south west WA cafes

so, having been down south this week, obviously I've tried out a few of the cafes there...

firstly, Yallingup Roasting House or whatever it's called. It's in Dunsborough! not yallingup! :P
but anyway... everyone RAVES about this place. I've been here a few times. the staff aren't rude, they're just not friendly. the coffee is SUPPOSED to be the best in Dunsborough, but frankly the past three or four times i've visited, desperately wanting to redeem their reputation with me, i have been disappointed. bad coffee makes me cry. and trust me, ive been close to tears when ive been there. so yeah. but the coffee's not horrible, just doesn't warrant the great rep it's got. i found it pallatable. but its too bitter.
however, they have gluten free food! and they like froth, which i also do :)

next place is my favourite in Dunsborough, Tealicious. as the name suggests, i'm pretty sure they do awesome tea. i know they have a massive range. however, because i am not a tea drinker but reputation, i havent had their tea and i wont comment. except that my mum LOVES the licorice tea i bought her from there :) so the people here are SO NICE. and they have no eftpos minimum, which makes me happy :) the coffee isn't anything like Hush, Epic or Spring, but the service makes it worthwhile! tasted a little bit like plunger coffee, and definitely not enough froth, if there was ANY. but it tasted nice, the beans were good. and the service was great. and if you're ever at tealicious- buy the eggs benedict turkish bread- SO GOOD!!!!

next on the list is Chocolatte. bad coffee. don't go there. but they have candy :) so do go there :P
yeah... they do nice-looking smoothies too. and are open earlier than other places hahaha

then there's Dome in Dunsborough. what can i say? it's the Dome. friend had a bad experience with his long mac. my flat white wasn't horrible. but i dont have standards when it comes to Dome. for obvious reasons. had some chips there tho. they were nice :) and their chiller thingos :)

ok, now to my absolute FAVOURITE cafe in the SouthWest- More Cafe.
YOU MUST GO THERE NOW! i dont care that it's BUSSELTON! lol. it's seriously great. the Barista there (a really nice girl) is passionate about coffee, good coffee. which makes a large amount of difference yes? they also use bannister downs milk (also makes a big difference). coffee was consistently great. and aforementioned friend got a great long mac exactly the way he likes it- and no, i cant remember how he likes it... something like traditional with a little bit of extra crem...) but the food here is great also. the coffee's like nicely a little bit automatically sweet. SO GOOD!!! i love it! also their frappes are great.

also- one of the people down south with me brought his coffee machine. and made me a REALLY nice coffee- big ups to Matt :)
it was possibly a little too strong for my liking. but not bitter, not overly sweet. i liked it :)
and i like people who understand coffee, which matt does :)
woo

peace out
xx

A Blog for Jamie

first of all CANNOT believe that one ego can be stroked THIS MUCH!
*here's an idea: maybe there's a few other little tiny men inside of him that he's got their egos too!! :P

anyway, as briefly mentioned before, at Hush there are LOTS of lovely people.
the second most (actually... make that THIRD most) lovely person at Hush is Jamie- one of the baristas...
however, i promised to do an entire post about him, so here goes :P

Jamie is lovely. possibly the reason i go to this coffee shop SO MUCH- because he really does make good coffee.
and he puts pretty pictures in the coffee too.
the coffee is ALWAYS at a good temperature when he makes it- never cold, never TOO hot- he's got the temperature in the GOOD nook of temperature range...

i'm hoping he will teach me how to make pretty pictures :)
so- Jamie's coffee-making skills are many and varied. He is the Hush-master :)
love
peace xx

