Coffee Review: The Exchange

Welcome to your new favourite cafe - if you're into minimalist style, avoiding the normal bustle of shops and delicious coffee. 

Tucked away just off of Ebenezer place, the Exchange delivers coffee with the air of superiority. This place really knows their coffee, and everything about the entire service reflected this.

The coffee was great, and it would be a lovely place to go for breakfast or brunch some time with family or friends. 

But before you go signing yourself up to making the Exchange your every day hang out, be aware of the price. A small soy takeaway flat white will cost you a hefty $4.80, which is a considerable cost if you want to visit their shop regularly. 

Now generally throughout these reviews I have been accustomed to paying anywhere between $4.00-$4.50 for my coffee of choice, (with the exception of East End Providore, which I recall was also on the pricey end) and I know that it does not seem like a lot extra to pay for good coffee, but my point is that this adds up over time. 

What I did really like about this coffee was that they have nailed the milk to coffee ratio. The takeaway container was smaller than the average cup and because of this the flavours paired together so well. 

All things considered, the Exchange receives an 8/10.

Coffee Branch: A little slice of Melbourne

For a long time coming I have meant to make my way to Coffee Branch. It's not really that far away from things it's just that it's off my normal route. 

Anyway, recently I turned up to uni to find out my lecture had been cancelled, and having an hour to kill I decided to finally go there. So I hobbled on down to Leigh st and found Coffee Branch tucked away in a narrow little hole in the wall midway up the street. 

The actual structure of the store was what first caught my attention. Long and thin, it can be a little cramped but there is a certain Melbourne-esk romance to it that the styling also reflects. 

The staff were friendly and the line moved quickly. Before I knew it, I had my soy flatwhite in my hot little hands and I was on my way back to class. 

The coffee was excellent - all of the raving reviews from my friends were spot on. 

I don't know if I'm allowed to give out a '10' for a rating, I feel like it is sort of forbidden. But heck, they really do deserve it, and without further ado Coffee Branch gets a 10 for being everything I had hoped it would be and then so much more.

Coffee Post: Le Carpe Diem

I've had to take a little break in my coffee reviews for a while, simply because I have been somewhat snowed in with assignments, projects and work of late. Also because I made the decision to finally quit soy.

As delicious as Bonsoy is, I have read too many articles stating how bad soy is for us. But of course, for the sake of consistency this project cannot work if I change the coffee midway through. So while I took a few weeks off because of my workload, it was also a great time to switch onto normal milk as my everyday vice, and I will now only be having soy when I do a review. Switching back to cow's milk was hard. Firstly there was the thought of it coming from a cow's utter, and all of the horrible reports of the dairy industry. Secondly it tastes incredibly bland compared to Bonsoy, and it took me a while to get used to coffee without the enhancement of good quality soy milk. But luckily I am no longer feeling ill when I have it so that helped with the transition. Also because in between I tried to swap onto almond milk and holy wow that is not happening.

Anyway I was able to start reviewing again when I had a morning off this past Saturday. It was a cold but sunny morning in Adelaide, and while the city looked rather empty Le Carpe Diem on Grenfell St was buzzing. 

Prior to visiting the store I thought some annoying hipster-type had thought they were being trendy by calling it "Le Carpe Diem". I was pleased to find out that it is actually owned and run by french people, and I no longer felt frustrated by the name. 

This cafe is very cute and entirely different to any of the cafes I have reviewed before. To tell the truth, Adelaide has a really high standard of cafes. When I lived in Brisbane, beautiful cafes that were decorated to a particular style or theme and also managed to produce amazing coffee were hard to come by. Adelaide seems to have really nailed this niche. Each cafe that I have reviewed seems to have picked a theme and then they have ran it the whole way through and to a very high standard from a design point of view. Not to mention the quality of the coffee I have been reviewing has made it tough to differentiate between cafes. In fact, it's sort of getting to the point where I now know of so many good cafes I have no idea which one I want to go to.

Anyway, the cafe was buzzing. The short line took a little while to get through but once we got to the counter we were greeted with a friendly French accent and our order for takeaway coffee was placed. From what I could tell of the menu, a lot of it seems to revolve around being in a strange sort of savoury crepe that looked very enticing and suspiciously delicious. I'm very excited about this because I found out that they are gluten free.

