Double Roasters

Double Roasters joined the neighbourhood of Marrickville only about a year ago.  It roasts its own beans each week.  Owner Scott said they wanted to ensure the freshness of beans for customers.  Because of the good roasting quality, it also does wholesale to nearby cafés.

The decoration, ranging from the old-styled things such as scales and lamps to modern style café embellishment such as fresh flowers, creates an interesting picture in the café area.

Food here is excellent.  It’s a luxury to enjoy a big breakfast here at the weekend.  There must be something you can pick in their manual, including the signature baked beans, pork belly sandwich and vegetarian choices.

Oh, the staff members are super-friendly and informative.  I am impressed by their good knowledge of their food and bean information in respect of roasting and brewing.  This gives you confidence that they can recommend food and coffee to suit your needs.

Today’s Pick:

House-blend Cappuccino: with Costa Rica based beans; toffee and caramel flavor; good and long-lasting coffee art.  I intentionally allowed the coffee to stand for several minutes.  The coffee art stood without any collapse, indicating that the milk was well-frothed.
 

Double Roasters 僅著足在Marrickville區一年左右，它每星期也會自家烘焙咖啡豆。店主之一Scott說他們想確保顧客享用新鮮的豆子。或許因這樣的執著與優質豆子，造就了這店批發的商機，有些咖啡店也來光顧買他們的豆子來造咖啡。

這兒的裝潢十分有趣，有古舊的東西如天秤與燈，也有現代咖啡店的裝飾品如新鮮花束，構成了一個很優美的構圖。

這兒的食物質素很高，週末在這兒享用一個大早餐絕對是個奢侈的享受；你可以在餐單內點用不同的食品，包括他們的招牌焗豆、豬腩肉三明治，及多種素食選擇。

職員超有禮貌，也對食物與咖啡豆有豐富的知識，這樣，的確讓你很有信心，他們能給你最好的介紹。

今天所選：

店選Cappuccino: 主要來自歌斯達黎家的豆子，拖肥與焦糖的口味。拖花做得很好也很持久，我刻意把它待數分鐘，拖花一點塌的跡象也沒有，證明奶泡是被均勻的打熱！好!!

Mon-Sun 0600-1500

199 Victoria Road, Marrickville
http://www.doubleroasters.com

Long lasting coffee art... toffee and caramel flavor of Costa Rico based beans

Poached egg

Pork belly sandwich with sour dough

Fresh flowers on each table

Knowledge of beans on the board

Soul of the shop - the roaster producing 12kg of beans per roasting cycle

Coffee Alchemy

When going to the elite cafés, I usually seek baristas’ recommendation on cafés of their choice.  ‘Coffee Alchemy’ was the one most baristas mentioned in our chats.

If you are looking for a café serving you with food alongside with your coffee, sorry, this café should not be your pick.  Instead, it uses all the efforts concentrating on roasting and brewing coffee.  No wonder there are always people for coffee there, be it on a weekday or a weekend.

Normal espresso based coffees are of excellent standards.  But don’t miss two other brewing methods.  They have cold beer brewed coffee available on Saturdays.  That sounds awesome in a summer day!  Filter drip coffee (pour-over) is good as well.  They usually have 3-4 choices for you to pick.  That gives you more fruity flavors derived from the light/medium roasted beans, moving your palate from the traditional deeply-roasted beans for espresso coffee.

Today’s Pick:

Cappuccino with the house-blended beans: strong dark-chocolate flavor; good coffee art

Filter drip coffee: Panama Don Pachi Geisha gave very fruity and citrus flavor.  I brought two friends in the trip.  They were surprised that the coffee didn’t give any bitter taste but tasted like fruit tea instead.  Not many cafés in Sydney brew Geisha beans which are expensive but are distinctive in the flavor.