MOOBA- subiaco

ok
wow- another good experience.
i follow this place on twitter (their name is @mooba). and they are always making stuff that sounds AMAZING.
so i was like, i'll check it out...
and it was pretty damn good.
the coffee when i got there was really nice (although there is a bit of a wait). and the person who runs their twitter acct had been like 'come visit me in the kitchen when u get here'. so i did. (her name is hannah, btw, and she's LOVELY)
and then their wireless was broken, so she brought me out their internet dongle so i could study. which was above and beyond the call of duty!
so ive had a great time so far.
then i see all this AMAZING looking food come out! whoa! it looked GREAT!
and then, after about an hour, i was still there just studying and out comes Hannah over to my table with a brownie on a plate and says "i thought you might like to try a brownie"
FLIP- good service aye!
so (obviously) im updating my twitter as we go- and im getting retweeted with tweets about the good service, and obviously it's true.
oh ps, the brownie was GREAT! as i am gluten free i couldnt resist a nibble and then took the rest to my friend, who told me how amazing it was. haha

so- i brought a friend back. about a week or so later. this time we had our coffee in cups (last time i had in a take away cup coz i wanted a HUGE coffee). the lights are cool in this place.
the chairs were comfy. and the art was good.
also the coffee was nice :)
defs recommend this place.

Brownies!!!!

The lights :)

Hush Espresso Bar (again)

so, I go here on a fairly regular basis, and think the people that work here are pretty awesome. Thus, they must get their own post.
this is one of those coffee shops where i say

if you haven't already been here, GO THERE- NOW!!!!!

Hush espresso is actually (IMHO) the best coffee shop in freo (at least).
the people who work here, are great. they're good fun and really friendly.
the coffee is PRETTY good ;) JOKES- its freaking nice aye!! i have to say ONE thing tho... the coffee is always good. however, there are two people who make it better than the rest (again, IMHO) :)
food here is great! however, not many gluten free options. but who cares? hahah wait... i do, being gluten free and all :P but they made me a salad one day when i walked in and they didnt have any gluten free food. and it was an AWESOME salad.
came here for breakfast on my birthday a week and a bit ago- the food was great :) mum's was a little cold and they didnt have any salmon. but when it came back she said it was great. both parents also impressed with prompt service, etc.
the art is awesome in the coffee btw too.

(yes, Jamie, your iPhone 4 camera is better than my iPhone 3GS camera...)
yesterday when i walked in for the third time, one of the baristas made the coffee part of my coffee and goes "here, pour your milk, we'll see what u can make". scariest moment of my life! well, not quite... but i need to learn how to pour :)
one more quick note: i appreciate that they EXPECT art. it's part of the coffee. this is how the world should be.

and i will say it again-
if you haven't been here- GO.

Epic Espresso

so this blog needs a disclaimer- Epic holds a special place in my heart. i am a loyal customer (not terribly regular, but loyal nonetheless) so thru its ups and downs i still come back.
my lovely friend Gabe works here. he is so nice, and awesome. and makes good coffee, the way its supposed to be.
here's the art he put in our coffees :D

i was impressed :) so clear, and pretty. my flat white was nice. had the signature epic taste to it :)
im glad the quality of this place has improved again. and the atmosphere is nice :) service is great.
i really cant complain about my experience today :)

also went to Moore and Moore who also have one in busselton that ive been to which was great.
my best friend goes here every monday on her uni break coz its literally across the road from her uni- oh the joys of going to uni in freo!!! so i came along. and it is nicely priced- $4.30 for a large flat white.
i like places that dont break the bank.
now, when i stirred up my coffee (LACK OF ART HERE MUST BE NOTED) and licked the spoon, it had a very bitter taste. which made me not have expectations because i hate bitter coffee, and there was no art :(
but they use Fiori beans. and thankfully the coffee was actually REALLY good! i recommend this place. food looked nice too :)
will defs be going back.

peace.
xx

it's been a while

I AM SO SORRY!
i have not written on my blog for so long.
so many cafe, so little time!
i will be short and sweet... wait, i am ;)
oh dear my bad- sorry bout the lame humour :D

so, first of all... where to start... I know!
hush espresso in Fremantle. given that ive jsut started working in fremantle, i needed to find a good spot close to work. this has done the trick. recently opened, the coffee has NEVER disappointed me. except for the time when i walked in- sick as anything and having to work- and they had NO COFFEE. booo.
but GREAT atmosphere, lovely coffee, and the croissants are great there too.