There was a short wait before I received my coffee and we continued on our way. Unfortunately they did not use Bonsoy - it tasted like Vitasoy but I cannot confirm on this occasion. Had they not been so busy I would have asked. Even still the coffee was very well made. It's strange for me to give a high rating to a soy coffee made without Bonsoy, but it was so good that I have given it a 9.

I'm looking forward to returning to Le Carpe Diem for breakfast or dessert some time. 

Coffee Review: Taste Baguette

Located on Rundle street close to the mall, Taste Baguette sneaks in quietly near Cibo’s, occupying a tiny space in the area which has been transformed into a rustic café.

What I like about Taste Baguette is the way that it caresses the side walk so gently, with an open window displaying sweets and pastries acting as a portal from the outside world to the inside of their café. Also to be noted is the beautiful old door and rusted letters – the whole place is rather under spoken, but in a good way. Inside, they have made use of old scales and cash registers to add to the overall atmosphere, and I found myself intrigued by the decorative elements provided by these older times.

The overall interior layout is not fantastic due to their lack of space. The door space often becomes crowded and turns into a mess of people trying to place their order. But the staff are friendly so most people don’t make this into a problem.

The coffee was good and they used Bonsoy for their soy milk.

Taste Baguette scores an 8.5/10.

Apple keeps your coffee warm

What a great idea. I stumbled upon this concept through the Taxi website, and being a lover of coffee I had to know more. At the moment it seems to just be in the initial concept stages, and as it has been created by an individual designer it will be interesting to see if it ever moves on to production. 

The apple shaped cup, spoon and saucer are designed to plug into your laptop and keep your coffee warm. Old idea, new application.

The design itself is not quite as sleek and a little too apple-forward for my liking, with the cup looking a bit too clunky and not overly functional to become a favourite. But nonetheless the idea is great, and with some aesthetic tweaking I would love to have this on my desk. 

Tomislav Zvonaric is a designer, illustrator and 3D artist from Vancouver. 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/Apple-iCup-Concept/13826933

Tres Delicious: Felici

Ahh, Felici. Long time visitor, first time reviewer. 

Felici has been around as a staple cafe for me ever since I moved to Adelaide. It used to be modern, chic, and clean - and has always made great coffee. In recent times, it seems as if they have tried to incorporate the 'hipster' aesthetic into their otherwise mainstream cafe. And unfortunately, have not quite succeeded. I think part of the problem may be because they haven't fully implemented this style; it only hints towards it, and partially holds onto its' old roots. There are elements which are simply beautiful, but altogether it doesn't quite work. The main improvement which could be made would be to change the feature wall from being wallpaper to a simple black or white paint job. This would help to tone down the store and allow it to narrow down the target audience more decisively. The fit-out by no means makes it a bad place to dine, but from a design perspective it hasn't quite hit the spot. 

Regardless, the coffee was, and has always been great. Both times I visited I ordered iced soy lattes. 

Felici's bean of choice is Di Bella, and they use Bonsoy for their soy milk. The coffee is bold and delicious, and to be honest, even though I actually visited this place twice for a review, both times it was just as good. I have no choice but to give them a well deserved 10 on the coffee front (and for all those wondering how I am giving so many cafe's such high ratings - this project is about listing the best places for coffee in Adelaide, so anywhere below standard has been disregarded). The only downfall with the service was the time it took for my coffee to be made. Both times, with only one order (with 3 coffees or less) ahead of mine, I still had to wait about 10 minutes for my coffee to be ready. 

As a side note for anyone who might want to visit, they had a sign advertising breakfast and lunch for a very reasonable $10.00.

Despite the strange taste and application of decor I would recommend this to all of my friends, and their friends too. 

Felici is located at 261 Rundle St, Adelaide.

