203 Carlisle St
Balaclava VIC 3182
Balaclava VIC 3182
Well as you all know there’s so much going on down here, so many cool cafes, so much awesome choice; lets duck into here for a quick bite and a sample of the Devil’s Cup from, ‘the chicks.’
This place has quite a reputation in coffee circles, and with so many quality cafés all around, it better live up to my expectations, espresso nirvana was all around.
Modern and hip, this well fitted out and extremely popular café was a definite favorite of the locals, a younger crowd, busy eating, drinking, chitting, chatting, just chilling out with ‘the chicks’
Cool!
Even I almost felt cool just being there, and that’s a big ask….
My espresso arrived, a bit pale, a bit thin, a bit disappointing. The flavors were there, just, the mouthfeel was weak, the taste a bit flat and rancid…
Never mind, I’ve had worse, the slight over extraction, judging by the shot, was to blame, obviously as it morphed the otherwise dense and viscous nectar into a watery mess.
My chaser arrived it hopefully would make up for the entrée and it was a relief to see the café latte was well textured, the milk beautiful and smooth, like silk, the temperature perfect, the interaction of espresso and milk perfect, with the balance of flavors quite smooth and balanced.
An excellent café latte, well served and presented by friendly, courteous and busy staff.
Overall a respectable experience, although I would recommend greater care, especially when serving the nectar of the Gods in its pure and unadulterated form, to desecrate such a beverage is almost unpardonable, but in this case, I’ll make an exception, given the quality of the café latte.
One Bean and a promise I’ll be back, to make sure that the quest for espresso nirvana continues with these chicks..and with that you qualify to join the ever growing ranks of the coffee-elite @:
http://hotshots.melbournecoffeereview.com/
This place has quite a reputation in coffee circles, and with so many quality cafés all around, it better live up to my expectations, espresso nirvana was all around.
Modern and hip, this well fitted out and extremely popular café was a definite favorite of the locals, a younger crowd, busy eating, drinking, chitting, chatting, just chilling out with ‘the chicks’
Cool!
Even I almost felt cool just being there, and that’s a big ask….
My espresso arrived, a bit pale, a bit thin, a bit disappointing. The flavors were there, just, the mouthfeel was weak, the taste a bit flat and rancid…
Never mind, I’ve had worse, the slight over extraction, judging by the shot, was to blame, obviously as it morphed the otherwise dense and viscous nectar into a watery mess.
My chaser arrived it hopefully would make up for the entrée and it was a relief to see the café latte was well textured, the milk beautiful and smooth, like silk, the temperature perfect, the interaction of espresso and milk perfect, with the balance of flavors quite smooth and balanced.
An excellent café latte, well served and presented by friendly, courteous and busy staff.
Overall a respectable experience, although I would recommend greater care, especially when serving the nectar of the Gods in its pure and unadulterated form, to desecrate such a beverage is almost unpardonable, but in this case, I’ll make an exception, given the quality of the café latte.
One Bean and a promise I’ll be back, to make sure that the quest for espresso nirvana continues with these chicks..and with that you qualify to join the ever growing ranks of the coffee-elite @:
http://hotshots.melbournecoffeereview.com/
Till next time, keep on caffeining on…….The CaFFiend!!!
[Support MCR and delight your taste buds by joining our Home Barista Hotshot Club]
Coffee: Di Bella
Glad you got to this one. I used to regularly get coffee at this venue back in 2000 and it was really good (not sure if it was called Las Chicas then though), sad to hear they only got one bean on your trip, but maybe next time….
Rest assured, I’ll be back!!!
The CaFFiend!!!
Hey team caffeine,
A few emails and calls regarding this one, especially why I gave a bean if espresso was so bad, made me think that I must go back to re-review ASAP
so stay tuned and watch this space, The CaFFiend will re-visit shortly to double check the rating don’t wanna undervalue or overate, its all about being true to the bean!!!
I’ll be back!!!!!
Ok!!
I’ve spent the whole weekend driving my family almost insane going backwards and forwards to this place to make sure I rated it right!
After an overall 7 beverages over 4 different visits( including my original one) and 3 different baristi I stand by my original 1 bean rating, based on the following obsrevations:
1 out of 3 espressos only the first one was bad
2 the 4 cafe lattes consumed were all consistent and of great standard
3 the two good espresso’s were well presented and served
so overall I was satisfied that YES! they deserved a bean and that YES! One was enough.
Hope EVERYONE is happy with that, but if not I’d be more than happy for any budding reviewer or critic of my ratings to accompany me for another trip down there to clarify and verify..WELL DONE LAS CHICAS a bean well desreved after such scrutiny and an expensive one too as it cost me over $20 in coffees to do this exercise, and almost my sanity
;o)
Keep on caffeing on guys…..I’ll do whatever it takes, because life is too short to drink bad coffee!!!!
try Milk Toast
This little place seems to be very popular for breakfast. Strictly on the subject of coffee: 1 bean rating is well justified. Ordered a long black and it arrived hot and sufficiently strongly brewed. All three lattes were equally hot and beautifully finished. Point must be made that the coffee took some time to arrive and did not arrive together. Must be due to extra busy Sun morning.
Thank you Boris……….good to see the CaFFiend’s review is justified, you rokk!!!!!!
Keep on caffeining on!!!!