have also checked out Cranked in Leederville. i have a small bias to this cafe because in it works Leo- the reason i am addicted to coffee. and yes, he's fully aware that this is the case. He used to work at Blax in Subi when i worked in Subi also, and would bring me coffee/ give me coffee. the nicest id ever had. therein began a blossoming relationship i have with coffee. Leo makes lovely coffee, and is a lovely guy. so yeah :)
one thing i must say that i also like about this cafe is the fact that they do table service- not many good cafes will take your order at the table. i appreciated this also :) although i havent eaten or had table service there lol.

also on my list of cafes ive been to is Sayers in Leederville. i love this place because theyre open early on a sunday morning and the coffee is GREAT. consistently good. great food here too- ive had breakfast here once, was really nice. and a different take on traditional cooked breakfast. also, their cakes look DEVINE.

next: tiger tiger- went in there expecting to get bad service, coz that's what i'd heard.
the service wasnt SHOCKING but it wasnt great. got two take away flat whites. were nice. i enjoyed them. they use Fiori i believe. it was too hot to sit inside tho. didnt matter, dad and i were on our way to the APPLE STORE.
where they recommended we try:
velvet espresso which i tried with my nana just the other day. the coffee was nice. ambience wasnt amazing, the guy who served me was rather arrogant. but the coffee was nice- too weak i believe i commented on twitter whist drinking it. nice japanese beside it tho :P

last two on my list:
gloria jeans in fremantle. i dont want to say bad things about this (other than what i already implied in the name) because i know the girl who's the barista here because i went to school with here and shes one of the finalists in the gloria jeans barista championships. but you can tell the quality (or rather lack thereof) by the fact that they have their own barista championships lol. yeah. so the coffee wasnt great. but the service wasnt bad.

next: exomod
again. this place is shocking. NEVER go here if you can avoid it. the decor is nice. its open late. but the coffee is BAD. my best friend had a hot chocolate- also bad. we shared a canneloni- well, i got worried because canneloni is italian and the place is run by asians.
enough said.

hope you havent missed me :P
peace
xx

the dancing goat

so this place needs its own post because of its awesomeness
only one small thing that my mother didnt like which was that it doesnt take card- cash only.
but i didnt mind.
there wasn't much space to sit so me n my friend ended up on the edge of a big table (probs could have fit 8-10 people on it) with a couple of other groups of people.
however, ill start with the beginning. walked in and it was packed. saw rob, the barista who is at willys sometimes too, he had a chat with me while we ordered our breakky. one thing that make a shop rate highly with me is the service. even if the coffee is average, if there's good service and the staff have a chat with me, i will generally go back
probably one of the reasons why i keep going back. but actually, rob makes really nice coffee.
interesting to note that marion, who works at the same coffee shop, doesnt make her coffee as nicely even tho they use the same machine and the same beans, etc. weird. nb: marion's coffee is still nice!!!
so we walked in, had a chat with rob, ordered breakky, finally found a seat.
coffees came out with cute pics in them!!! nothing near as good as my puppy tho :P
here you go:

so i was impressed. lol. yes, im female, things that look pretty generally impress me :P
then the food came. my friend had a breakfast burrito. looked tasty enough, she enjoyed it thoroughly.
at this point i must also add that we were drinking our coffee (which came quickly despite the masses of people in this tiny cafe) and were very satisfied at its creamy texture, and creaminess. normally for me, a flat white (because it is a stronger coffee than a latte) will have a slight bitterness to it. however, i believe this is a sign of a good coffee- when the bitterness is absent.
and then my scrambled eggs and bacon on toast came. FREAKIN AMAZING.
the eggs were nice and creamy but a little cold. and the toast was awesome. and the bacon was very nice.
i thoroughly enjoyed this cafe. and am thinking about making it a regular place.
given that i only have a week left for willys to be my regular spot.
in all fairness i should probably try some of the other places around where im training...
i tried Kosta's on James St in Northbridge. nice homey atmosphere, but the coffee wasnt great. but hey, i wasnt expecting much because of the atmosphere. but i appreciated the service, i could tell that the people there knew their customers and referred to them by name, etc.
so yeah.
im out to do study.
peace
xx