24 Addison Road, Marrickville

Mon-Fri 0700-1400

Sat 0800-1500

www.coffeealchemy.com

走訪咖啡店的時候，我不時會問咖啡師他們的心水咖啡店，’Coffee Alchemy’是眾多咖啡師的首選。

假如你想找一家咖啡店享受咖啡跟其他食品，這兒絕不是理想之選；然而，這又告訴你一個事實：他們把所有精力與心機用來自家烘焙咖啡豆及沖煮。因此，不論是平日或週末，這兒絕有不少人光顧。

傳統意式咖啡的水準很高，但請別錯過另外兩種沖煮咖啡的方法。每周末，他們有以啤酒沖的咖啡，給你很雜複與特別的口味。

瀘杯沖咖啡通常有3-4種口味給你選擇，由於以淺至中度烘焙，它給你果味豐富的口感，讓你習慣了傳統意式咖啡的味蕾一份新的感受。

今日所選：

Cappuccino: 濃厚的朱古力口味，拉花也很精緻

瀘杯咖啡：巴拿馬藝伎豆(Panama Don Pachi Geisha)帶一點果酸與檸檬酸的味道，不容錯過，貴得有道理！這次帶了兩位朋友同行，他們都說，從沒想過咖啡可以是不苦的。

 

Consistently excellent latte art

The fruity taste of Panana Geisha beans!

Today's choices for filter drip (pour over): Honduras,Panama, Costa Rica and Kenya.  Behind were the beer outlets.

The beer brewed coffee.. cool for a summer day

 

Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Cafe & Deli

The Primo Caffe brand was founded in 1987 by the Di Stefano family.  In 2004, a huge roasting facility was built in Wetherill Park for roasting beans for national wide wholesale.  In 2011, the Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Café & Deli was opened to reach out to the public.

In fact, this is usually one of the cafés in my schedule for taking overseas coffee friends for a look.  There you will probably be able to find at least one thing to amuse them: coffee, gelato, pizza and various authentic Italian food, etc.  In addition to the café and restaurant areas, there are shelves for you to pick Italian groceries, coffee accessories and different tea and coffee blends.  Round the corner you can also buy their gelato, cheese and ham before you go.

Today I brought my friends from Canada to here.  It’s a shame that we missed their weekend tour to the roasting room.  The nice dessert lady Christina knew that I’m a supporter of their shop and introduced us to the Executive Chef Christopher who brought us for a private tour (just for us!!).  Awesome!  Occupying about 1/4 of the premises, the roasting facility, including the huge drums for raw beans, roaster, cooling and transportation systems, was made in Italy and computer-programmed for production and remote access for maintenance/repair.  As said, the cost was AUD $1.5 million with an hourly production of 60kg beans.  The whole production intelligence is smart and amazing!

Being the Executive Chef, Chris is responsible for supervising the food production.  Almost all the attractive desserts are home-made with authentic Italian recipes.  Chris also makes the gelatos.  He gave me a free treat in the visit and I picked lemon sorbet.  Wow!! Like the sour and refreshing flavor.  Some gelato shops make lemon sorbet too sweet.  To me, it doesn’t make sense as lemon should taste a bit sour and refreshing.  If I’m looking for sweet things, I should pick other flavors!  Chris used to supervise the food of Sydney Olympics 2000 and manage fine-dining restaurants.  But he really loves the job here, with a team of high quality staff members who are also passionate about food and coffee.

Today’s coffee pick:

home-blend cappuccino: caramel/honey flavor, balanced bitterness and acidity.  Wonderful art on my cappuccino and my friend’s Chai latte

Remarks:

They also have barista training and a tour to the roaster chamber at 1000 every Saturday and Sunday.

17-35 Parramatta Road, Homebush (GPS: Powell Street, Homebush, Strathfield)
Mon-Sun: 0700-late
http://www.cwcd.com.au/index.html

1987年，Di Stafano家族創立Primo Caffe這品牌。於2004年，他們在Wetherill Park建立大型烘焙廠房，出品至全澳洲各地。於2011年，他們更走入人群，建立這Di Stefano Coffee Warehouse Café & Deli，銷售咖啡及食品。

有愛啡人自外國來，我都愛帶他們來這一遊；至少我相信在店內眾多有趣東西中(咖啡、雪糕、簿餅及各傳統意式食品)，總會至少有一東西是吸引他們的！除了咖啡及餐膳範圍外，你還可以選擇意式雜貨、煮咖啡工具及各種口味的茶與咖啡。轉角更有售自家出品的雪糕、芝士及醃火腿。

