte, being a little wary of the bean, given that I haven’t had a Veneziano blend that has blown me away.

I took a seat where I could watch the barista at work. The extraction was perfect. I couldn’t fault it. It was a beautifully steady stream of golden, caramelly oil falling from the group handle. At this point, I was excited. Maybe this was a new and different Veneziano blend, or maybe I just hadn’t had a well-made Veneziano coffee before. My latte arrived and was garnished with a double silver fern. This barista had obviously been well trained and was quite experienced. I took my first sip and was a bit puzzled. Where was this golden caramelly set of flavours that I was expecting? The coffee flavours just didn’t cut through the milk, so I ordered an espresso. The espresso came and had that creamy, viscous texture to it. I was expecting the flavour to coat my tastebuds, but when I drank it, I was disappointed. Given that the coffee preparation was ‘text book’ the only let down, in my opinion, was the base product. The coffee blend just didn’t do the barista or the La Marzocco machine justice. It just goes to show; it’s not just a good barista that makes a good cup, nor is it the espresso machine, or the coffee bean alone, but a combination of these equally essential ingredients.

I give it 1 bean…

MCR SPECIAL NOTICE

I’d just like to thank you all for your supporting Melbourne Coffee Review over the last 2.5 years. Its amazing how this little hobby has grown. The stats are amazing, with MCR getting over 75,000 unique visits per annum as compared to lass than half that this time last year.

What you may not realise is that the Australian traffic to the site is only about number 3, and that the USA tops the list followed by Hong Kong, Australia, Netherlands, Great Brittan and China. What this means to is that there are ex pats or just people who love Melbourn's coffee culture, who long for a wonderful Melbourne roasted coffee.

We are therefore going to commission a special and exclusive ‘Melbourne Coffee Review’ Roast, to supply to our fans around the world. We want to contact Melbourne Based Roasters who are interested in doing our first batch. We have a couple we’ll be considering, and are looking doing this each new season.

People on the mailing list will get first opportunity to buy the roast, so if you want to secure your order make sure you contact me. Prospective buyers can email ‘beans4me’ as an email to melbournecoffeereview.com (just put beans4me before the @melbournecoffeereview.com) to secure there 1 or 2 kilos (no more per order). Once we have sold out, that’s it until next season, so NO BEANS FOR U!!

Remember, stop and smell the coffee!!

The MCR Team!!

La citta – 11 Degraves Street, Melbourne VIC Australia.

I’ve been doing some hanging out at this new little place over the last week. It’s got a great atmosphere, a very attentive team there and while they use a band of coffee that was unknown to me (Merlo from Queensland??), they manage an excellent Long Macchiato.

I even took some of my junior consultants to breaky there, and while its outside the scope of Melbourne Coffee Review, it also rocked. A solid 2 beaner.

Mag Nation's kinda special offer!!

Mag Nation have been smokin some old magazines, but I think this is something to get behind!! They are offering FREE COFFEE through to close of business (I assume) Friday 10th November 2006 (maybe it will become an annual thing?). 9 Days of free coffee, but you have to know the secret code... I'll be looking for the Cappaccino lovers, but the rest I'll be staying right away from the others. Mind you, there is no code for Long Macc.

Here are the secret codes:

For a latte: "excuse me, i am a little itchy. i was wondering if you have any anti-fungal cream?"

For a cappuccino: "hi, i've been lonely for a really long time. would you mind giving me a little comforting?"

For a flat white: "do you have any magazines about back hair removal?"

Feel free to pass this on to as many people as you like... (they may regret this,.. Melbournians love coffee, especially if someone else is paying).

See you there!!

Peter