friday 17 september

so today i didnt get to willies untill FREAKING 2PM!!
they got worried about me :P
the coffee was nice, a little bit of a too strong aftertaste but was gladly welcomed anyway.
then this arvo i went to "the london court cafe" i believe it is called.
i dont get coffee there because its not usually any good. so i ordered a milkshake which was very nice :)
however, mum ordered a MUG flat white. freakin HUGE coffee!!! and it tasted very nice. different barista to normal, and he did a good job. i was impressed. mainly because ive come to expect not very much from them.
will post a pic later.
tomorrow im going to the dancing goat!! :D so excited!!
peace
xx

wed, september 15

so
nothing special today. Little Willies was the go again today lol.
Marion (the really nice French girl) made coffee today. she makes it a little stronger than Rob and admits her latte art isnt as good as his. however, i thought it was cool. she has her own style and its awesome.
thats all.
peace
xx

i love latte art!

so check out this.
went to little willies today and the guy's like "look, i know you like the hearts i put into your coffee but if you have a coffee in here, i'll put a puppy in your coffee".
so i came back at lunch time. and yes, he made a puppy dog in my coffee :D
here's a pic.
IM IN LOVE lol.

peace. xx

OK, maybe I am obssessed

went to Willies today (aka il vero gusto).
i love that place.
and my usual barista was back :D he's SO nice. and put a loveheart in my takeaway coffee :D
good coffee. as always. and we chatted. i was back within a few hours for our lunch time coffee :))
yeah thats all.
im sick. not fun.
peace out
xx

side note about froth

just have to say that milk froth is AWESOME.
even when I didnt like coffee (i know, blasphemy right?!) i LOVED the froth! I remember going to cafes with mum n she would order a cappuccino and i would eat all the froth off the top.
YUMMM
ok im out.
peace.
xx

Sunday, September 12

so now apparently I'm an addict lol. all i talk about is coffee apparently and all i ever TWEET about is coffee etc etc etc.
apparently it's also insane to not be opposed to having an intravenous caffeine drip thingo in you...
ah well.

so today started with coffee from the padrigno. who makes me nice coffee in the morning. i muchly appreciate this coz otherwise i would be VERY grumpy in the mornings instead of just mildly unintelligble.
then after church went out for DIM SUM (YUMMMMMMMM) with some friends and then to Milk and Honey in Northbridge. which is a cafe i was really curious to try given that its right beside the place im doing a training course in for the next two weeks.
coffee was nothing to write home about, but it was not terrible. good warmth, not bitter. probs had to wait 5-7 mins for take away and i think it cost me $4ish... one comment tho, the lady took like 3 goes to get my order for ONE TAKE AWAY FLAT WHITE right!! didn't know it was that hard. however, i will note that the muffins they had there looked AMAZING. next time, i will try one. mmmmm yummeh!

my take away flat white from milk and honey

next cafe was milk'd. rather funky but plain cafe. i had heard about it. GOOD coffee. not too bitter, not too strong, came quickly and easy for me to drink. rather enjoyable, so much so that i bought another take away when we left. take away large coffee cost me $5. not bad. i will go back there. they had cool looking food also, from Babycakes.

alright that's me.
peace out.
xx

just a small addition

so i'd just like to add that my padrigno makes AMAZING coffee.
so proud :D

Saturday, 11 September

wow. i feel like junk today. but alas, i was looking forward to checking out (properly) Ditto cafe. however, because my whole family were not feeling good, we ended up doing lunch at like 2pm at the imp.
which is NEVER a bad choice lol.
we ordered chips, a salmon baguette without onion for mum, chicken BLT for dad and the gnocchi for me (i never have anything else). plus three flat whites.
there was ONE table left in the place. it was pretty small and kinda jammed in which the parents weren't impressed with but watevs, we sat there. then these other people cleared off so we moved to a bigger table. the coffees came really quickly. and were finished really quickly bahaha.  they had a good strength to them, pretty close to perfection. not tooo milky but still a bit frothy. i enjoyed it.