今天特意帶來自加拿大的朋友，本想參與他們週末的烘焙參觀講解，可惜我們趕不及時間。然而，隨和的甜品姑娘Christina知道我是他們店的支時者，把我介紹給他們的行政總廚Christopher，就這樣，我們有幸得到了一個私人講解參觀！

整套烘焙設備佔地約是店的1/4, 包括巨型生豆處理器­、烘焙組、冷卻及運輸輸送系統，所有都是在意大利製造，並由電腦操作生產，及遙控監控/維修，造價為150萬澳元，每小時能烘焙60公斤的豆子，整個生產過程實在內含很大智慧！

作為行政總廚，Chris負責監督店內的生產過程，差不多所有甜品都是自家出品，他也負責製造gelatos，今天他給我品嚐他的gelato , 我選了檸檬雪葩－那酸酸醒胃的味道令人難忘；很多雪糕店都把檸檬雪葩造得太甜，對我來說，這絕不合邏輯，因為若我要嚐甜的話，大可選別的口味，而不是檸檬！

Chris曾在2000年悉尼奧運時監督大會食品，亦曾在其他餐廳作食品監督工作，但他說很熱愛店內這份工作，因為整個高質素的團隊也跟他一樣，熱愛咖啡與食品！

今天所選：

Cappuccino: 焦糖與蜂蜜味，苦/酸都做得均勻；我的咖啡及朋友的Chai latte 上的拉花做得很美！

此外，他們亦提供咖啡師培訓，於每周六及周日上午10時，開放他們的烘焙室及講解生產過程。

 

 

 

Homemade dessert

 

Thanks for Dessert Lady Christina, this one was delicious! :P

 

 

The Executive Chef Christopher makes the gelatos. I can't forget the refreshing and awesome lemon sorbet! :D

 

 The huge roasting facility

 

 Beans can be transported directly out for packaging or consumption in the cafe



Thanks for Christopher who brought us for the wonderful tour!!

 

Gourmet pizza

 

Wagyu Warehouse Burger

 

Coffee education: differences among different espresso based coffee types

 

 

Cheers for my friends Georgina and Kenny.  Hope that we will have coffee at Vancouver one day!!

 

Di Bella Roasting Warehouse

Situated in a suburb (Surry Hills) where there are many cafés, Di Belle has a typical café outlook when you pass along Holt Street.  But your eyes will definitely be attracted to the huge roaster sitting shortly after you pass the entrance.  It tells you the truth: they are roasting their own beans to ensure fresh coffee.  In fact, it is one of the major roasting suppliers for many cafés in Sydney.

The posters on the walls reveal their mission in giving coffee education to the public, especially how they try to reward the farmers by giving them how much they should be paid.  In some other places, farmers are financially exploited by buyers regardless of their high quality of production!

There is always a single-origin bean each day.  The remarks on the notice board tell you what the expected flavors are.  Make a feedback if you taste very different! LOL

Don’t forget to take a look of their brewing tools.  In addition to your familiar types of plungers and French press pots, they even have mini cold drip set and siphon tools.

Today’s Pick:

Brazilian beans: very nutty flavor with a medium aftertaste.  Good cup!

Fruit toasts were nice.

Di Bella is actually one of my favorite cafés in Sydney.  It’s so nice to have a big breakfast with coffee there on a lazy weekend morning.

 

Di Bella 座落在一個有很多咖啡店的小區(Surry Hills)，它的外觀跟其他咖啡店沒兩樣；然而，當你一走進入口，眼睛必會被它那座巨型的烘豆機所吸引(高度幾乎接近天花)。這龐然大物正好告訴你一個事實：他們每天也烘焙豆子，因此，不難在這喝到新鮮的咖啡。事實上，Di Bella是悉尼其中一家主要的供豆商之一，你也可在不同的小咖啡店上嚐到它的豆。

牆上的海報告訴你他們的一項使命：給予公眾咖啡教育資訊，尤其讓公眾明白，他們會用好的價錢購買咖啡農民的豆子，以確認他們對咖啡質量作出的血汗努力。事實上，世界上其他角落仍有些地方，農民是被經濟剝削，無論他們產品有多好的質量，仍只被低價收購！