The Hipster's Choice: Horner & Pratt

HORNER & PRATT

When all of my friends from varied groups begin to tell me about the same café, I know it’s time to go and see what all the fuss is about. I had Saturday off work and decided it was time to venture into the unknown, to a café which I had heard a lot about but had never been to. Horner & Pratt, situated on East Terrace with a surprisingly small street presence is not one to take your grand parents to – nor should you attend in your Lorna Jane or Nike clad workout gear, more specifically post-workout covered in the sweat from your greedy consumerist body.   

What it is though, is a small and under-spoken eatery in a prime location of the city, situated across from the beautiful parklands. Their breakfast menu consists of burritos, burgers and other delicious breakfast-like items. Though their staff appear to be in the elite levels of hipstertown – hipster to the bone and then probably more – they are also efficient and work together to make a great team.

After waiting for the customer before me to finish with their order, I went ahead to order my soy flatwhite. While I awkwardly stood in the albeit small and unreachable corner of the store, waiting for my take-away coffee, I made sure to give my toughest facial expression possible. Lions don’t listen to the opinions of sheep, I muttered to myself over and over, as I wished I had arrived wearing something different – perhaps even, pajamas would have been better. Perhaps even, my dad’s gardening clothes. Lions don’t listen to the opinion of sheep, I continued, trying to stand in the most nonchalant way possible.

The coffee was sweet and delicious, the wait wasn’t too long, and I think I can speak for myself and the staff members in saying that it was a welcome relief when I finally left. While the store was every little bit hipster but in no way a bad place to dine, an outfit change would certainly be required before returning again. I didn’t manage to catch the brand of the beans nor the soy milk (probably due to the repetition of my new mantra), but I can tell you that the coffee was great and I believe the milk to have been Bonsoy – the best soy. The bean had a little bit of tang to it, and although the milk was a smooth consistency and very well frothed, it could have ideally been hotter than what it was. The final score for a soy flat white at Horner & Pratt is a 7.5/10 – perhaps even an 8 if we exclude the lions and the sheep.

Horner & Pratt are located at 31 East Terrace, Adelaide.

Photos: Milk Dispersing into Coffee

It was pretty hot in Adelaide today. In fact, the last I heard it got to a massive 44.9 degrees (celsius). I work inside of a shopping centre, and due to the heat everyone flocked to the store and I was unexpectedly called into work.

As I stood there, making coffees and watching the coffee shots mix with water, or milk mix with coffee or sometimes even coffee into milk (ala iced coffee way), I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the way that one item disperses into the other. There is something so magical about the way they mix together, that can only be experienced with your own eyes (or in this case, by way of a camera lens).

I decided to take some photos of it, so that I could capture the moment and have it to keep and share with everyone else.

East End Providore

I have walked past this café so many times without stopping in. Each time I’ve had one excuse or another, whether it be a lack of time time or that I’ve already had a coffee or something else. This time, I finally stopped in – and I wish I had of sooner.

East End Providore is relatively new to Ebenezer Place. A clean and modern fit-out has been executed in a minimalistic way which hints back to times that have passed. The homely set up with the wall shelves selling all of the goodies which they sell in store further hints towards this ideology. The interior would be a perfect place to dine in, and there is outdoor seating available too, though it is limited.

EEP sells a range of breakfast and lunch items along with their coffees and smoothies which are available to order. They use a special imported bean called Cirelli, and Bonsoy is their soy of choice. Along with this, they also offer Rice Milk and are looking into using Coconut Milk as an option too. The owner informed me that they have plans to begin selling a range of sugar free, gluten free, lactose free and vegan dessert cakes. One can hope this will be reminiscent of Argo’s selection.

This has to have been one of my best café experiences yet. The staff were lovely – and patient as well, when I couldn’t find my money – the atmosphere in the shop was clean and welcoming and the coffee scored pretty highly too.

The temperature of the milk was perfect, the shot tasted clean and the soy was well frothed. Their bean and milk of choice were commendable, and the only thing that let them down was the milk to coffee ratio. I found that in the small takeaway cup I had, there was too much milk in comparison to the shot of coffee. Luckily the milk had been done so well – and that if it could be so allowed, I would drink litres of Bonsoy just for pleasure - or else this may have been more of a problem. Next time I will ask for ¾ the amount of milk, because in all other aspects I am excited to return to this great little place. The final rating for the coffee is a solid 9.