flat white, with cute art :)

mum was impressed coz they had some science magazine for her to read :) always a good experience if the mother is happy.
then the food came, mum's salmon baguette first- WITH onion... so that went back but the chick who was serving us was really nice about it :) then mine, dads and the chips came. all were VERY well received. i don't recall it being so amazing! i mean, i remember it being great gnocchi (the best I'd ever tasted) but its WAY better than great!!! i reccommend EVERYONE go there NOW and get some!! lol

my gnocchi. YOU NEED TO GET IT

so i just realised im really bad at making this blog look aesthetically pleasing lol. ah well.
overall it was a great experience. i would defs tell anyone to go there. altho possibly on a students budget the prices are a little high, but i guess you get what you pay for. the coffee's not expensive tho. i think about $3.50 a coffee. pretty good.

peace out kids.
xx

Friday, 10 September.

so I only went to ONE cafe today!! (I know right, disappointing!!!)
but it was a good one!
Little Willy's (aka Il Vero Gusto), in Northbridge. I have not had a bad experience here. there is a really nice barista there who knows people by name and chats with you and he generally will remember what coffee you'll have too. however, because the people who own this cafe also own one called The Dancing Goat, the staff flick between the two cafes. so my favourite barista was not there today. but i got served by this REALLY nice lady and the girl who made coffees was also nice. coffee was good, not too strong, not too bitter. and made quickly. also was not scaldingly hot.

take away flat white.

overall, fantastic experience. here's my coffee....
also, dad made me coffee this morning. not as good as his usual, but still nice. (don't worry, i am sending him on a coffee-making course at Epic Espresso so he'll get even better).
i finally found where tiger tiger is!!! so i plan on visiting that maybe on monday.
sunday's pick will probably be Cranked.
tune in for more details.
ps if you'd like to recommend a place, comment the blogs... or follow me on twitter @spazkebabs :D
peace.

Thursday, 9 September

So this is my first post. welcome.
I visited four cafes today. All (obviously) in Perth.

First one was Elixir Coffee Specialists. Possibly my new favourite cafe. the few cofffees I've had from there have been VERY pleasant. Got two flat whites take away. Were both nice. I appreciate coffee that is the right strength and doesn't have the bitter aftertaste that a lot of coffees tend to have. so, good experience there. also reasonably priced. the food they have there is really nice. I've had an orange and carrot muffin/ cake thing from there. VERY moist and nice :)

Next ones were from Ditto Cafe in Applecross. Don't have a website for it. but the Scottish lady who served me was so nice!! the service was fast, much the same price as Elixir (2 coffees for about $8.50). they use Fiori coffee beans which i usually appreciate, however the coffee did have that bitter aftertaste i don't enjoy. boo. but i will go back there because the coffee wasn't terrible and word has it you can get a full breakfast and a coffee for $15 there. so that's breakfast with the parents on Saturday :))

My Flat White. rather enjoyable.

Third stop was an old favourite: Soto Espresso. There used to be an AWESOME barista there with these huge nerd-type glasses who was rather friendly and i loved going there just to chat with him coz he was soooo personable. however, clearly there is new staff there now. i did appreciate that the Irish manger came and had a chat to me and my mate when she brought out our coffees. i was impressed with their coffee art on both of our coffees. here are some pics.

Chris's medium macchiato... was DISGUSTING. well... pretty average. very bitter aftertaste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Stop was at Greens & Co. in Leederville. GREAT company (well, i think so lol). had a short mac, VERY NICE. my friend has taught me to put a sugar in it... so i did. now i shall interrupt this post to say i am NOT a fan of putting sugar in my coffee. AT ALL. however, it is rather pleasant to have a short mac with some sugar in it :) i enjoyed it. no bitterness. which was rad.

Now my dad is making coffee at home. I am looking forward to it. not as good quality as elixir, but he's getting better.

Thanks for your time peeps. more updates soon.
xx