店內每天都有單品咖啡供應，告示板上會告訴你，他們期望你嚐到那些品味，若你嚐的很不一樣，不妨作個小回應！

別忘了在店內看看他們買的煮咖啡工具，除了你熟悉的法式壓壼外，還有小型冰滴工具與虹吸壼。

今天所選：

巴西豆：強烈的果仁味，中度的餘味，好啡！

這兒的食品也不錯。

咖啡店是我心水之一，悠閒的週末早上到此享受一個早餐及一杯咖啡，確實美妙！

Shop 2/50 Holt Street, Surry Hills

www.dibellacoffee.com.au

Mon-Fri 0700-1600; Sat-Sun 0830-1600

 

 

Revolver

有時，隨心所選，往往有意想不到的驚喜。今天又再來到Annandale這個地方－一個寧靜，整齊而隨和的小區。這咖啡店當然成為區內居民的聚腳地！

一進店內，你就會感到一份和諧與喜悅的氣氛，那是來自店員殷勤的態度，也來自顧客們的微笑，加上店內懷舊的佈置，彷彿到了另一世界。

店員給我翻看一本相冊，內裡記載四年前店主買這兒時，怎樣從零開始，落手落腳親自打造這兒；一樓還是他們的三房之家哩！怪不得，他們真是用心經營。

今天所選：

來自Morgan’s Handcrafted Coffee，帶點榛子的果仁味。

還加了個煙肉蛋包，他們用上自製的醬，加上火箭菜的微澀，令包的味道很特別，新鮮當然是肯定的。有幸遇上廚師，他說他堅持食物的新鮮，令顧客滿意。

Coming to Annandale again – a place being neat, serene and amicable.  This café serves as a landmark where the local residents gather.  Insider you can find smiles everywhere, from both café staff and customers.  I was shown an album showing the history of this café.  The owners (a couple) started from scraps and they were involved in the whole decoration work, including brick work, carpentry, painting and art decoration.  Awesome!!  No wonder you can feel their passion in this café!

Today’s Pick:

Beans from Morgan’s Handcrafted Coffee: hazelnut flavor

I also had a bacon and egg roll with rocket (like the special flavor of rocket very much!!) and homemade sauce.  The chef said their café did not only value quality of coffee and other drinks, but also food quality.  Wonderful!

291 Annandale Street, Annandale

Daily: 0800-1600

Mecca Espresso

去年朋友來這兒也到過這家咖啡店，著我來試試，可惜一直也沒有機會，直到今天。

愛這兒簡單的格局，絕不花巧；但也許因它鄰近就是TAFE，總覺它是為學生而設的咖啡店。

 

今天所選的：

先來一個single shot espresso, 它今天的單品是Guatemala La Saledad，強烈的果酸與辛辣令你醒神，而後給你橙／檸檬的餘韻口感。

 

再來一杯espresso，它沒有花巧的拉花，但奶泡打得很幼滑，入口是出奇的甜；沒錯，是甜，即使你心情是如何的不佳，本想哭的眼睛，也會把淚水收起，臉上泛起甜甜的微笑。

 

咖啡師說，內有30%是肯雅豆，其餘的大部份是埃塞俄比亞豆。

還得讚的，是它們烘的豆分不同品種，也以不同的烘焙度，建議你用不同的方法烹煮咖啡，例如是意式咖啡、虹吸壼或滴濾法。

 

I was recommended by a friend to try this café last year but haven’t had a chance until today.

Perhaps because of the close proximity to Ultimo TAFE, this café gives me the impression as a students’ café, being friendly and approachable.

Today’s Pick:

Single shot espresso of single origin Guatemala La Saledad: strong fruity acidity, spicy flavor, with an orange/lemon aftertaste.

The cappuccino didn’t have flourished art but the froth was so delicate that it gave a silky texture.  More importantly, it gave a surprise: strong sweetness that you would smile even if you were about to cry.  The barista said there were 30% of beans from Kenya while most of the remaining from Ethiopia.

They are not only roasting for cafés, but also individual customers.  You can pick from their variety of beans (different packages).  The recommended brewing methods (espresso, filter and siphon) make them very customer-friendly.

 

646 Harris Street, Ultimo

www.meccaespresso.com.au
Mon-Fri 0700-1600; Sat 0700-1500



An area for products and cupping